How Well Does ‘The Godfather’ Hold Up Forty Years Later?
Some movies are bad, some are good, and a select few are legendary. Some die off after a few years and are forgotten, some are good for a short time but are overshadowed by better movies of the same genre, but some movies stand the test of time and last forever. One movie that has stood the test of time, was legendary when it came out, and is still a fantastic movie in this age of Avengers, Star Wars, and the Justice League, is The Godfather.
With the recent passing away of James Caan (Santino “Sonny” Corleone), I decided to go back and watch this timeless movie and just evaluate how it measures up today and the place it has in film history. No doubt this movie was a masterpiece and after going and watching The Godfather, I must say it had my attention the entire way through the movie.
The Godfather has almost a 3-hour run time and seemed like it was going to be an exceptionally long movie but no minute in the film was wasted. From the beginning of the movie when Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) is meeting with clients as the head of the Corleone family in a dark and authoritative room to Michael Corleone’s (Al Pacino) exile to Sicily to the switch in power to Michael Corleone as the new Don of the family, each moment is exceptionally important.
I have watched a decent number of movies, but I personally have never watched a more well-rounded movie with a solid and complete beginning, middle, and end. The character arc and development of Michael Corleone from US war veteran all the way to being the head Don of the Corleone family was some of the best character development that I have ever witnessed, and it was a great journey to be a part of.
That brings up another important takeaway. While watching this movie I never felt disconnected from the movie. I felt like I was right there with the family, feeling the tension, the battles, the pressure, and the victory at the end of a perfect cap to a near-perfect movie. I felt like the Godfather was my father and would do anything for me if I didn’t hurt the family and respected those who deserved it. When the family was done wrong or stabbed in the back, I felt that same pain.
The acting in the movie was on point and perfect. Everyone knew their roles, the emotion that their roles required, and how to perfectly convey the mindset of their characters. There is a reason that this movie had around 11 Oscar Nominations and 3 Oscar winners for different awards. Included is a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes.
When considering the soundtrack it’s not just about what the music sounds like, although the music was perfect for the movie, it’s also about timing and when that music lines up with what is happening on screen. The Godfather did a masterful job when it came to using the soundtrack of the film to build suspense or pull emotions from the audience.
The most effective use of the music is when Michael Corleone is visiting his father, Don Vito Corleone, in the hospital. He sees that the guards that his family had established there were all missing. He is walking through the hallways; the music is building up and getting the audience to think that something exciting or terrifying is going to happen. But what happens? Nothing. Michael gets a visit from a friend of the family who simply came to visit the Godfather. There was an attempt to show up and do something, but Michael acted as a guard with the visitor and shooed the car away. It was a perfect use of music, scenery, and situation to keep me interesting in nothing happening. It was a masterful job and is just one example of countless times the movie used the soundtrack to its advantage.
Beyond that, the camera work and the lighting were perfect to set the mood of the moment. From the outset of the movie, in the office of the Godfather, it is dark and quite eerie. As the scene progresses it moves from just being enigmatic to being authoritative as the Godfather does his business. You start by seeing the meeting from the Godfather’s angle and then it switches to you being the one petitioning the Godfather and his compassion for his friends and retribution to his enemies.
