Review of The Godfather (1972) by Vincerocks123 — 29 Apr 2015

Like the modern Shakespearean tragedy, the Godfather is very symbolic in storytelling that out bests other great movies before and after. The story about the loss of innocence caused by the life of the mafia and loyalty to the family. Its one of those few films that is still clashing with Citizen Kane as the greatest film ever made.

Marlon Brando plays his iconic role well as the Mafia Don Vito Corleone of the Corleone family, a wealthy and powerful family crime syndicate, who falls into despair when his idealistic younger son Michael, in a chilling performance by Al Pacino, decides to turn away from a bright life, when other rival drug lords and fellow gangster organizations declare war against them, and the ending is tragically unbearable as Michael's life of idealism is corrupted by greed, power,and violence as Vito lays dying from the wounds of his assassination attempts.

A film so utterly powerful and legendarily well told, its one of those rare films that has a powerful story and well domineering performances that makes it so great, it is the reason why its talked about everywhere. Francis Ford Coppola has made his mark in cinema history bringing Mario Puzo's shocking gangster fictional novel into a monument of pure entertainment.

A fine film featuring additional A+ performances by Robert Duvall, James Caan, Talia Shire, Diane Keaton and the late John Cazale as Michael's friends who are divided emotionally by innocence and gangster-hood, a important element that makes this a film shadowed with irony and grief.