The phenomenal critical and commercial success of Bonnie and Clyde in 1967 revived Hollywood’s and the American public’s interest in the crime-gangster movies.
Grade: A (***** out of *****)
More crime films were Oscar-nominated in the 1970s than in any previous decade. Moreover, three features won the Best Picture Oscar: the action-thriller “The French Connection,” in 1971, and the two Francis Ford Coppola crime sagas, “The Godfather” in 1972, and “The Godfather, Part Two,” in 1974. In 1990, the third and last segment, “The Godfather, Part Three,” also secured Best Picture nomination.
At first, Paramount was not enthusiastic about The Godfather; the studio had recently lost money on The Brotherhood, a Kirk Douglas Mafia movie. They therefore instructed Puzo to write a contemporary crime story. The studio then allocated a modest $2 million budget and hired Al Ruddy as producer and Francis Ford Coppola as director, both young (in early thirties) and inexperienced.
One of the fascinating contradictions of The Godfather is that although it is a story of crime, replete with violence and brutal killings, it is essentially a saga of a warm family adhering to its own moral codes, based on love and concern for each member.
The Corleones are a close-knit family, headed by Don Corleone as its undisputed patriarch; as played by Brando, he carries the authority and charisma of a religious leader. His voice is quiet and rasping, his chin sticks out, and men kiss his hand while seeking favors. But there is also remoteness and detachment–his watchful eyes reflect commanding and authority.
The opening shot of The Godfather sets the dark tone of the film, both thematically and visually. The look is muted and dim, while Don Corleone listens to the undertaker Bonasera (Salvatore Cirsitto), asks for help. Though his daughter was brutally raped by two non-Italians, the men have been pardoned by a judge, and Bonasera now pleads for justice. Listening without showing any overt emotion and stroking his white cat, Corleone reminds Bonasera of his previous lack of respect. Even so, But Bonasera is touching and the Don promises to “deal with” the rapists,” expecting the undertaker to return the favor one day.
The Don and his sons then go about the business of the day, attending the marriage of his daughter Connie (Talia Shire) to the bookmaker Carlo Rizzi (Gianni Russo). The Corleone mansion and the gardens are full of guests enjoying a lavish banquet and dancing to an Italian band.
It’s August 1945 and the Don’s youngest son, Michael (Al Pacino) has just returned home from WWII service, wearing the decorated uniform of a marine captain. Michael is accompanied by his WASPish girlfriend, Kay (Diane Keaton). College-educated and mild-mannered, Michael is his father’s hope that he will rise to legitimate prominence in politics.
Movie critics were uniform in praising the film for its resonant narrative, visual style, magnificent composition, flawless acting, and brilliant direction. But they wondered: How could they, as critics and gatekeepers, and the public, be so entertained by a film about the politics of organized crime?
For their part, the filmmakers claimed in response that it is not a documentary or condemnation of the Mafia, but a fictional story about people in a certain section of society.
The movie was a curious, but successful mix of creative fantasy and disguised facts, made even more bizarre by the well-publicized facts that dozens of hoodlums died in internecine warfare in New York, while the film was being made. The picture supported the familiar claim of the underworld, “We only kill each other,” which regrettably happens to be far from the truth.
The Mafia seemed to enjoy The Godfather as much as the general public, which alarmed some sociologists concerned about the moral impact of the film. Initially it was the Italian-American groups in New York who were most opposed to the film. Members of the underworld made known to Paramount that if the company expected to be able to shoot the film in New York, they would make it impossible unless the words “Mafia” and “Cosa Nostra” were not used in the screenplay.
The Italian-American Civil Rights League staged a rally in Madison Square Garden and raised $600,000 for the purpose of stopping the film. Interestingly, Frank Sinatra was a member of that movement, though the role of Johnny Fontane is widely believed to be patterned on his career.
Says producer Al Ruddy, “We had to get the word out to the Italian-American community in a very bona fide way that we had no intention of doing a schlock exploitation gangster film.” Ruddy met with prominent citizens and convinced them of his purpose, and in making the picture he received very little hindrance and considerable help.
The scene of Brando being gunned down in the street took three days to film the sequence. Dozens of other locations were used in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Richmond, where a side street in a residential area of Staten Island was used as the Corleone Family Mall. The location was further isolated by building an eight-foot wall around the garden of the house that was leased as the home of the family.
The Godfather offers a dark commentary on certain aspects–business world–of American life. He feels that it might even be taken as an allegory on corporate thinking, and that don Corleone is a somewhat perverse manifestation of the American Dream. He told Newsweek: “In a way the Mafia is the best example of capitalists we have. Don Corleone is just an ordinary business magnate who is trying to do the best he can for the group he represents and for his family… unlike some corporate heads, Corleone has an unwavering loyalty for the people that have given support to him and his causes and he takes care of his own.”
Bold and frank, Brando stated that he didn’t see much difference between the tactics of the Mafia and the American government, which brought him criticism. The Wall Street Journal pointed out that there must be a difference between the Cosa Nostra and Gulf and Western, who own Paramount, and a difference between machine-gunning or garroting someone, and hiring a detective to trail him.
If The Godfather is a glorification of free enterprise gone mad, the film also offers evidence that capitalism still works. The movie suggested (explicitly to some, implicitly to others) that the career of a gangster is not that different from that of a legit businessman or mainstream politician.
One of Coppola’s major accomplishments is to offer a seemingly contradictory perspective, both an inside and outside look of the Corleone family and its dynamics of operation. The inside, largely sympathetic view showed the love, respect and warmth of most of the family relations among credibly constructed individual characters, grounded in a particular socio-historical reality. On the other hand, the outside look offered a critical analysis of a criminal clan, motivated by dubious ethics and the use of illegitimate means (bloody violence) to achieve and maintain its dominance.
This kind of ambiguous morality and dual perspective struck a chord in the early to mid seventies due to the bloody, controversial Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal. President Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, the same year that The Godfather, Part Two was released.
Oscar Context
Credits
An Albert S. Ruddy Production, released by Paramount Pictures.
Produced by Albert S. Ruddy.
Associate Producer: Gary Frederickson.
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
Screenplay by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, based on the novel by Puzo.
Photographed in Technicolor by Gordon Willis.
Art direction by Warren Clymer.
Edited by William Reynolds and Peter Zinner.
Musical score by Nino Rota.
Running time: 176 minutes.
Cast:
Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando)
Michael Corleone (Al Pacino)
Sonny Corleone (James Caan)
Clemenza (Richard Castellano)
Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall)
McCluskey (Sterling Hayden)
Jack Woltz (John Marley)
Barzini (Richard Conte)
Kay Adams (Diane Keaton)
Sollozzo (Al Lettieri)
Tessio (Abe Vigoda)
Connie Rizzi (Talia Shire)
Carlo Rizzi (Gianni Russo)
Fredo Corleone (John Cazale)
Cuneo (Rudy Bond)
Johnny Fontane (Al Martino)
Mama Corleone (Morgana King)
Luca Brasi (Lenny Montana)
Paulie Gatto (John Martino)
Bonasera (Salvatore Corsitto)
Neri (Richard Bright)
Moe Greene (Alex Rocco)
Bruno Tattaglia (Tony Giogio)
Nazorine (Vito Scotti)
Theresa Hagen (Tere Livrano)
Phillip Tattaglia (Victor Rendina)
Lucy Mancini (Jeannie Linero)
Sandra Corleone (Julie Gregg)
Mrs. Clemenza (Ardell Sheridan)
Apollonia (Simonetta Stefanelli)
Fabrizio (Angelo Infanti)
Don Tommasino (Corrado Gaipa)
Calo (Franco Citti)
Vitelli (Saro Urzi)