#2 - The Godfather

Why can't they make movies like this anymore? Just once, I want to go to a movie that lasts almost three hours, yet I don't want it to end.

Marlon Brando stars as Don Vito Corleone, the boss of the Corleone family, a family that dallies in certain illegal activities specific to the Italian-American subculture. He won an Oscar, but chose not to accept it. Jerk. In a role that may even be more important, Al Pacino plays Michael, Vito's son. Michael starts the film denouncing his father's illegal way of life, but ends up having his ring kissed in one of the most classic twists of fate the world of fiction has ever given us (that's right: not just cinema; I'm bold enough to say that this is one of the greatest things in fiction, ever).

I had seen this movie before (it's required viewing when you're a Mafia fan like I am), and I've seen its sequel. I thought the sequel was better the first time I watched the two. I was not alone in that viewpoint. Many people see Part II on an equal level as, if not higher than, the original. But after watching the original and being able to really understand and soak it in, I think it is obvious that it is the superior of the two (I'm ignoring Part III because who doesn't?).

It is obvious that director Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with author of the book Mario Puzo, is only showing us what is important. So what seems to be a non-essential scene of Don Vito watering his tomato plants with his toddling grandson turns out to be a crucial plot point as the Don falls to the ground, dead. The Don, of course, has an orange peel in his mouth when he dies. It is a well-known aspect of the film(s) that oranges = death. Whenever an orange is seen on screen, look out. Just one of those touches that makes the movie so captivating.

But at the center of the film is not Don Vito, played by Marlon Brando. Instead it is Pacino's Michael Corleone, the boy who becomes a man. In one of the most classic scenes, he takes out two of the lynchpins in the Mafia war his family is waging. He is then exiled to Sicily, where he falls in love, marries the girl, and then loses her in a terrible, planned tragedy. The things he goes through are heavy. His main love interest, Kay Carroll played by Diane Keaton, must find a balance between wanting to know everything about her new man and really now wanting to know anything about the heinous acts he commits.

The story is lush, the dialogue rich, and the cinematography nostalgic. The yellow tint given to every scene makes the whole film seem like a story of time gone by. Don Vito takes a stand on not getting into the narcotics business, which shows that the times, they are a changin'. It is an absolutely necessary film for everyone to see, even if they aren't a Mafia fan, or even a movie fan.