Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Classic Revisited: The Godfather (1972)

The Plot
The movie shows the life of Sicilian gangsters settled in America. Vito Corleone is the most feared Don and he has all the politicians and decision makers in his pocket. He is surrounded by an entire entourage of other Dons who will die for his sake and consider him as their Godfather. The Don is busy even on his daughter's wedding day.

He has 3 sons, 1 daughter and 1 adopted son. Sonny, the eldest son is very short tempered and not a good family man. Tommy Hagen, the adopted son is the family's legal adviser and Michael, the youngest son is a war hero and a civilian. Due to the Don's stand against drugs he is incapacitated and shot badly by the Sollozzo gang. Sonny takes over the reigns. Michael takes revenge on Sollozzo and goes away for a while to their ancestral village Corleone where he marries a village belle.

Michael returns back to the US after his brother's brutal murder and his wife's murder in a blast and totally takes over in his own style. He marries his lover Kay. Vito Corleone also dies due to old age. Now Michael re-organizes and wipes out all his rivals and all his traitors. He is THE Don Corleone and the GODFATHER now ...


Hits

  • This movie is the inspiration to all the legendary Indian gangster movies made till date. Scores of Tamil movies starring superstars like Kamal and Rajini derive from The Godfather
  • Marlon Brando is perfect as the ageing gangster who wants to sort things out in a reasonable manner. Velunayakar ka bada baap :)
  • Al Pacino as the cold blooded and calculating Don is another menacing character.
  • James Caan as the aggressive and short tempered Sonny spews terror.
  • Robert Duvall as the ice cool legal adviser to the Corleone family is the perfect foil to the violent characters around him. 
  • All the supporting characters who come as Dons are all aptly cast and register themselves in our memory through their characters. Clemenza, Barzini, Brasi, Tessio, Fredo, Moe Greene etc etc
  • Legendary musical score by Nino Rota. 2 themes in particular are ones for the ages. Haunting. 
  • Some terrific and catchy dialogs. "I'll make him an offer that he wont refuse"
  • There are a lot of scenes that buildup slowly yet they are so thrilling. The hospital scene, the scene where Michael kills Sollozzo and McCluskey etc etc
Misses
  • Michael wipes out all his rivals and traitors so easily. Though these sequences come parallely along with his baptism sequences in a brilliant manner, they are quite hard to believe. 
  • After his first wife from Corleone dies, Michael again approaches his old flame Kay after leaving her in the wilderness for so many years. Michael's character reaches a trough in this scene. 
VERDICT
Legendary phenomenon that has become the reference for all other gangster movies made in any country and in any language. 

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