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Critic rating
Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather is a masterpiece
25 Sep 2009
Time was when Francis Ford Coppola’s first Godfather film was considered inferior to his second, a much more pessimistic view of the world of the Mafia and decidedly less commercial.
But now the virtues of the 1971 original have been better recognised. While taking nothing away from the extraordinary follow-up — which is reportedly the picture that Coppola really wanted to make — the first stands up as a near perfect example of classical film-making.
No matter that it pleased the Mafia — whose representatives were often on hand during the shooting — here is a generational saga with superb performances, a tight grip despite its 175 minutes and a darkly ironic commentary from within and without the Corleone family’s personal history.
Restored and reissued, it is without doubt a masterpiece even if some still prefer the moral disgust of Godfather II. With Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan and Robert Duvall.
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