Movie #: 706 Title: GODFATHER 1972

Rating: 8.20

Director (last): COPPOLA (first): FRANCIS FORD

Writer (last): (first):

Compelling composite portrait of a Mafia crime family in New York from the 1940's to the mid 1960's. Well-acted and filmed, except, of course, for Marlon Brando's miscalculated cotton-mouthed mumblings as the senior Corleone (which MAD magazine lampooned so deftly in thier "The OddFather"). The film is vulnerable, however, to charges that it glorifies crime. It is clear that the "heroes" of the film are the Corleone family, and the villains are rival families and corrupt police. The film staggeringly omits dramatization of the pain and suffering of the victims of organized crime, while inviting the audience to grieve when a Corleone takes a hit. Yet it does raise legitimate questions about the source of authority and justice in a society in which the police and city governments are sometimes indistinquishable from criminals. Violent and suspenseful and Coppola never lets the action rest too long.

Is this movie a "gem"? No

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Added: 1993-03-03 [yyyy-mm-dd]