The Godfather Trilogy (1972-90)

An Offer We Can't Refuse

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy The Godfather Trilogy on DVD.

2001 certainly has been a banner year for DVDs. We've had Citizen Kane, the newly refurbished Stanley Kubrick box set, the touched-up Rear Window, Criterion's gorgeous Carl Theodor Dreyer box set, "The Simpsons" Season One box set, and now the Godfather trilogy.

Paramount has released the trilogy ($105.90) in a slender, handsome new box set on five discs that take up very little shelf space. The 200-minute Part II takes up two discs, while Parts I and III occupy one disc each. The fifth disc contains all the outtakes and extra footage that has previously been included in television airings and other "special editions," plus tons of other stuff: documentaries, trailers, screen tests, etc. All nine-plus hours of movie footage comes with a great, heartfelt commentary track by director/producer/co-writer and San Francisco treasure Francis Ford Coppola.

It's superb in every way save for one: I couldn't help but be disturbed by the graininess of the picture on all three films. Paramount has done a spectacular job with all of their other DVDs this year, and I can't understand why this one would suddenly come in below par. But this box is so prestigious and gorgeous in every other way that it doesn't seem to matter much.

From our vantage point today, it's hard to imagine The Godfather becoming the highest grossing movie in the world, as it did in 1972. It seems too thoughtful for today's standards. But it is one of the greatest pictures ever made and one of the very few Best Picture Oscar winners that actually deserved the award.

With this movie director Francis Ford Coppola announced the beginning of a new (but brief) Renaissance in American film with his flawless view of a gangster family in turmoil. The Godfather is violent, but the main thing one takes away from this movie is a sense of family, a sense of honor and duty that one owes to one's own blood, and a sense of absolute trust. Al Pacino gives an amazingly subtle performance as Michael Corleone, the youngest brother of the family, and the only one with a college education and a military record. Everyone thinks Michael is going to go straight until his father, Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), and his older brother, Sonny (James Caan), are shot and Michael steps in to take over as head of the family with surprising adroitness.

The Godfather is a movie of conversations around tables, planning, and waiting. The "action" scenes are unspectacular on purpose: Vito dropping his oranges in an overhead shot, Sonny at the toll booth, and policeman Sterling Hayden in the Italian restaurant. The movie is about story and characters first and production value second -- an art all but lost only 28 years later. The screenplay is by Coppola and Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's novel, with a little uncredited help from Robert Towne. The cast also includes: Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, John Cazale, Talia Shire, and Abe Vigoda, with cinematography by Gordon Willis. The Godfather is followed by two sequels, both outstanding in their own ways. Like Citizen Kane, The Godfather doesn't age.

The Godfather, Part I has already been written about, analyzed, prodded and absorbed from all different angles. But very few have stepped up to bat to defend The Godfather Part III (1990), which I consider a masterpiece and the equal of Parts I and II. (I need not say anything more about Parts I and II, which doubtless rank among the greatest American films.)

As Coppola reveals (several times) in his commentary track, Godfather III was originally to be called The Death of Michael Corleone, and that's what it is. It's the final chapter of a dark life and an epilogue -- one that ends appropriately with a whimper instead of a bang. Instead of remaining loyal to the family, Michael Corleone's (Al Pacino's) children flit off on their own, one becoming an opera singer, the other falling in love with her cousin. Michael's best men have all left him and he's stuck with a WASP lawyer (George Hamilton) instead of his trusted consigliere Tom Hagan (Robert Duvall), and Sonny's bastard son Vincent (Andy Garcia) instead of a blood brother.

Michael himself has grown steely and stooped and raspy, collapsing under the weight of his own diabetes. This is not a cool gangster flick like the first two. This is about a man paying his dues. Even the controversial casting of Sofia Coppola as Michael's daughter Mary is dead on. Her lovely adolescent awkwardness perfectly compliments the off-kilter nature of the film.

Note: the Godfather Part III DVD features the home video cut, which is slightly longer than -- and drastically better than -- the theatrical cut.

With: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, James Caan, John Cazale, Talia Shire, Diane Keaton, Andy Garcia, Lee Strasberg, Michael V. Gazzo, Sofia Coppola, Joe Mantegna, Abe Vigoda, Sterling Hayden, Danny Aiello, Bruno Kirby, Joe Spinell, G.D. Spradlin, Harry Dean Stanton, Eli Wallach, Bridget Fonda, John Savage, George Hamilton, Roger Corman
Written by: Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola, based on the novel by Mario Puzo
Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 545 minutes (combined)
Date: November 5, 2001