We learned from Gay Talese's book Honor Your Father that being a professional gangster isn't always sunshine and roses. More often than not, it's stuffy rooms and bad eating of takeaway food, interrupted from time to time by brief, horrific violence. That's exactly what "the Godfather" feels like, which casts aside the glitz and glamour of traditional gangster films and leaves us with something left behind: fierce tribal loyalty, deadly neighborhood brawls in Brooklyn, and a form of revenge that matches every insult.
Marlon Brando
What is remarkable about Mario Puzo's novel is that it seems to be told from the inside out; He didn't give us a world full of international intrigue, but a private club as cramped as a seventh-grader. Everyone knows everyone else and has a fairly keen hunch about what they're doing.
The film (based on a screenplay that Puzo painstakingly wrote for a while, and I guess it was ultimately directed by Francis Ford Coppola) felt the same way. We tend to identify with the family of old men of Corleone, not because we dig into gang fights, but because we were with them from the beginning, watching them sit at the kitchen table, eating fried noodles in cardboard boxes, waiting for the battle to come.
The "Godfather" itself is not even the central character of the show. This position was reserved for his youngest and brightest son, Michael, who understood his father's status while changing his traditional ways. The godfather's role in the family business can be described by his name; He stands outside the next generation, which will pass it on, hoping to turn the family into a legitimate business.
Anyone who has read the novel may be surprised to learn that Michael is the central character of the film, not Don Corleone. In fact, it's just an economic way for Coppola to understand the core of Puzo's story, which is about power transfers within the family. Marlon Brando, who plays the Godfather, is a shrewd, indestructible old man who is actually the protagonist of the film; Al Pacino, who plays Michael with a brilliant performance, is the film's protagonist.
Al Pacino
But Brando's performance was a skilful improvisation, though it earned him an Oscar for Best Actor. His voice was panting and whispering, and his body movements were deliberately inaccurate; As a result, a person accustomed to power no longer needs to remind others. Brando did look a lot like old Corleone, mainly because of his acting skills, and partly because of his makeup, though he seemed to have too much cotton in his chin to keep his lower face motionless.
Other actors offer one inspirational casting example after another. Although "The Godfather" is a three-hour, detailed film, there is naturally no time to delve into the background and identity of characters such as Clemenza, the family lieutenant; Film Czar Jack Woltz; Loyal professional killer Luca Blassi; McCluskey, the treacherous cop; and rest. Coppola and producer Al Ladi sidestepped the issue with low-key character development. For example, when playing Police Officer Ireland, they simply put Sterling Hayden on the scene and let the characters do their own thing. Richard Castellano is an unshakable Clemenza. John Marley portrayed a repulsive Hollywood tycoon (yes, he woke up still to find himself having to cancel a day's jockey club).
The success of the novel The Godfather owes much to a series of memorable scenes. Puzo is a good storyteller, but not a writer. With the exception of the gynecological restoration work, almost all of the novels appear in the film. It didn't miss a single killing; The film opens with the wedding of Corleone's old man's daughter (and the upstairs event); The number of car bombs, deception and hangings was also just right.
Director Coppola with a generation of godfathers
Coppola found a style and visual effect for all this material, so The Godfather became a rarity: a really good movie squeezed out of a bestseller. The decision to photograph the decorative style of all eras (mid to late 1940s) is crucial; If they had gone along with the original plan to save money and update everything, the film wouldn't have been successful. But as a work of the times, it was surprisingly successful, filled with funky drummed limousines and post-war fedora hats. Coppola and his photographer Gordon Willis also did some interesting things with color photography. The early scenes had a reddish-brown hue, a bit of overexposure, and felt like a gravure supplement to a newspaper from 1946.
Although the film is three hours long, it effectively absorbs our attention and makes us not in any hurry. When Don Corleone hands over the reins of power, the passage of time is regular, which makes a shorter, faster film seem inappropriate. Even if it's this long, there are some character relationships that you can't fully understand unless you've read a novel. Maybe you can, just by looking at each other the way the characters look at each other.