 |
| Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall,
James Caan, Diane Keaton, John Cazale, Talia Shire, Richard Conte, Richard
Castellano, Abe Vigoda, Alex Rocco, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Al
Lettieri |
|
 |
Anamorphic
widescreen |
|
Dolby Digital
5.1 |
 |
DTS |
|
|
Trailer(s) |
|
Featurette(s) |
|
Documentary |
|
Audio commentary
|
|
Deleted scenes
|
|
Concept art
/ storyboards |
|
Multi-angle
feature |
|
|
|
|
Michael
Corleone (Al Pacino): Well, when Johnny was first starting out,
he was signed to this personal service contract; with a big band leader.
And as his career got better and better, he wanted to get out of it.
Now, Johnny is my father's godson. And my father went to see this band
leader, and he offered him $10,000 to let Johnny go. But the band leader
said no. So the next day, my father went to see him; only this time
with Luca Brasi. And within an hour, he signed a release, for a certified
check for $1,000.
Kay
Adams (Diane Keaton): How'd he do that?
Michael: My father made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
Kay: What was that?
Michael: Luca Brasi held a gun to his head, and my father assured
him that either his brains or his signature would be on the contract.
That's a true story. That's my family, Kay. It's not me.
Epic
tale of the fall and eventual uprising of a powerful Mafia family syndicate.
 The
Godfather has become such a reference point for both contemporary
film and popular culture that it's hard to approach the movie with an
open mind. Looking at it now it really is an amazingly depressing story
for a film that was such a popular success; even with all the family
bonding there's not much happiness to be found in all the doom and gloom
(laughter is a rare thing aside from a few exuberant moments like the
wedding ceremony) and it's the one thing that can be a warning against
romanticizing these professional hoodlums. Coppola makes the Corleone
family only slightly more sympathetic than the rest of the villains
they end up going up against, and the shockingly abrupt moments of violence
only seem justified viewed in the light of family protection (what would
the story have been if we also had been allowed a look inside the Barzini
family?). This one-sided isolated perspective is of course also the
key to the movie's success: it really makes the Don Vito character seem
like a wise old man whose advice for his sons makes just as much sense
as that of any head of state or captain of industry would. Marlon Brando's
iconic, mannered performance was rightfully awareded with an Oscar,
and it's the one thing that is so great in the first Godfather
and missing in the second (which I think is a superior movie in every
other way).
The amount of period detail and the slowly unfolding scenes with room
for subtle nuances and character development can all be credited to
Coppola, who connected his own Italian-American background with the
Mario Puzo story (which was essentially a pulp novel in Coppola's eyes).
The terrific cast and the superlative performances are hallmarks of
all the movies Coppola made in the 70's and within the framework of
The Godfather he found ways to personalize the story that added
an edge and emotion that audiences responded to. On a broader social
canvas, The Godfather is an insightful sociological study of
violence, power, honor, corruption, justice and crime in America, with
the 'honorable' crime family serving as a metaphor for the way business
is conducted in capitalistic, profit-based corporations and governmental
organizations. Both elements have secured the timelessness and longevity
the movie has, resonating as strongly today as it did thirty years ago. |
|
 |
 |
|
|
Released
in the same version worldwide on 9th October 2001, it marks the first
release of all The Godfather movies on DVD in one package of 5
discs: The Godfather DVD Collection. The following links offer
in-depth reviews of the other two movies and the extras disc:
The
anamorphic widescreen image is framed at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1.
The image is constantly detailed, never too soft and has retained its
full colur scheme, with warm tones making for a very pleasing presentation.
Thankfully a digitized look has been avoided, with everything faithful
to the original brownish cinematography. Most of the indoor shots are
deliberately dark so shadow detail can be quite poor during those scenes
and the blacks tend to be a bit grayish in places. But the improved
resolution of the DVD transfer really makes this by far the best The
Godfather has ever looked, perhaps even outdoing the original theatrical
release copies: scenes such as Don Vito's funeral are breathtaking and
close-ups are consistently great throughout the movie. The transfer
is let down by some source print artifacts: scratches, grain and white
speckles pop up from time to time, but it'll probably take a full-scale
restoration to get a cleaner look. Only a couple of shots look out of
place (the establishing wide shots of L.A. and Las Vegas look awful,
but all those shots are either made up of cheap stock footage and second
unit shots since there was no more money available on the original budget)
or not so hot (the first images during the wedding scene when they first
try to take a family picture seems more out of focus than ever). Overall
a pleasing transfer but certainly not one of the great restoration jobs
we may have hoped for.
The audio is presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix that mostly retains
the mono quality of the original track. Music is spread out across the
front but lacks fidelity. Some of the action scenes do benefit from
the 5.1 format with thunder and gunshots having considerably more punch
through the LFE channel than before. Dialogue is understandable but
the improved clarity does make ADR and foley effects stand out a bit
too much. Some brittleness can be heard in the voices from time to time
but the track remains fairly consistent throughout. Surrounds are hardly
used in any noticeable way.
Besides
the extras available on the fifth disc, this Godfather disc features
a commentary by Francis Ford Coppola. Those who have heard his
comments on The
Conversation know that he's an interesting and serious speaker
and he doesn't dissapoint here. He rambles slightly from time to time
but he gives an amazing amount of details and backgrounds. The difficulty
in getting the movie made is pointed out by specific scenes that were
hardly ever shot at all or just as an afterthought, as well as the studio's
well-documented resistance to most of his casting choices (both Pacino
and Brando were seen as box office poison). Coppola is honest in detailing
his own insecurity (he saw The French Connection while he was
editing and the power of that movie immediately made him feel insecure
about his own work) and the constant threat of being fired from the
movie hung heavily over his head. He also points out the help he received
from people such as George Lucas (who shot some inserts and helped him
with a few editing decisions) and Robert Towne (who wrote the pivotal
scene in the garden between Michael and the Don, which wasn't in the
original script), as well as from the usual host of family members.
You'll find out a lot about each of the actors in this commentary and
Coppola is of course right in pointing out that much of what made the
movie work came from this terrific cast and their interaction.
For an in-depth critical discussion of the full disc of extras, see
our separate feature on The
Godfather Collection - Extras Disc. Animated
menus offer three options and when you retun to the main menu from any
of the three options you'll notice there are three different menus available,
all tastefully done with an image from the movie and with fitting music
from the score. Navigation is easy.
Gerard
Castelein
Reviewed: 2001
Click
here for IMDB info on The
Godfather .
Click here
to return to the front page.
|
|
| |
