A 'Best Picture' winner - But is it really that good? (The Godfather I (DVD))

Member Name: dewhirstj

Product:	The Godfather I (DVD)
Date:	05/05/01 (34 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good plot, Superb acting

Disadvantages: Boring at times

How you judge a movie is most definately down to your personality.

The Godfather is a test of your patience as it is a slow film which demands a lot of time and attention at nearly (if not over) 3 hours long.

I, myself had to watch it twice to get the full just of the plot as your mind can wander off into cuckoo land in certain scenes.

There are scenes of violence but not as many as I expected and the 18 certificate actually seems fairly harsh, except if you look at it from the point of view of a film classification board in 1972(there is a scence where someone wakes up to find a horse's head in their bed), the year where Francis Ford Coppola's movie won the 'Best Picture' Oscar (The Godfather Part II also winning it in 1974, the only sequel ever to follow its predecessor as winner of the award).

The Godfather features Oscar winner Marlon Brando (He looks old in the film but was only in his late forties) as the patriarch of the Corleone family from Scicily, Italy. The director, Coppola, paints a chilling portrait of the family's rise and near fall from power in America, and the passage of rites from father to son.

Al Pacino is stunning in his role as Michael, Brando's son and the rest of the cast are equally as good.

The story is beautifully balanced between family life and sleazy crime underworld in which the family are engaged.

The film is based on Mario Puzo's best-selling mafia novel.

"Quite simply the finest gangster movie ever made". Barry Norman

BBFC Ratings

Theme/Other: Gangster drama, family
Language: occasional, mild
Sex/Nudity: Once, moderate
Violence: Frequent, strong, bloody (It isn't that bad. Braveheart or Saving Private Ryan are much worse)

PLEASE NOTE: I bought the special 25th Anniversary edition and the special interviews beforehand may spoil the film, so I suggest that you watch them afterwards.


"Don't ever take sides with anyone against the family again" Michael to Fredo, in The Godfather.

**I got the video on a special offer from a video club**

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