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Average User Score: 9 (571 sources)

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Moviejunkie09

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I LOVED THIS MOVIE!!! It's well directed, everything about the movie is perfect down to every single last detail.The film's masterful narrative remains gripping throughout, the directing by Francis Ford Coppola is restrained and elegant, and the...
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I LOVED THIS MOVIE!!! It's well directed, everything about the movie is perfect down to every single last detail.The film's masterful narrative remains gripping throughout, the directing by Francis Ford Coppola is restrained and elegant, and the acting is so incredible. Obviously Marlon Brando is iconic as the Don, but Al Pacino delivers one of his greatest and the undisputed best profromaces I've ever seen. Pacino's subtle, shifting transformation from civilian to mafia don will never lose its power. Both Brando and Pacino are supported by a fantastic supporting cast. Robert Duvall, James Cann, John Cazale and Diane Keaton all put in superb work. The emotional pull of the movie is every bit as strong as it was nearly 40 years ago, because every aspect of it is timeless.

This movie will never be duplicated or surpassed. From start to finish I was completely taken over by the imagery, the score, the amazing acting, and the fantastic cinematography. The screenplay is written with brilliance, to me 'The Godfather is a better movie than the also amazing novel it's adapted from. This film is a real true masterpiece and one of the most influential films in American cinema.

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Posted feb 24, 2009 12:19 am pt

Godfather1992

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I'll make you an offer you can't refuse. Best Movie Ever!!

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Posted nov 8, 2008 10:03 pm pt

Reaganfan

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I'll make you an Offer you can't refuse, Read my review, I'm Happy, Not reading it, I'm unhappy. So The Godfather was a such an intresting film. Alot of violent but a good storytelling. Great casting. And it really deserve an oscar for best...
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I'll make you an Offer you can't refuse, Read my review, I'm Happy, Not reading it, I'm unhappy. So The Godfather was a such an intresting film. Alot of violent but a good storytelling. Great casting. And it really deserve an oscar for best pictures. I give it 4 1/2 stars.

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Posted oct 10, 2008 3:59 am pt

robheisel

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the godfather is one of the greatist movies of all time now i have to say this is the movie is an offer that you cant refuse with whole alot of good acting now here is my review of the godfather now the plot takes place were michael clorleone that...
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the godfather is one of the greatist movies of all time now i have to say this is the movie is an offer that you cant refuse with whole alot of good acting now here is my review of the godfather now the plot takes place were michael clorleone that returned from world war 2 later on don clorleone wich played by marlando brando wich comes in and the movie begins at his daugthers wedding were it picks off instead off putting horses head into ah persons bed wich happend so far the flim was great i hade to say i have the godfather collection now i hade to admit it was great now if you think that scarface was the best wait that didnt came out until 1983 duh so back to the plot so then don croleone gets under attack of obivous assassination so then michael comes in and takes over the family and thats when godfather part 2 picks right off in the story and vitos life as ah boy but the best part in godfather was the good ending well this is ah good movie i hade to admit the casting in it was superb even though with ah great script and superb acting and ah strong story that made this movie good from overall rating i give this movie.

5 out of 5 stars.

this an offer that you cant refuse on dvd or vhs the movie i meant.

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Posted jul 25, 2008 8:33 am pt

Sausageroll_78

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AHA.

Love them all

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Posted jul 14, 2008 5:42 am pt

mandytjie

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In retrospect, I cannot believe that it has taken me 35 years to see this brilliant film. I'm glad I waited until it came onto DVD though, as the quality was awesome.
This film hasn't aged one day and the production was superb. In fact, if...
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In retrospect, I cannot believe that it has taken me 35 years to see this brilliant film. I'm glad I waited until it came onto DVD though, as the quality was awesome.
This film hasn't aged one day and the production was superb. In fact, if I didn't recognise the very young faces of Al Pacino, James Caan and Robert Duvall then I might have mistaken it for just another episode of Sopranos.
The Godfather is the quintessential mafia story and some might say that all that came afterwards was just mimicry. In my mind, it takes a masterpiece like this to inspire the great works that follow and can you blame anyone for taking inspiration from a film like The Godfather?

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Posted may 17, 2008 11:24 pm pt

kohllapse

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a masterpiece, a movie without frontieres

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Posted apr 5, 2008 4:30 pm pt

ninjacat11

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I'm suprised I haven't seen it until just today. The Godfather is one of the greatest films I have ever seen. Marlon Brando is amazing in this movie.

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Posted mar 3, 2008 10:41 am pt

benzslr722

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"The Godfather" is a masterpeice. Realeased in 1972, well before I was born, still lives on as one of the greatest movies ever. The score, the suspense, the acting are all top notch.

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Posted feb 14, 2008 7:23 am pt

honestgamer

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"The Godfather" had already come and gone well before I was born. Released in 1972, it did well enough to warrant two sequels and a fair bit of fame as one of the greatest movies ever, but none of that was such that I had the chance to...
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"The Godfather" had already come and gone well before I was born. Released in 1972, it did well enough to warrant two sequels and a fair bit of fame as one of the greatest movies ever, but none of that was such that I had the chance to see it myself until just recently. I could make a lot of excuses, certainly. There's the fact that VHS wasn't terribly common around these parts until the middle of the 80s, but then that leaves twenty years unaccounted for. Then there were my strict parents, who didn't believe in R-rated movies even for themselves, much less their children. But I've been out on my own for most of 10 years and still I hadn't seen it. Why? I guess because I figured it couldn't really be that good, that I wasn't missing out on that much. Of course, I was wrong.

Tonight, I rectified that wrong and I'm glad I did. From playing the recent video game from Electronic Arts, I knew that the story would interest me. I'd even seen a few short clips from the three-hour movie, but watching two or three minutes from the middle of the movie isn't a fruitful exercise. No, you have to start at the beginning and work forward. The beginning in this case, of course, is a wedding.

One of the things I like about "The Godfather" is that it's not afraid to take a moment to celebrate the small things that define the human condition, to make everything personal so that you not only are fascinated by the strange lives these people lead, but interested in seeing them succeed. Even as they participate in brutal activity, even as they spout off about abhorring violence while at the same time ordering a hit on someone they know can't be trusted, they are human and likeable.

The wedding is the first place where we meet Michael, a young man played by a surprisingly young Al Pacino. He's at the glorious event and he's telling his girlfriend just a little bit about the family around him. Though he's grown up around it his whole life, it's clear that he sees the fantastical side of things and doesn't really associate himself with it. He even announces rather ironically that the lifestyle he's telling his lady friend about is that of his father, not him.

Naturally, the rest of the movie lets the viewer become immersed in that lifestyle and get to know the key players in a frightening yet in some ways ideal New York of the 1940s. If you've somehow missed the movie up to this point (as I did), I'm certainly not going to spoil it with a plot summary, and if you've already seen it there's not much point in me doing so either because the story in "The Godfather" is the sort that sticks with a person perfectly well.

Suffice it to say the plot has several big twists that you probably won't see coming, yet it doesn't make them sensational. In fact, those things have been artistically downplayed, so that in a way they're more shocking to the viewer than if they had been exaggerated. This is a sort of direction we don't see much of in the current day--except in arthouse bits--and it's one of the reasons that "The Godfather" is such a beautiful film. It has all the things we go to movies to see--shootouts, intense dialogue, glorious breasts--but you don't feel like a heathen for enjoying them.

If there's a complaint to be leveled against the movie at all, it's that even at three hours, it feels way too short. When the credits started rolling I felt completely satisfied that I had seen a good movie and I knew that I would have gladly kept watching for another two or three hours. Lucky for me, they made two sequels. I'll have to make sure that I view them without waiting another 28 years.

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Posted jan 18, 2008 2:49 pm pt

• [+] The New York Times
  
  100
  One of the most brutal and moving chronicles of American life ever designed within the limits of popular entertainment. [16 Mar 1972]

  by Vincent Canby | Read Full Review »
• [+] Washington Post
  
  100
  A great American picture, full of incredible images and lasting moments.

  by Desson Thomson | Read Full Review »
• [+] LA Weekly
  
  100
  The Godfather traces the arc of this doomed idealism with a beauty that is still fresh.

  by F. X. Feeney | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Reader
  
  100
  Sharp, entertaining, and convincing--discursive, but with a sense of structure and control that Coppola hasn't achieved since.

  by Dave Kehr | Read Full Review »
• [+] Los Angeles Times
  
  100
  Overflowing with life, rich with all the grand emotions and vital juices of existence, up to and including blood. And its deaths, like that of Hotspur in "Henry IV, Part I," continue to shock no matter how often we've watched them coming. [16 Mar 1997, Calendar, p.7]

  by Kenneth Turan | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Tribune
  
  100
  Brando made Don Vito something we rarely see in movies: a tragicomic villain-hero, a vulnerable hood. The don is so close to a comic character -- the movie itself is so close to comedy -- that Brando's capacity to move us in the role is doubly impressive. At the end, it is the older Godfather's tenderness and sagacity we recall. [21 Mar 1997, Friday, p.A]

  by Michael Wilmington | Read Full Review »
• [+] San Francisco Examiner
  
  100
  A handbook on cinematic lucidity. All events are described clearly. Motives of all the characters are set right there on the table next to the pasta for our consideration.

  by Barbara Shulgasser | Read Full Review »
• [+] TV Guide
  
  100
  The Godfather is a generational saga; it's also an action film; but above all, it catches the imagination of audiences because it suggests that the career of a gangster is not so very different from the career of a businessman or a politician.

  by Staff (Non Credited) | Read Full Review »
• [+] Film Threat
  
  100
  One warning however: James Caan's shoulder hair, when seen on this size screen, may frighten children considerably (you'll at least want to discuss it openly after the show, answering any questions your kids may have in an honest and direct manner).

  by Ron Wells | Read Full Review »
• [+] Austin Chronicle
  
  100
  Just about as great as a movie's ever gonna be... As for the storytellng, The Godfather is an intricately constructed gem that simultaneously kicks ass.

  by Marjorie Baumgarten | Read Full Review »
• [+] ReelViews
  
  100
  The picture is a series of mini-climaxes, all building to the devastating, definitive conclusion... It was carefully and painstakingly crafted. Every major character - and more than a few minor ones - is molded into a distinct, complex individual.

  by James Berardinelli | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Sun-Times
  
  100
  The wedding sequence... is a virtuoso stretch of filmmaking: Coppola brings his large cast onstage so artfully that we are drawn at once into the Godfather's world.

  by Roger Ebert | Read Full Review »
• [+] San Francisco Chronicle
  
  100
  In scene after scene -- the long wedding sequence, John Marley's bloody discovery in his bed, Pacino nervously smoothing down his hair before a restaurant massacre, the godfather's collapse in a garden -- Coppola crafted an enduring, undisputed masterpiece. [21 Mar 1997, Daily Datebook, p.C3]

  by Edward Guthmann | Read Full Review »
• [+] Variety
  
  80
  Overlong at about 175 minutes (played without intermission), and occasionally confusing. While never so placid as to be boring, it is never so gripping as be superior screen drama.

  by Staff (Not Credited) | Read Full Review »