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The Godfather review – a brutal sweep of magnificent storytelling

Francis Ford Coppola’s first film in the series is still an epic, full of hypnotic acting, which reinvented mafia criminals as players in a dynastic psychodrama

W hen director Francis Ford Coppola and screenwriter-novelist Mario Puzo released The Godfather 50 years ago, the mobster had already been a stock figure in film for half a century. Their genius (and that of the film’s own godfather, producer Robert Evans) was to reinvent these criminals as a dysfunctional dynastic psychodrama.

They took the figure of the ageing don as seriously as Lear, the careworn ruler of a secret American state-within-a-state. Stomach-turning flourishes of violence are juxtaposed with elaborate rituals of familial piety and respect, which generations of real-life criminals in the United States treated as how-to behaviour manuals for decades afterwards. These Italian-American gangsters do not complain about the bigotry heading their way, and are themselves casually racist and antisemitic. Extravagant gestures of romantic adoration and solemn respect for womenfolk are combined with casual sexual abuse; and women have to reconcile themselves to their role: a pretext for revenge. (A tour guide in Sicily once told me that the word “mafia” is taken from the Italian phrase “ non toccare ma figlia” – don’t touch my daughter – an explanation I have yet to see confirmed anywhere else.) There is a toxic chill to the film’s opening speech, from a local undertaker piteously demanding the Don take revenge on his behalf against two over-privileged white boys who have raped and disfigured his daughter. Many cannot forgive this film for sentimentalising mob violence with this fantasy rationale.

Marlon Brando is as hypnotic as a cobra playing ageing gangster patriarch Vito Corleone, his cottonwool jowl-padding giving something extra to that unmistakable adenoidal wheeze. He is hosting a colossal family wedding for his daughter Connie (Talia Shire): a magnificent set-piece scene that itself has more energy, detail and dramatic interest than most entire films. The don will, with stately calm and an upheld finger, like a cardinal or the Pope himself, listen to murmured information or advice in his ear. Vito’s wife Carmela (a name that reverberated in the later 90s era of The Sopranos) says little or nothing. Vito’s aggressive hothead son Sonny (James Caan) is at the party, a married man furtively having sex with a bridesmaid; present also is the weakling son Fredo (John Cazale), who is drunk in an undignified, undisciplined way. But the old don is pining for his favourite son, Michael (a stunningly charismatic performance from Al Pacino), a decorated second world war veteran with no interest in the family business. Michael shows up late, handsome in his uniform: indicating the transferable military skills. With him is his wasp fiancee Kay (Diane Keaton).

Vito’s trusted consigliere , Tom Hagen, is the unofficial son: a brilliant, atypically self-effacing performance from Robert Duvall . It is quiet Tom who is to supervise, off-camera, the film’s most diabolical act of violence: kidnapping the racehorse (Godfather superfans will know the horse’s name) belonging to a Hollywood producer who has to be intimidated into giving a role to the Don’s Sinatra-esque godson Johnny Fontane (Al Martino), drugging it, cutting off its head and placing it in the sleeping man’s bed. Eerily, this producer (played by Cassavetes veteran John Marley) had the night before given an impassioned speech denouncing Fontane’s ruination of an innocent actress, a weird echo of the undertaker’s speech to the don about his daughter.

But all this is the calm before the storm, as the crime families’ peace accord disintegrates, with the coming of drugs. Virgil “The Turk” Sollozzo (Al Lettieri) offers Vito a piece of his growing new heroin business; the don refuses, apparently because he disapproves of this evil trade, or perhaps because he thinks his cut isn’t big enough. Affronted by the refusal and suspecting the Corleones simply intend to launch an attack for all of his business, Sollozzo’s men launch a pre-emptive strike, shooting Vito as he buys oranges from a market, and of course pathetic, incompetent Fredo is unable to protect his father. (Again: Godfather superfans can tell you which Jake LaMotta fight is being advertised on the poster in the background of this shot.) And as Vito lies in hospital, having miraculously survived, it is Michael who realises at this moment that his destiny is to abandon his claim to the respectable American dream and take over the family business. It is to culminate in the now legendary sequence in which Michael becomes a godfather to his sister’s child and the baptismal service is intercut with nightmarish vignettes showing the slaying of all the rival bosses. The point of course being: this is Michael’s own baptism.

Coppola’s epic storytelling sweep is magnificent: there is an electric charge in simply the shift from New York to California to Sicily and back to New York. This is the top-down approach to gangsters, the “great man” theory of organised crime. Later movies such as Scorsese’s Goodfellas will emphasise the more ragged lower ranks (although Paul Sorvino’s Paulie Cicero insists on the Corleone-esque murmuring in the ear) and David Chase’s The Sopranos showed the Italian-American mob in decline. My own view is that one of the greatest post-Godfather movies is Abel Ferrara’s The Funeral, which lays out the hellish sense of self-replicating sin and shame in the criminal world.

Coppola was to follow his epic masterpiece with the equally ambitious and audacious The Godfather Part II , a sequel/prequel that is often thought of as even better. Brilliant though that second film is, I think the original will always have the edge in its simplicity, clarity and brutal power.

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At the end of Francis Ford Coppola ’s masterwork “ The Godfather ” (1972), we have seen Michael Corleone ( Al Pacino ) change from a young man who wanted to stand apart from his family to one who did not hesitate to take up the reigns of control. In “Part II” (1974), we see him lose his remaining shreds of morality and become an empty shell, insecure and merciless. If the score evokes pity, it is Michael’s self-pity. In attempting to fill the shoes of his father, Michael has lost sight of those values that made Don Corleone better than he had to be and has become a new godfather every bit as evil as he has to be. If Rota’s score had been energetic and pounding, we might see him as more closely paralleling Tony Montana in a better film, Brian DePalma ’s “ Scarface ” (1983). But the score is sad, and music can often evoke emotion more surely and subtly than story. Consider how deeply we are moved by certain operatic arias that are utter nonsense.

The devolution of Michael Corleone is counterpointed by flashbacks to the youth and young manhood of his father, Vito ( Robert De Niro ). These scenes, taking place in Sicily and old New York, follow the conventional pattern of a young man on the rise and show the Mafia code being burned into the Corleone blood. No false romanticism conceals the necessity of using murder to do business. Such events as Vito’s murder of the minor-league New York godfather have their barbarism somewhat softened as Coppola adopts Vito’s point of view and follows him as he climbs rooftops to ambush the man and successfully escapes. It is a built-in reality that we tend to identify with a film’s POV. Here the murder becomes another rung on Vito’s ladder to success.

To be sure, the life of young Vito helps to explain the forming of the adult Don Corleone, and to establish in the film the Sicilian code of omerta. As Michael changes, we see why he feels that he must. He must play the game by its rules. But I am not sure the flashbacks strengthen the film. I would have appreciated separate films about young Vito and the evolution of Michael. Never mind. What we have are two compelling narratives, two superb lead performances and lasting images. There is even a parallel between the deaths of two elderly dons. Revenge must be obtained.

Coppola is at the top of his form in both films, and if I disapprove of the morality of the central characters, well, so do we all. We agree people should not kill one another, but that doesn’t explain why these films are seen again and again, entering a small worldwide canon of films just about everyone seems to have seen. They are grippingly written, directed with confidence and artistry, photographed by Gordon Willis (“The Master of Darkness”) in rich, warm, tones. The acting in both films is definitive. We can name the characters in a lot of films (Harry Lime, Scarlett O’Hara, Travis Bickle, Charles Foster Kane) but from how many films do we remember the names of six or more characters? Brando, Pacino, De Niro, Duvall, Cazale, Caan, Diane Keaton , Lee Strasberg , Talia Shire , Michael V. Gazzo and others are well-cast, well-used, gifted and correct for their roles.

Simply as a story, the Michael scenes in “The Godfather: Part II” engage our emotions. I admire the way Coppola and his co-writer Mario Puzo require us to think along with Michael as he handles delicate decisions involving Hyman Roth (Strasberg), the boss of Miami; Fredo (Cazale), his older brother, and the shooting of Sonny ( James Caan ). Who has done what? Why? Michael floats various narratives past various principals, misleading them all, or nearly. It’s like a game of blindfolded chess; he has to envision the moves without seeing them.

But finally it is all about Michael. Even the attack on the night of his son’s first communion party is on his bedroom, not our bedroom. His wife, Kay (Keaton), leaves him, and his focus does not waver: He will keep his son. Tom Hagen (Duvall), the most trusted confidant of father and son, considered a brother, is finally even suspected. In Michael’s life, paranoia is a useful defense mechanism.

Coppola shows Michael breaking down under the pressure. We remember that he was once a proud war hero, a successful college student, building a legitimate lifestyle. But on their wedding day, Kay first began to fully realize what an all-controlling cocoon the Corleone clan was. There would always be things she could not be told about, could not be trusted with. Finally Michael has no one to tell or trust except his elderly mother ( Morgana King ). Michael’s desperation in that intense conversation explains everything about the film’s final shot.

So “Part II” is finally a sad film, a lament for loss, certainly. It is a contrast with the earlier film, in which Don Corleone is seen defending old values against modern hungers. Young Vito was a murderer, too, as we more fully see in the Sicily and New York scenes of Part II. But he had grown wise and diplomatic, and when he dies beside the tomato patch, yes, we feel regret. An age has closed. We feel no regret at Michael’s decline. The crucial difference between the two films is that Vito is sympathetic, and Michael becomes a villain. That is not a criticism but an observation.

The “best films” balloting on IMDb.com lacks credibility because popularity is the primary criteria. But hundreds of thousands do indeed vote, and as I write the top four films, in order, are “ The Shawshank Redemption ,” “The Godfather,” “ The Dark Knight ” and “The Godfather: Part II.” Of all of the reviews I have ever written, my three-star review of “Part II” has stirred the most disagreement. Sometimes it is simply cited as proof of my worthlessness. I’ve been told by many that “Part II” is a rare sequel that is better than the original. Have I changed my mind? No. I have read my review of “Part II” and would not change a word.

Then why is it a “great movie”? Because it must be seen as a piece with the unqualified greatness of “The Godfather.” The two can hardly be considered apart (“Part III” is another matter). When the characters in a film take on a virtual reality for us, when a character in another film made 30 years later can say “The Godfather” contains all the lessons in life you need to know, when an audience understands why that statement could be made, a film has become a cultural bedrock. No doubt not all of the gospels are equally “good,” but we would not do without any of them.

“The Godfather: Part II” then becomes a film that everyone who values movies at all should see. And as I write this, it can be seen in astonishingly good prints. The “Godfather” trilogy has been painstakingly digitally restored by Robert Harris , a master in his field. I have seen the restored “Godfather” in the new 35mm print and “Part II” in the new Blu-ray DVD. Having first seen both at their world premieres, I would argue that they have never looked better. For films of such visual richness, that is a reason to rejoice.

And now I come back to the music. More than ever, I am convinced it is instrumental to the power and emotional effect of the films. I cannot imagine them without their Nino Rota scores. Against all our objective reason, they instruct us how to feel about the films. Now listen very carefully to the first notes as the big car drives into Miami. You will hear an evocative echo of Bernard Hermann’s score for “ Citizen Kane ,” another film about a man who got everything he wanted and then lost it.

Note: The newly restored 35mm prints of the first and second parts will be screened at the Music Box, 3733 N. Southport. “Part I” plays today through Oct. 9 (except Monday), and “Part II” plays Oct. 10-16. A Blu-ray set of the trilogy is now available.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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The Godfather, Part II (1974)

200 minutes

Diane Keaton as Kay

Robert DeNiro as Don Vito Corleone

John Cazale as Fredo Corleone

Lee Strasberg as Hyman Roth

G.D. Spradlin as Senator Geary

Talia Shire as Connie

Michael V. Gazzo as Frankie Pentangeli

Bruno Kirby as Young Clemenza

Abe Vigoda as Tessio

Produced by

• Gray Frederickson

Screenplay by

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• Francis Ford Coppola

Cinematography by

• Gordon Willis

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The Godfather Reviews

This magnificent multigenerational mafia drama represents a benchmark not just in crime movies but in American cinema as a whole.

Full Review | Aug 16, 2023

The Godfather works like a masterfully conducted orchestra, whose immaculate symphony is a meticulously crafted and extraordinarily integral thread in the fabric of cinema history.

Full Review | Jun 8, 2023

... Villains and criminals that fulfill the American dream with complete disregard for the American way. A contradiction that engenders gods. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Jun 24, 2022

Now half a century old, Francis Ford Coppola's revered New Hollywood masterpiece has one of the best-known final shots in film history - but it almost had a much more Catholic ending.

Full Review | Apr 8, 2022

A cultural milestone.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Mar 26, 2022

The Godfather is as much about America, and the American experience, as any other great movie is (50th anniversary)

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Mar 25, 2022

Skepticism of American exceptionalism is far more commonplace now than it was when The Godfather was first released. But the fragility of the American Dream was revealing itself as the illusion it had always truly been.

Full Review | Mar 19, 2022

The Godfather films have set home-video standards for decades, and that trend continues with Paramounts astonishing 4K restorations.

Full Review | Mar 18, 2022

50 years after its release on March 24, 1972, The Godfather is now and forever, one of the greats.

Full Review | Mar 17, 2022

An engrossing metaphor for American capitalism, watching the film on the big screen emphasises the majesty of Coppolas work.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Mar 11, 2022

It is a gangster film without any of the pity and hatred we might feel towards such aliens in our midst, because it recognises that in all of us there is the ignition towards power and criminality.

Full Review | Mar 7, 2022

The Godfather justifies every minute of its extravagant running time.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Feb 25, 2022

For all its graphic violence, the movie was—unlike the novel it was based on—no mere exercise in popcorn sensationalism; it was emotionally complex, tragic, melancholy, definitely for grownups.

Full Review | Feb 24, 2022

As the doomy burnish of Gordon Willis’s photography captures the darkened souls of the Corleones, the effect is flat-out mesmeric.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Feb 24, 2022

The Godfather is the most memorable, most influential, most quoted, most beloved, most discussed, most imitated, most revered and most entertaining American movie ever made.

Full Review | Feb 23, 2022

Five decades later, The Godfather still resonates with the paradigm shifts from one generation to the next, still influences one filmmaker after another, and continues to be the foundation of a lasting mythology.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 20, 2022

The Godfather is a rarity in film as every element off and on screen work here.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 18, 2022

There is simply not a character introduced or exchange of words or looks that doesn't inform or add.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Feb 10, 2022

Marlon Brando gives a bravura, dusty-voice performance in the title role as the Sicilian who harvests favours from all comers, only to ask them to be paid back.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jan 17, 2022

The Godfather redefined concepts of Mob movies by standing out artistically, and that comes partly from its distinct look, as deep browns and blacks contrast with light and golden tints reminiscent of Caravaggio...violence and beauty indelibly combine.

Full Review | Aug 11, 2021

From 1972: ‘The Godfather’ is a film ‘close to the soul of modern man’

Editor’s note: “The Godfather” was released 50 years ago this month. This review appeared in America on March 25, 1972. The original grammar and style elements are preserved here.

Often films set at some distance lend a perspective to the here and now; they allow us to step back from our everyday skin to see who we really are. Bergman, for example, used a medieval knight in The Seventh Seal (1956) to reveal the crisis of faith in post-Christian Europe, and Robert Gardner, in Dead Birds (1963), used a primitive tribe of warriors in New Guinea to reveal the pathetic madness of a people, who like ourselves, have come to accept war as a normal way of life. And now The Godfather . How remote from actual experience, this world of violence and treachery, and yet how close to the soul of modern man.

With The Godfather , Francis Ford Coppola, at 33 years of age, has become a major new talent among American directors.

The mafiosi , murderers and extortionists all, emerge from the film as believable people, when they might easily have become comic gangsters or monsters. Their world tips wildly from the orbit of normalcy; it is a closed world, where their ghastly brutal work is considered an ordinary way to support a family. In the idyllic Sicily sequence, the quaint customs, the fierce family loyalties and the rigid patriarchal formality have a rustic lovely charm; in the New York underworld they are pathetic anachronisms. Yet it is precisely these grotesque rural customs that humanize the members of the famiglia . They are human in the midst of a sordid world, and they do what they must to survive. That is their way, and perhaps the way of all of us.

Don Vito Corleone, meaning lionhearted, is an aging racketeer whose empire and health both show the stress of old age. Brando brings depth and sensitivity to the part, but because of his long established “star” quality he has taken too much of the prerelease publicity. Al Pacino, as his son Michael, gives a virtuoso performance which should bring him instant recognition. He is an idealistic college graduate, marked for a career in the foreign land outside the mob, but gradually the destructive world of his father overwhelms him in its evil. He matures both in humanity and ruthlessness to become a calculating killer and worthy heir to the Don's empire.

At three hours,  The Godfather is by any reasonable standard too long to sustain interest, but most viewers will be sorry to see it end. 

With The Godfather , Francis Ford Coppola, at 33 years of age, has become a major new talent among American directors. Two sequences in particular are set pieces of editing and directing, and are even more remarkable because of their different styles. During a baptism at which Michael is godfather, his men plan and execute a series of assassinations designed to consolidate his power over the other famiglie . The ceremony drags on endlessly, but the intercutting of the preparations for the murders builds a palpable tension. The explosion of violence at the end of the sequence snaps the tension; it is almost a relief to end it all despite the horror of the bloodletting.

The second sequence, by contrast, is a tender, loving family portrait of Don Corleone and his infant grandson playing together in the garden of his estate. The Don is weak, but with his grandchild he appears perfectly at peace with himself. At this moment, when he appears most fully human, he dies quietly and gently, alone with his grandchild and his flowers. Alone, each of the two scenes is a cameo of directorial art; together they show Coppola's immense versatility.

Nino Rota, who prepared the music for all of Federico Felliní's great films, blends Italian folk themes and America kitsch of the 194O's into an effective comment on the dramatic action.

Richard A. Blake, S.J., served as managing editor and executive editor of America and director of the Catholic Book Club, as well as America 's regular film reviewer for many decades. He is the author of  Afterimage: The Indelible Catholic Imagination of Six American Filmmakers , among other books.

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The godfather, common sense media reviewers.

The classic tale of a Mafia family, violence and all.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Movie explores double standards and hypocrisy of t

Positive aspects of Italian American life and cult

The Godfather relies on -- and firmly cemented in

Constant mob movie violence. Characters shot and k

Brief nudity (breasts), brief sex scene (fully clo

"Bastards," "goddamn," "son of a bitch," "ass," "h

Wine drinking. Cigarette smoking. Talk of marijuan

Parents need to know that The Godfather is the classic, genre-defining Mafia movie in which Marlon Brando plays the titular character, who's facing grave threats from rival families. Unsurprisingly, there's constant violence. Characters are shot and killed, often at close range in graphic scenes. Characters…

Positive Messages

Movie explores double standards and hypocrisy of the Mafia characters, as they profess to be religious, and family- and friend-centered, but their actions ultimately come down to "just business," no matter who gets hurt or killed. As in other Godfather movies, a theme is hypocrisy of American life: People successful and/or religious and family-oriented on one level are also cutthroat, willing to do whatever is necessary to provide for their families.

Positive Role Models

Positive aspects of Italian American life and culture are overshadowed by Mafia killings and double-crossing.

Diverse Representations

The Godfather relies on -- and firmly cemented in the public's mind -- the stereotype of Italian Americans as violent gangsters. Despite this, characters are shown with depth. Southern Italian and Sicilian culture, as it was brought over by immigrants from late 19th and early 20th century, is shown at length.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Constant mob movie violence. Characters shot and killed, often at close range and graphic. Attempted killings by gun. Characters choked to death. Character killed by a bomb in a car. Man stabbed in the hand with a knife. Domestic abuse: man shown beating his wife with a belt. Opening scene concerns a man asking Don Corleone for vengeance on two men who raped and violently beat his daughter. Movie executive wakes up covered in blood, with decapitated horse head in his bed.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Brief nudity (breasts), brief sex scene (fully clothed). At Connie's wedding, women at a table giggle while one makes reference to the size of Sonny's penis. Sonny is shown having sex with his mistress -- in their clothes, but audible. Reference to how Fredo is "banging cocktail waitresses two at a time."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

"Bastards," "goddamn," "son of a bitch," "ass," "hell," "bitch." Sonny uses the "N" word at the dinner table. Mafia don equates Black people with "animals." Ethnic slurs are used to describe German, Irish, and especially Italian Americans. Vito uses an Italian homosexual slur.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Wine drinking. Cigarette smoking. Talk of marijuana and heroin, and of the Mafia moving into drug trafficking.

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Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Godfather is the classic, genre-defining Mafia movie in which Marlon Brando plays the titular character, who's facing grave threats from rival families. Unsurprisingly, there's constant violence. Characters are shot and killed, often at close range in graphic scenes. Characters are strangled to death and die in car explosions. Domestic abuse is shown: A man beats his wife with a belt. In one of many iconic scenes, a movie executive wakes up covered in blood, with a decapitated horse's head in his bed. In the opening scene, a man asks Don Corleone for vengeance after two men raped and beat his daughter. Ethnic and racial slurs are heard, as well as some profanity, including the "N" word. The movie also depicts Italian American culture in a sympathetic but crude and stereotypical light. Characters smoke cigarettes and drink wine, and there's brief nudity (female breasts) and a scene of clothed but audible sex. References are made to the sexual behavior of Sonny ( James Caan ) and Fredo ( John Cazale ). To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (58)
• Kids say (194)

Based on 58 parent reviews

Violence, mafia and brief nudity it is still as must watch for everybody

Slow and methodical masterpiece depiction of sociopathy, what's the story.

THE GODFATHER follows the Corleone family and their rapidly multiplying troubles. Don Corleone ( Marlon Brando ) is on his way out, and his most promising, but unwilling, potential heir is his war-hero son, Michael ( Al Pacino ). As family members cope with the trials of gangster life, the latent power structures of society and family become evident.

Is It Any Good?

Epic in scope while maintaining a patience and intimacy characteristic of European art cinema, this film is rightly considered one of the greatest ever made. Despite valid questions around its role in perpetuating stereotypes of Italian Americans, The Godfather continues to influence producers of films, TV shows, and video games decades after its release. Nino Rota's score, the sumptuous set design, and Brando's raspy pseudo-whisper have become part of our collective cultural memory.

The film has an operatic quality, yet it's more understated than it is flamboyant. It takes its subjects seriously, bestowing legitimacy upon the power struggles of the Mafia normally reserved for classical themes in high art. The film's release initiated a period when American filmmakers dared to take themselves and their artistic ambitions seriously (perhaps too seriously). There's something deeply resonant in the film's treatment of filial piety, the need for respect, and our culture's abiding interest in the parallel moral universe of the Mafia.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about classic movies. The Godfather is considered to be one of the greatest movies of all time. What makes a movie not only great, but a classic? How do you think it set the standard for the Mafia movies and TV shows to come?

How does the movie's violence serve to show what these characters are capable of in order to get what they want?

How does the movie explore hypocrisy, not only among the Corleones, but in society as a whole?

How does the movie depict Italian Americans? Do you think this was accurate? How do movies like this shape how people think about specific cultures and groups of people?

Movie Details

• In theaters : March 11, 1972
• On DVD or streaming : May 9, 2017
• Cast : Al Pacino , James Caan , Marlon Brando
• Director : Francis Ford Coppola
• Studio : Paramount Pictures
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : History
• Run time : 175 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : Violence, Language
• Last updated : April 23, 2024

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A ‘Godfather’ Guide: How Francis Ford Coppola’s Trilogy Has Evolved

The newly re-edited version of “Part III” is the latest in a string of editions of the sprawling Corleone tale. Here’s a primer.

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By Rob LeDonne

The director Francis Ford Coppola is releasing his reimagined version of “Part III” of the “Godfather” saga this month, now called “Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone.” It’s hardly the first time he’s returned to the iconic series. From the 1972 drama that started it all to sequels and restorations, Coppola and audiences alike couldn’t help but revisit the trials and tribulations of the Corleones as the years unfolded. Here’s a guide to the films and their different cuts:

‘The Godfather’

Based on the runaway best seller written by Mario Puzo (it was the first paperback to ever sell six million copies), the movie that changed both filmmaking and perceptions of gangster culture was an instant hit. “Francis Ford Coppola has made one of the most brutal and moving chronicles of American life ever designed within the limits of popular entertainment,” Vincent Canby, the New York Times chief film critic, raved when the film was released in 1972. The drama became the highest-grossing film of the year and, at that point, ever. Largely considered among the best movies of all time (the American Film Institute ranked it No. 2 behind “Citizen Kane”), it garnered 11 Academy Award nominations, taking home three: adapted screenplay, picture, and actor for Marlon Brando’s performance as Don Vito Corleone.

‘The Godfather Part II’

No movie ever had “Part II” in the title before, a renegade concept added at the behest of Coppola. And its sprawling story, ranging across the 20th century from Italy to New York, California and elsewhere, transcended the mere gangster film and lives as a uniquely American epic, complete with a re-creation of an immigrant’s journey through Ellis Island. A box-office hit that successfully turned Robert De Niro into a Hollywood star, the sequel collected 11 Academy Award nominations and won six, including supporting actor for De Niro, along with director and picture. It was the first film follow-up to win the top prize, effectively cementing the allure of the movie sequel.

‘The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television’

As the first two films reverberated throughout popular culture, their impact was bolstered by the power of television. NBC originally shelled out a reported $10 million in 1974 just for “Part I,” resulting in the biggest TV audience for a theatrical release at the time. Coppola, in need of money to help bankroll what would become his next masterpiece, “Apocalypse Now,” brainstormed an entirely new “Godfather” experience in 1977, recutting the first two films with the editor Barry Malkin. They toned down the violence, added scenes originally left on the cutting-room floor, and presented the story in sequential order in lieu of the epic’s time-shifting narrative. Later released on VHS, licensed by HBO, AMC and Amazon Prime throughout the years and marketed under numerous titles (“The Godfather Epic,” “The Godfather Saga”), this version, too, was acclaimed. “The chronological rejiggering works extremely well,” The Times’s television critic, John J. Connor, wrote in his 1977 review, adding that the reimagining, “in some ways, constitutes a pronounced improvement.”

‘The Godfather Part III’

Coppola has readily admitted that he was strapped for cash when Paramount Pictures coerced him into orchestrating another installment of the Corleone chronicles. While its story is just as grand as the others, including an art-imitating-life subplot about a Vatican in debt, the production was rushed, its over-the-top action scenes were reminiscent of the recent hit “Die Hard,” and when Winona Ryder dropped out at the 11th hour, the infamously inexperienced Sofia Coppola (Francis Ford Coppola’s 18-year-old daughter) stepped in to play the ill-fated Mary. The movie received mixed reviews from critics and posted lackluster box-office results. And while the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, it walked away empty-handed.

‘The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration’

With Coppola’s gold signature on the box, Paramount released this strictly technical restoration of the theatrical versions of the series for home video. Spearheaded by the film historian and preservationist Robert A. Harris, this refresh further showcased the work of the cinematographer Gordon Willis and his distinctive, stunning visuals, whether in dim interiors or the shimmering Miami sun. It’s this version that Paramount subsequently released in various special home-video box sets, like a 2017 limited “Omérta” edition and a 2019 “Corleone Legacy” edition for Blu-ray.

‘Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone’

Coppola took the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the third installment to vent his frustration in the editing suite. He shuffled and snipped the derided original cut and even retitled the picture, which became available Tuesday in digital and Blu-ray formats . “It was really our intention to make it a summing-up and an interpretation of the first two movies, rather than a third movie,” he explained in a recent Times interview with Dave Itzkoff. The result? A less-convoluted film tweaked to pack a bigger emotional punch. Then again, fans of “The Godfather” don’t need much prodding to spend more time with the Corleones.

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The Godfather Review

24 Aug 1972

175 minutes

Godfather, The

It could be argued that Francis Ford Coppola's film of Mario Puzo's bestseller, at once an art movie and a commercial blockbuster, marked the dawn of the age of the mega-movie. Appropriately, the film is about a similar transition in organised crime, as the gentlemanly but sinister world of Don Vito (Brando) is eclipsed by the more brutal and expedient organisation represented by the doomed Sonny (Caan) and the calculating Michael (Pacino).

The old gangster movie is represented by Richard Conte and Sterling Hayden in bit parts, while Brando's cotton-cheeked patriarch represents everything about old Hollywood that Coppola aspired to. The younger generation is represented by the then fresh, exciting talents who remain respected names in their profession (Pacino, Robert Duvall, Caan, Diane Keaton). This is a film that has entered popular culture: even if you've never seen it, you know the lines ("Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes"), and some of the scenes (the horse's head). But there's more to it than moments imprinted on the psyche.

With a period setting evoked by amber-tinted photography and Nino Rota's elegantly decadent score, The Godfather has dated a lot less than most films of the early 70s. It paces itself deliberately, making its moments of action and horror more telling for the leisurely paths it weaves between them. With performances, style and substance to savour, this shows how it is possible to smash box office records without being mindless.

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Newly Re-Edited, “The Godfather: Part III” Is the Masterpiece It Already Was

By Richard Brody

There’s a Serbian proverb that an idled priest would baptize goats; Francis Ford Coppola , whose formidable artistry has unfortunately not been channelled toward making a new movie for quite a while, is instead turning back to tinker with his earlier work. He did so last year with “Apocalypse Now” and has now done so again, to greater effect, with “The Godfather: Part III.” It’s back, in his new cut (available digitally and on Blu-ray) under the heavy-duty new title “Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone.” The re-edited version is a puckish paradox: it is only slightly different from the original—yet, now, this movie, which was widely derided at the time of its release, in 1990, is being acclaimed by a (mainly) new generation of critics, even if not quite as the masterwork that some of us knew it to be from the start.

As a reminder, “The Godfather: Part II” ended with Michael (Al Pacino) supreme, guilt-ridden, and alone atop the Corleone empire of crime, which he resolves to leave and go straight. In “Part III,” Michael, having divested himself of his criminal enterprises, makes a six-hundred-million-dollar “contribution” to cover up the Vatican Bank’s losses in exchange for a promise to head the Vatican’s vastly lucrative international real-estate business. His son, Anthony (Franc D’Ambrosio), defies him to become an opera singer; his daughter, Mary (Sofia Coppola), who runs his entirely legitimate family foundation, falls in love with the hotheaded gangster Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia), her first cousin. (He’s the illegitimate son of Michael’s late brother Sonny.) Vincent’s conflict with a local Mafia capo, Joey Zasa (Joe Mantegna), leads to a Mob war that threatens the Corleones, forcing Michael to retake bloody control of the crime family. Meanwhile, Michael’s promised Vatican enterprise is threatened by the Vatican’s internal political chicanery—which turns out to be equally dominated by the Mafia—and the two webs of criminal conflict get tangled up in a colossal and horrific maelstrom of violence.

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In the new version, the story is identical; so, for that matter, are its emphases. The main changes to the film are seen at the beginning, where Coppola has eliminated the sumptuous papal knighting of Michael and replaced it with an in-chambers discussion between Michael and Archbishop Gilday (Donal Donnelly), which sets the quid pro quo of his “contribution.” In the middle of the film, Coppola has eliminated a brief scene between Michael and the aged Don Altobello (Eli Wallach). The one emotionally and dramatically significant re-edit is to the movie’s very ending—we’ll get to that. Yet over all, these edits are inconsequential both for the plot or the affect of “The Godfather: Part III,” and it’s hard to imagine why a viewer who disliked the film in its original version would be moved to enthusiasm by the new one, or why anyone who admired the original would be disappointed by the recut. The real story of the reissue and restoration of “Part III” is, rather, why the film was received so poorly in 1990 and why, now, with negligible adjustments, its time has come.

There’s a carefully parsed opulence to Coppola’s direction of “Part III”; the film’s tautly controlled turbulence guides the eye to salient details, its clarified lines of dramatic tension calmly burst into images of an explosive yet nearly static intensity. I’m haunted by several key moments in the film (both versions): Michael looming over Joey Zasa in their first backroom confrontation; the quietly fiery intimacy between Mary and Vincent in a restaurant-kitchen scene; the deadly exchange of glances between Mary and Michael after Vincent pushes her away on his orders; the gory ingenuity of an attempted bedroom hit on Vincent; the audacious staging of another gory scene, of a big Mob hit in a ballroom; and, above all, the kitchen scene in which Michael keeps his cool about the killings but delivers, with heat, the single greatest line in the whole “Godfather” cycle, an enduring bit of existential poetry: “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”

Coppola had made other films in between “Part II” and “Part III” that are far ahead of where he’d been at the time of the early-seventies diptych—in particular, “ One from the Heart ,” “ Tucker: The Man and His Dream ,” and “Rumble Fish.” They weren’t commercially successful (and he had sunk his own money into “One from the Heart,” which was both thrillingly original and a box-office disaster). In his subsequent career to date, Coppola has had only one other flare of such audacious and original directorial accomplishment, the absurd and glorious image-frenzy of the film he made after “Part III,” “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” from 1992, which may also have been the last best flourish of practical, optical, scenographic effects, just ahead of the C.G.I. revolution. By contrast,“The Godfather: Part III” is directed quite as well as the first two films in the series—no differently and no better, which is a terrible thing to say about a sixteen-year span in the career of a great filmmaker. On the other hand, the stylistic continuity among the three installments is one of the reasons for “Part III” ’s belated acclaim, now, with its reissue. The kind of romantic classicism that Coppola’s grandiose and meticulous style embodies—along with its conspicuous professionalism—is very much in vogue now, owing both to nostalgia for a time, so recent yet so distant, when Hollywood made such substantial movies on such high budgets, and to the generalized shift (at a time when a mere foothold on stability in the arts is woefully rare) from idealizing the struggling outsider to hailing the insider who has found or forged a place in the world.

The difference between “Part III” and the first two films isn’t in style; it’s that, with the third film, Coppola was passionately interested in his subject. The first two “Godfathers,” made during the age of the Vietnam War and Watergate, reflect a generalized recognition that American self-congratulatory mythology was a hollow veneer; they tore away the veil of civic virtue to show that gangsters are us, that corporate power and Mafia power were indissociable. In “Part III,” Coppola did with and to the Catholic Church what he’d previously done with and to American mythology. Where “Part I” and “Part II” tapped into a general Zeitgeist of disillusionment (which accounts significantly for its success), “Part III,” though a box-office success, is a much more personal film, with a political and emotional engine that is Coppola’s alone. In “Part III,” Coppola challenges the religion in which he was raised; he confronts the rituals of the Church, the hierarchy on which it depends, the virtual cult of personality—running in a chain from the parish priest to the archbishop to the Pope—on which it is based, and even the Church’s very notion of a mediated relationship to God. (It’s no coincidence that the movie’s voice of conscience is Michael’s ex-wife, Kay, the daughter of a Baptist minister; she’s played by Diane Keaton.) The movie is an audacious, self-scourging drama of a crisis of faith.

The movie’s theological passion is inseparable from another, obviously personal aspect of the film, one that’s too painful and intimate even to discuss in detail: the crucial dramatization (spoiler alert!) of the death of a child and of the guilt that comes with a parent’s grief. It’s a horror that Coppola and his wife, the writer and filmmaker Eleanor Coppola, endured, with the death of their son Gian-Carlo, in a boating accident, in 1986; what’s more, Gian-Carlo had been part of the family business, working with Francis Ford Coppola on the production of “Gardens of Stone” at the time of his death. The death of Mary is “Part III” ’s climactic incident, its tragic culmination—but the role of Mary, played by Coppola’s daughter, Sofia, who was nineteen years old and a nonprofessional actor, was the focus of critical hostility toward the movie at the time of its release.

Sofia had appeared in bit parts in many of her father’s previous films but never in a major dramatic role. In “Part III,” she was called on at the last minute to replace one of the most acclaimed young actors of the time, Winona Ryder, who withdrew from the role of Mary because of illness. Sofia Coppola’s performance was wrongly, absurdly, frenetically reviled by many critics at the time of the film’s release (though not by Pauline Kael , who wrote, in The New Yorker , that Coppola “has a lovely and unusual presence; she gives the film a breath of life” and added, “I grew to like her.”) Her tremulously expressive performance, which seemed so idiosyncratically low-key and indeed unusual, comes off now as utterly contemporary, in the same vein as the younger generation of actors who have populated Sofia Coppola’s own films and many low-budget independent films of the past decade.

The dreadful scene of Mary’s death moves swiftly to the ending of “Part III,” and that ending, in “The Godfather, Coda,” is indeed radically—yet infinitesimally—different. Despite the new title of the new version, Michael doesn’t die. The aged Michael, sitting alone in his garden in Sicily, doesn’t keel over; instead, he is condemned to live—and to remember—as a newly added title card explains, with wry and bitter irony, that “a Sicilian never forgets.” (Moreover, in the original, flashbacks show the aged Michael recalling Mary and his other loves in their youth, including Kay and his first wife, Apollonia; in the recut, his thoughts are only of Mary.) In 1990, with “Part III,” Coppola, barely in his fifties, imagined the consolation and the deliverance of death, and endured a cinematic terror that played like his “To be or not to be” moment, his confrontation with the horrific prospect that death would nonetheless be no relief. Now, thirty years later, Michael is cursed with a long life—and has borne the long sentence of too much time on his hands, too much time to fill with one tormenting memory. Coppola has remade the ending to fold himself back, agonizingly, into the very substance of the film.

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The 10 Most Underrated Characters in 'The Godfather' Trilogy, Ranked

A movie that doesn't spend time with its underrated characters can never be a real movie.

Francis Ford Coppola 's The Godfather changed the formula of the traditional gangster genre and is considered by many as one of the greatest films of all time. It led to an equally and perhaps more favorable sequel, The Godfather: Part II , which follows Al Pacino 's character, Michael Corleone, and his rise to power as head of the Corleone family; meanwhile, flashbacks show a young Vito Corleone, played by Robert De Niro , building his family dynasty. Despite not holding a candle to the first two films, the third movie concludes Michael's reign, and even though some fans wish it never existed, it still has some minor value to the iconic trilogy.

Based on the best-selling novels by Mario Puzo , all three Godfather films feature intriguing and well-developed characters, including Sonny Corleone ( James Caan ) and Hyman Roth ( Lee Strasberg ). Still, supporting characters like Connie Corleone ( Talia Shire ) and Michael's Sicilian bodyguard and friend, Caló ( Franco Citti ), are highly underrated and overlooked by many fans of the franchise. These are the most underrated characters from The Godfather trilogy , proving that this ruthless and riveting saga is populated by some of the cinema's most compelling figures.

10 Don Osvaldo Altobello

Played by eli wallach.

The Godfather: Part III doesn't compare to the first two films, but it does have some redeeming qualities, such as the legendary star, Eli Wallach , who plays the main antagonist, Don Osvaldo "Ozzie" Altobello. A close ally of the Corleone family, Altobello is even Connie Corleone's ( Talia Shire ) godfather, earning him a sacred spot in the clan. Unfortunately, Altobello takes advantage of this honor and tries to use the Corleone family's trust to throw suspicion off of his true intentions.

Michael eventually catches on to Altobello's hidden agenda and gives him a taste of his own medicine with the help of his little sister. Similar to the first film, Altobello is tactical in using Joey Zasa ( Joe Mantegna ) as his frontman to elude any suspicion. Altobello's cheerful, frail demeanor fades as Michael uncovers his plot. Wallach's legacy as a Western actor and influential figure in the industry and his convincing portrayal of the character's backstabbing nature earn Altobello a spot as one of the most underrated characters in The Godfather trilogy .

The Godfather Part III

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9 Vincent Mancini

Played by andy garcia.

In The Godfather: Part III , Andy Garcia gives one of his best performances as Vincent Mancini, the illegitimate son of Michael's oldest brother, Sonny, who is very much like his late father. Aside from having Sonny's hot-headed temper and womanizing ways, Vincent shares similar characteristics to Michael's middle brother, Fredo ( John Cazale ). Vincent doesn't always know how to read the room and has his fair share of vices, but he is also sensitive and has an empathetic side.

Garcia's character is another one of the few positive qualities of the third film . As Michael tries to legitimize the family, he soon realizes he needs someone like Vincent, who is willing to resort to violence and bloodshed to protect the Corleone family. While Vincent has his flaws, he understands that no matter what Michael does, there's no escaping their family's past and those who want to destroy them. Although impulsive, Vincent learns from Uncle Michael and Aunt Connie and becomes more grounded, maturing into the next head of the Corleone family. Vincent's symbolical similarities to his father and uncle, plus his growth into becoming the future of the family, establishes him as one of the most underrated characters in the film franchise.

8 Kay Adams

Played by diane keaton.

Diane Keaton 's Kay Adams is one of few who appears in all three Godfather films, playing a significant role in Michael's rise and fall. Before Michael became head of the family, Vito approved Michael's relationship and future marriage with Kay mainly because he felt it would establish his image as an upstanding American citizen. When men try to kill Vito in the first film, Michael and Kay's relationship is put on indefinite hold. Despite a lack of communication and information, Kay shows her undying devotion to Michael by relentlessly trying to contact him while he's hiding in Sicily.

Kay does her best to believe her husband and his promises of legitimizing the family, but after a hit on Michael almost kills the family, she makes the difficult choice to leave him. Some would say Kay should have known what she was getting into, while others understand that she genuinely loved Michael and held out hope that things would change. Despite their messy end, Kay admits to Michael that she has and will always love him in The Godfather: Part III . Kay is a reminder of who Michael could have been and the life he may have had if things had turned out differently . Alas, she and the incredible Diane Keaton hardly ever get the recognition they deserve for their contributions to the saga.

The Godfather (1972)

7 don tommasino, played by corrado gaipa.

Don Tommasino, played by Corrado Gaipa , goes way back with the Corleone family and was Vito's trusted Sicilian friend who helped him take out his revenge against Don Cicco ( Guiseppe Sillato ). The incident leaves Tommasino permanently injured after being shot in the leg, but his lifelong loyalty to the Corleones never wavers. Tommasino's loyalty extends to Vito's youngest son, Michael, who, after executing Captain Mclusky and Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo, hides out in Sicily under Tommasino's protection.

Throughout Michael's stay in Sicily, Tommasino watches out for him like a son. Although Tommasino has no stake in the war against the Corleones and the other five families in New York, he still puts his life on the line for Michael, knowing that Vito would do the same for him. The unbreakable bond and honor Tommasino shows to his longtime friend is a rare commodity and the sole reason why he is one of the most underrated characters in the franchise.

6 Caló

Played by franco citti.

Caló ( Franco Citti ), one of Michael's bodyguards in Sicily, becomes his trusted friend, much like Vito and Tommasino. Michael's other bodyguard, Fabrizio ( Angelo Infanti ), is easily persuaded to betray him, and in a deleted scene from the second film, it is revealed that he was approached by the Barzini family to take out Michael in exchange for American citizenship. Caló was just as close to Michael as Fabrizio was and would have never betrayed Michael or his boss, Don Tommasino.

In an additional deleted scene, Fabrizio tries to find out who Michael is and why he's hiding out in Sicily. His questions are halted by Caló, who essentially tells him it's none of their business, showcasing another moment of Caló's loyalty and abiding by the laws of the Cosa Nostra. In The Godfather: Part III , Caló knowingly goes on a suicide mission as part of Michael's plan to kill those who have plotted against him. This action speaks volumes of Caló's unwavering loyalty and friendship to Michael. Caló's significant contributions to ensuring Michael's reign often go unnoticed , but he is a crucial part of the rising mafioso's success.

5 Genco Abbandando

Played by frank sivero.

Genco Abbandando ( Frank Sivero ) has a minimal part in the trilogy, and some fans may not realize how vital he was in Vito's initial rise to power and immense success . Audiences first meet Abbandando in The Godfather: Part II , as his father owns a local grocery store where Vito works. Vito is like a son to the Abbandandos, and Vito never forgets the kindness and respect they show him through the years.

After Vito kills Don Fannucci, he names the olive oil company after Genco, who becomes Vito's longtime and trusted consigliere and a key player in Vito's victory during the first mob war. In a deleted scene from the first movie, Vito and his family visit Abbandando at the hospital where he is dying. When Abbandando begs Vito to save him from death, Vito gently consoles his friend and stays by his bedside. Unfortunately, the movies didn't shed more light on the friendship between Vito and Abbandando , but even the minor moments they shared on the silver screen make him one of the most underrated characters in The Godfather trilogy.

The Godfather: Part II

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4 Frank Pentangeli

Played by michael v. gazzo.

Longtime friend and Corleone capo Frank "Frankie Five Angels" Pentangeli ( Michael V. Gazzo ) debuts in the second film, where he asks Michael's permission to take out the Rosato Brothers in New York. Michael refuses, apparently showing more loyalty to Hyman Roth ( Lee Strasberg ) than to his own family. However, Pentangeli still respects the Godfather's decision and leaves him with some words of advice that eventually ring true about Michael's newest business partner. Pentangeli is essentially a surrogate father figure to Michael and tries to teach him like Vito would have wanted him to instead of insulting or disobeying him.

When Pentangeli believes Michael took a hit on him, he fears for his life and becomes a government informant. Once he realizes Roth was behind the attack, he refuses to rat on Michael. Flipping is basically the worst thing anyone in the mob can do, and while many would think Michael would have him whacked, the situation isn't that black and white. Pentangeli back peddles his original statement, and after a visit from Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), he takes his life for Michael and his family, who will be taken care of after he's gone. Pentangeli's only major mistake is believing that Michael would betray him. Still, even when though turns state's witness, he sacrifices his life to set things right , making him one of the all-time most underrated characters in the trilogy.

3 Carmela Corleone

Played by morgana king.

Morgana King plays the matriarch of the Corleone family, Carmela Corleone. The epitome of a devoted Sicilian wife, she may not agree with her husband's line of work but still supports him, understanding his actions were the only way to provide for their family. While she doesn't speak against her husband, she isn't afraid to tell her children how it is, especially her youngest, Connie, whom she scolds for not spending enough time with her children in The Godfather: Part II . Much like her husband, Carmela firmly believes in the importance of family, putting them before herself.

Unlike Kay, Carmela accepts her husband's association with organized crime. Throughout their marriage, she has her fair share of experience with the dangers that come with it. In a deleted scene from The Godfather , Sonny informs his mother about Vito being shot, and instead of having a dramatic outburst or bursting into tears, she calmly asks her son if he is dead. Carmela fully acknowledges the dangers that come with her husband's business matters, refusing to let her emotions get the best of her as she knows she must remain strong for her family. While she may not be as outspoken or assertive as most modern American women like Kay, Carmela is the unsung hero of the Corleone family and one of the most underrated characters in The Godfather .

2 Connie Corleone

Played by talia shire.

The youngest Corleone child, Connie (Talia Shire), doesn't start as a very likable character in the first film, coming off as a spoiled, immature young woman stuck in an abusive marriage. After her husband's death, Connie struggles to fill a void in her life with a string of men, trying to run away from her turbulent past. By the middle of the second film, she realizes the errors of her ways and turns an enlightening corner. When Carmela passes away, audiences witness Connie adopting some of her mother's ways by trying to mend the relationship between her brothers, Michael and Fredo, and keep the family together.

By the third movie, Connie has fully transitioned into Michael's close confidant. She encourages him to take Vincent under his wing and accept his offer of protection, which eventually proves very useful. Connie establishes an admirable sense of independence and self-confidence that would have even impressed her father. Despite starting as a bit of a brat who only had herself to blame for the series of hardships and drama, Connie Corleone becomes a vital staple in her family and even has a bit of a fight left in her that reflects Michael's initial mindset, making her one of the most underrated characters in the whole trilogy.

Played by Richard Bright

Richard Bright , one of several stars from The Godfather to appear in The Sopranos , plays the loyal bodyguard, Al Neri, essentially Michael's Luca Brasi. Unlike most characters, Neri doesn't get any fancy introduction and just appears by Michael's side, where he remains for all three films. He initially proves his loyalty to the Corleone family by killing Emilio Barzini ( Richard Conte ) and his men. In the novel, Neri used to be a police officer, explaining his ability to be a convincing officer of the law to lure his prey into Michael's unsuspecting trap.

Neri is one of the few people Michael can fully trust , never giving his boss any reason to suspect him. The two can get a message to each other with a single look, such as when Michael pretends to forgive Fredo at their mother's funeral. Glancing up at Neri, Michael lets him and the audience know he hasn't changed his mind about his brother's betrayal. Neri is also very strategic, and in the third film, he skillfully places himself in the Vatican and effortlessly executes his target without drawing any attention to himself. Neri may not have many lines or solo scenes, but his effectiveness and unyielding loyalty to the Corleone family make him the most underrated character in The Godfather trilogy .

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AI Reimagines The Godfather With Mamootty, Mohanlal And Fahadh Faasil. Twitter Says, 'Unbelievable'

Updated Jun 27, 2023, 11:57 IST

Godfather Featuring Mammootty, Mohanlal And Fahadh Faasil

• The Godfather is one of the most recognised films in the world
• The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, among others
• Now, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has reimagined the cast with South stars Mammootty, Mohanlal and Fahadh Faasil

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Bheeshma Parvam review: Mammootty-starrer is a rousing tribute to The Godfather

The crime drama is directed by amal neerad..

Mammootty. (Photo Credits: Twitter)

Language: Malayalam | Director: Amal Neerad | Rating: 3.5

The opening scene in Bheeshma Parvam is far too familiar. A distraught mother and daughter-in-law seek the help of Michael Anjoottikaran to avenge the brutal murder of their son. But then Amal Neerad gives his own spin to that iconic scene from Godfather . The framing and composition is so exquisite that we immediately get the formidable aura of the man sitting in front of them. Michael with his hippie-esque hair and thick beard bordered on a face that has a set of grey eyes that seem to stare into your soul is slouched on a wooden sofa, dressed in his trademark black kurta-pajamas. Amal Neerad who made his directorial debut with Mammootty in 2007 with Big B, reunites with his favourite actor in a film that can be called as a rousing tribute to the Godfather. Maybe there are some elements of the Mahabharata also in Bheeshma Parvam that’s not very hard to catch.

The film is set in the late 80s (the production design is impeccable), in Mattanchery where the story will unfurl in and around a sprawling white bungalow. Michael is the ageing patriarch of the Anjoottikaran family, a large joint Christian family in Mattanchery. Though Michael has an elder brother, in the Anjoottikaran family, his word is final. It doesn’t take much time to figure out that there is enough resentment simmering within the family members. While his brother, Mathai is too weak to challenge his brother’s monarchy, his wife, Molly and sons, Peter and Paul aren’t thrilled to live under his rulebook. But they are too scared to confront him. There is a younger brother, Fr Simon whom Michael can’t see eye to eye and a sister Susan, who is in an abusive marriage. The conflict is provided by Fathima Ali who is the widow of Michael’s brother Paily and her sons, Ajas and Ami. You can witness a constant tussle between good and evil in the narrative. Between the evil “insiders” and the righteous “outsiders” in the family with the patriarch standing up for the outsiders. That way Michael’s declaration to his brothers and nephews that “they can kill him, but he will decide when he wants to die” is also a hat tip to Bheeshma Pitamah. Like Bheeshma Pitamah who is forced to provide for the Kauravas though his heart is with the Pandavas, Michael is also torn between his affection for Fathima and children and his duty towards his evil brothers.

Michael had to discontinue his law studies to take charge of his family after the sudden demise of his father (his backstory was a bit ambiguous). He chose to stay unmarried in spite of being in love with Alice. Years later we see a divorced Alice who is a regular visitor at his home. Her daughter and mother are used to seeing him around. Michael otherwise means business in his part of the world. The go-to man to fix any problem. He knows each and every member in his family well and keeps a check on their activities. There is a terrific scene when Michael gets up in the middle of a family photo shoot to give instructions to his man Friday to “carefully” hammer the people he seized. When he sees his nephew’s rude behaviour with his wife, Michael lets her know gently that she should help him with the family accounts. He is brutally dismissive of his priest brother, and you eventually understand why. When his sister asks his help to rescue her wayward husband, Michael agrees though he despises the way he treats her sister. Michael in short is the all-pervasive Messiah, his characterisation is a bit like that old jungle saying around Phantom— “Phantom is rough on rough necks.”

What makes the story captivating is that along with Michael, every supporting character gets an interesting narrative (Amal Neerad has co-written the film with newcome Devadath Shaji). Peter (Shine Tom Chacko) is temperamental, into drugs and blows money on film production. There are also hints that he is gay (it’s a terrifically staged scene). Meanwhile Paul is an idler and womaniser who is also flirting with the domestic help. Molly their mother is a nag, who is only looking out for her sons.

While Fathima is feeling indebted towards Michael, her sons Ajas (Soubin Shahir) and Ami (Sreenath Bhasi) are in awe of their uncle Michael. It’s also apparent that they have inherited some of their uncles’ traits. Though Ajas unlike Ami prefers to stay in the background, we are insinuated about the likelihood of a man who previously had an aggressive side and felt compelled to shed it to lead the life of a family man. Also interesting was the narrative around the antagonist, Rajan (Sudev Nair) and how it brings focus on his frail but venomous grandparents (played to perfection by Nedumudi Venu and KPAC Lalitha). Soubin Shahir makes a terrific comeback after a spate of dismal performances in recent times, while Sreenath Bhasi invited affection, just like Michael had for him. Shine Tom Chacko rarely goes wrong these days, and he was excellent.

Despite the familiar storyline, it’s in how brilliantly Amal Neerad mounts this revenge and redemption drama that makes Bheeshma Parvam such a compelling watch. There are terrific dialogues, scintillatingly framed and composed brief action set pieces, gorgeously choreographed montage songs, superb character detailing and enough “mass scenes” to render you rapturous. It’s been a while since a filmmaker has utilized the arresting screen presence of Mammootty with such a scintillating effect. Right from his opening shot, Mammootty is absolutely riveting as Michael, the gentle lion who has an unmistakable aura around him. The actor lends grandeur and formidability to Michael, leaving us in no doubt as to why the entire family fears and rallies around him. And he once again shows us why he is a master when it comes to voice modulation. This time Amal Neerad gets almost everything right.

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Home » News » Viral clip: Mohanlal, Mammootty, Fahadh Faasil shine in AI-reimagined The Godfather scene. Now we want full movie »

Viral clip: Mohanlal, Mammootty, Fahadh Faasil shine in AI-reimagined The Godfather scene. Now we want full movie

In the AI-reimagined version of The Godfather, Malayalam superstars Mohanlal, Mammootty, and Fahadh Faasil leave us astonished. 

• Team OTTplay

Last Updated: 11.17 AM, Jun 25, 2023

The potential of rapidly evolving AI technology knows no bounds. It allows us to envision our favourite stars in unique and captivating scenarios, even bringing them to life in iconic cinematic moments. A remarkable AI-generated video has reimagined the Malayalam superstars Mohanlal, Mammootty, and Fahadh Faasil, casting them in a pivotal scene from Francis Ford Coppola's legendary film, The Godfather.

This AI-rendered video transforms Mohanlal into Michael Corleone, Mammootty into Moe Greene, and Fahadh Faasil into Fredo Corleone. It's a scene where Michael attempts to seize control of Moe's Las Vegas casino leading to an intense confrontation. The little over one-minute video demonstrates the shrewdness of Michael, who drives a hard bargain and throws Moe off his game. Michael keeps changing the rules of the negotiations. One moment, he asks Moe to leave his family out of the negotiations and just "talk business." The next, he strikes terror in Moe's heart by bringing up how he treats his brother Freddie in public. 

Also Read: Thalapathy Vijay, Tamil cinema's best hope for Rs 1000 crore box office success

This reimagined scene is truly awe-inspiring and the believability of the video is fascinating and terrifying at once. Mohanlal as Michael Corleone is particularly outstanding. He appears thirty years younger, exuding charm with his sleekly brushed-back hair and impeccably tailored suit. Mammootty surprisingly fits the role of Moe Greene and Fahadh Faasil is a pitch-perfect choice for the role of Fredo Corleone. Those who generated this AI video deserve huge applause for their ability to pick the perfect cast. 

After catching a glimpse of this possibility, one cannot help but yearn for a fully realised AI version of The Godfather with other Malayalam actors. Perhaps someone can utilise the technology to envision Kamal Haasan as Vito Corleone, allowing us to witness the thrill of seeing Kamal channel Marlon Brando's iconic performance— a moment that remains etched in the annals of cinema history.

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‘megalopolis’ review: francis ford coppola’s passion project starring adam driver is a staggeringly ambitious big swing, if nothing else.

Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza and Shia LaBeouf star in an epic reimagining of the Roman Empire in modern-day New York City on the brink of ruin.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

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Much has been written about how Coppola ended up self-financing the opulently scaled feature, with a reported budget of $120 million, raised partly through the sale of a large piece of his wine empire. And reports circulated widely after a Los Angeles screening in March , attended by honchos of major studios and streaming platforms, that no suitor was stepping forward.

As the director of classics like the Godfather movies, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now , not to mention fondly remembered smaller pictures like Peggy Sue Got Married , Rumble Fish , The Outsiders and even failures that have since been positively reassessed, like One From the Heart , Coppola has accrued a lot of good will. That has endured even if his output in more recent years has been highly variable. The amusing self-deprecation of a couple of winking nods to his own grandiosity in Megalopolis also plays in his favor, as does the stirring dedication “For my beloved wife Eleanor,” who died last month.

So is it a distancing work of hubris, a gigantic folly, or a bold experiment, an imaginative bid to capture our chaotic contemporary reality, both political and social, via the kind of large-canvas, high-concept storytelling that’s seldom attempted anymore? The truth is it’s all those things.

It’s windy and overstuffed, frequently baffling and way too talky, quoting Hamlet and The Tempest , Marcus Aurelius and Petrarch, ruminating on time, consciousness and power to a degree that becomes ponderous. But it’s also often amusing, playful, visually dazzling and illuminated by a touching hope for humanity. “Don’t let the now destroy the forever,” says Cesar.

I can’t say I was always engaged over its two hours-plus run time, but I was always curious about where it was going next. Is it a good movie? Not by a long stretch. But it’s not one that can be easily dismissed, either.

The story’s nucleus is a Roman Empire footnote about Lucius Sergius Catiline, an aristocrat and aspiring consul attempting to overthrow the Republic with a plan to boot out the upper class and liberate the underclass from debt. Those Rome references translate smoothly enough to modern-day New York (renamed New Rome), in architectural echoes, in statuary and in inscriptions on monuments and buildings.

More significant is Cesar’s invention of a miraculous new cellular-level building material called Megalon, environmentally friendly and aesthetically boundless, with which he wants to rebuild the city and return it to the people. But the brilliant architect and urban planner has staunch opposition from the newly elected conservative mayor, Franklyn Cicero ( Giancarlo Esposito ), who inherited a fiscal disaster from the previous administration and wants to build a casino complex to boost revenue. Frank and rich cronies like his fixer Nush (Dustin Hoffman) want to stick with the “safe” option of concrete and steel.

There’s bad blood between Cesar and Frank going back to when the new mayor was the D.A. in charge of the murder investigation of Cesar’s wife (Haley Simms), who haunts both his dreams and his waking life. The animosity is not helped by Cesar publicly calling Frank “The Chief Slumlord.”

Cesar has a clandestine relationship with TV financial reporter Wow Platinum ( Aubrey Plaza ), who craves money and power and is tired of being hidden away as a mistress. She plots to marry New York’s wealthiest man, the doddery Hamilton Crassus III (Jon Voight), who also happens to be Cesar’s uncle; Wow’s end goal is to gain control of his bank. Plaza deploys her characteristic sardonic edge to good effect though the character is not particularly well-served by the story.

Julia’s resourcefulness comes in handy when Cesar lands in legal trouble over a fabricated sex scandal with one of the city’s Vestal Virgins. Don’t even ask. The architect of that sabotage is Cesar’s cousin Clodio ( Shia LaBeouf ), a narcissist besotted with Julia, whose rivalry with Cesar started when they were kids.

LaBeouf gives the movie’s drollest performance as a snaky narcissist who goes for gender-fluid fashion. “Revenge tastes best while wearing a dress,” Clodio says after he appears to have successfully smeared Cesar. Clodio also seizes on the discontent of the city’s lower classes to stoke his own political ambitions, rising quickly as a significant threat both to his cousin and the mayor.

Does all this hang together as a narrative? Not entirely, and it’s not likely to go down as one of the more incisive responses to our bitterly polarized political landscape. Nor does it ever quite settle on a uniform tone, frequently coming off as both earnest and silly. But it’s never bland, being far too extravagant for that. Who else among contemporary filmmakers is working on this kind of scale anymore, outside of tentpoles?

Familiar sites like Grand Central Station, City Hall and Central Park ground the movie in a recognizable Manhattan. (Roman Coppola was second unit director, while some of the 2001 footage shot by Ron Fricke also made it in.) And the noirish feel given to studio sets through deft use of light and shadow makes over the city in ways comparable to what Ridley Scott did with Los Angeles in Blade Runner . Cinematographer Mihai Mălaimare Jr. and production designers Bradley Rubin and Beth Mickle draw inspiration from fine art, photography, Escher graphics and cinema going back to Méliès.

The cast is generally solid, ably led by Driver in a role that’s part dreamer and part pragmatist, and Esposito as a reactionary man who may not be quite as rigid as he seems.

Talia Shire turns up as Cesar’s emotionally chilly mother; Laurence Fishburne brings gravitas to Cesar’s all-seeing driver, also tasked with a bunch of scholarly voiceover narration; and Chloe Fineman is fun as Clodio’s sister, an intimate of Julia’s who’s like a courtier at Versailles. Others like Jason Schwartzman as a member of the mayor’s entourage or Balthazar Getty as Clodio’s right-hand man have little to do.

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