4 out of 5

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Even at 3 hours, ‘Godfather’ doesn’t have quite enough room to fully detail the level-headed Michael Corleone’s – Al Pacino – shift from the innocent youngest son to ruthless crime boss, replacing the overlord father-to-many Don spot held previously by his father, played by Marlon Brando.  This doesn’t change the film’s many masterful moments and patient handling of telling sequences, but as can happen with The Epic, in trying to cover everything, some of it doesn’t end up ringing as necessary as those key sections.  Coppola’s framing and foreground/middleground blocking throughout the movie are a huge part of what makes the film infinitely more accomplished than just a mob biopic, though.  It keeps the viewer involved for the majority of its runtime – as has been noted by people smarter than me – by keeping the focus of the film very inclusive, all pretty much on the Corleone family, rarely showing us activities outside of their clan.  So none of the criminal enterprises in which they’re involved, no extraneous narrative asides showcasing other families – allowing us to not only sympathize with gangsters, but to very much feel as though we are truly a part of the decisions and discussions over the course of the years depicted.  Notably, it is when information starts being kept from us – under Michael’s control – that the camera pulls back, juxtaposing an amazing opening shot of a warm room and confessional conversation to a cold shot of a door closing us out.  The performances are all rather perfectly balanced, especially Brando’s grandfatherly handling of a man who can issue commands with the slight wave of his hand, but never frowns or dips into less than benevolent-sounding tones. The other Corleone boys are given less subtle roles – James Caan just has to be boastful and angry, setting a standard for his career – but Robert Duvall makes another interesting counterpoint as an adopted son who’s become a consiglieri and matches his ‘father’s’ reservation and tact but with less forthright confidence.  Pacino is excellent up through his moment of ‘change’ when he becomes involved in the family business, but the script then does him a disservice by skipping through too many big events and time in a short period (from exile to marriage to re-marriage to children) and we don’t really get to appreciate his transition.  That’s an in-film consideration.  From afar, what’s shown and not shown for his character could be seen as purposeful and fitting for a movie that, as with The Godfather, treats us as a friend but doesn’t really tell us what’s going on.  Without question a unique classic, but, y’know, even classics can have some flaws.