Megalopolis: A Review (Review #1875)

MEGALOPOLIS

Megalopolis has been the dream project for its director, legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, for decades. It has been the subject of discussion and fascination before, during and after its production. Now, it is here. Megalopolis is not for everyone. It is grandiose, at times incoherent, even downright bonkers. Yet, I enjoyed almost every crazy moment in it. 

Subtitled "A Fable", Megalopolis revolves around a mythical place called New Rome (an amalgamation of ancient Rome and modern New York). Here, the ruling families battle it out for control, their competition visions for New Rome clashing. On one side is brilliant architect Cesar Catalina (Adam Driver), who envisions an almost literal shining city on a hill called Megalopolis. It will be a fantastic place, built for the ages, where people can work and pursue grand visions of the future.

On the other is his rival, New Rome Mayor Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito). He would want to take the land Catalina wants to build Megalopolis on and build a government-approved casino which will fund basic services and provide for taxpayers. Cicero and Catalina are bitter rivals stemming from when as District Attorney, Cicero prosecuted Catalina for murder, Catalina's wife dying in mysterious circumstances. 

Things grow more tense when Cicero's daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel) shifts her loyalties. She loves and defends her father dearly. She, however, is also intrigued by this Randian-like genius and they eventually begin an affair. More family intrigue builds when Catalina's mistress, finance reporter Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza) marries Catalina's rich, powerful and slightly dotty Uncle Hamilton Crassus (Jon Voight). That is not counting the machinations of Hamilton's son and Catalina's cousin Clodio (Shia LaBeouf), who is pretty crazed, pretty jealous and pretty ambitious. He wants power too, but will his populist revolt get him to push both Cicero and Catalina out? What will the future hold for everyone as they battle for Megalopolis?

Truth be told, I think I gave Megalopolis a more coherent plot summary than the film itself did. Therein lies one of Megalopolis' greatest flaws, one aspect that many reviewers and viewers focus on: how unwieldly the overall structure of the film is. You get so many ideas, so many plot points, so many characters, that it soon becomes muddled. What was the point of either Jason Schwartzman or Dustin Hoffman appearing in Megalopolis? The former is writer/director Francis Ford Coppola's nephew, the latter a veteran actor who I figure was doing a friend a favor. Neither of them, however, needed to be there.

I think Coppola had a vision so vast and grand that he got lost in it. There are several ideas flowing through Megalopolis, but eventually it becomes too much to hold the thing together. At times, Megalopolis becomes more involved in the visuals and the style than in whatever plots it is trying to shape. 

I personally could see shades of the Claus and Sunny von Bulow case best known from Reversal of Fortune with Catalina and his late wife. I saw strong elements of I, Claudius with the wildly dysfunctional Crassus-Catalina family (especially after LaBeouf's Clodio appeared in Romanesque drag, shades of John Hurt's Caligula floating about my head). Things seemed to be borderline incoherent, such as Wow's dramatic end with Jon Voight recreating Who Killed Cock Robin while dressed as some kind of Robin Hood. There is even a bit of Thomas Becket and Henry II when Clodio screams out "Will no one rid me of this f-ing cousin?", harkening the attributed "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" that led to the murder in the cathedral. 

Therefore, with all the incoherence in Megalopolis, why then do I recommend it when so many seem to despise it? In retrospect, it is because of Coppola's grand vision. I don't think many films nowadays dare to even try to be so big, so heady, so grandiose. They seem satisfied with being simple, rote, predictable. I do not think any of those words can be used to describe Megalopolis.

Stripped of a lot of its craziness, Megalopolis has many parts that are quite good. The movie has some dazzling cinematography, grand imagery unafraid to go all-in. Some sequences, such as the presentation of the Vestal Virgins, is admittedly crazed to baffling. However, visually, it is a tour de force. Other moments, such as when Catalina goes to see his wife, are also visually splendid. The film also has an excellent score by Osvaldo Colijov, which works well in the craziness of the whole thing. The production and costume design also do excellent work in creating the fantastical alternate world.

I think the performances are also quite good. Adam Driver is a skilled actor, and Megalopolis gives him a chance to be if not the sanest person here, at least a chance to create an extraordinary character. While his "Go back to the club" has become a meme, I think his delivery of the line is correct to the character: this vaguely Ayn Rand-like figure whose vision to create something eternal will not be stopped by the concerns of the present. "Don't let the now destroy the forever," he declares when presenting his vision of Megalopolis to the public. Catalina is a blend of The Fountainhead's Howard Roark, New York builder Robert Moses and creator Buckminster Fuller. Driver delivers an excellent performance.

He is matched by Esposito as his rival. Near the end, he did look a little goofy with his military helmet, making me think of Salvador Allende before Augusto Pinochet's forces iced him in the Chilean coup. Nonetheless, his mix of arrogance and love for Julia worked well. I do not know much of Emmanuel as an actress, and while I thought at times, she was a bit weak, I can put part of that on the character. Voight and LaBeouf were all-in on the cray-cray, Plaza less so. Still, I thought the performances on the whole were good.

I see that, on the whole, Megalopolis' ambitions were undone by its overall execution. With that being said, I stand by view that Megalopolis is out of control and crazed but fascinating. 

DECISION: C+

The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. A Review (Review #1435)

THE GODFATHER CODA: THE DEATH OF MICHAEL CORLEONE

When The Godfather Part III premiered in 1990, both Godfather fans and the general public were indifferent to downright hostile. The film seemed a poor way to end the saga, a jumbled mess with a now-notorious performance and a general sense of boredom. Thirty years on, director Francis Ford Coppola was able to revisit his infamous flop and attempt to put it as close to how he would have preferred. The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone can do only so much given that Coppola was working with what he had. However, the changes show that The Godfather Part III could have been if not the equal to its predecessors at least an honorable effort.

The Godfather Coda stays with the plot of Godfather III in that Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) is finalizing his plans to be completely legitimate but still can't break away from the mob life. In particular is the deal with shady Vatican Bank Archbishop Gilday (Donal Donnelly) for the Immobilare Corporation. In exchange for covering a $600 million shortfall at the Vatican Bank, Michael will get control of Immobiliare.

While Michael's son Anthony (Franc D'Ambrosio) wants no part of the family business and wants to pursue opera, Michael's illegitimate nephew Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia) does. He especially wants to take on Joey Zasa (Joe Mantegna), whose taken over the Corleone territory but not doing a good job in Vincent's eyes. Michael's daughter Mary (Sofia Coppola) wants Michael too, for carnal pleasures despite being first cousins.

As the Immobiliare deal moves along, both machinations within and without the Vatican threaten to eliminate Michael financially and physically. He must not only work to save his empire and let Vincent become the new Head of the Family but find absolution for his past sins. That absolution, if it comes at all, will be with a very heavy and personal price.

As I stated, Francis Ford Coppola could really do only so much. He had to work with the material he had, limiting his ultimate vision of what The Godfather Part III could have been. However, the work he did has altered, at least for me, how I see the concluding part of this saga. 

I think one of the positives in The Godfather Coda is its structure. The film now seems less convoluted and confusing. The "new opening" is with the backroom deals that Michael has with Gilroy, where in the original that takes place well within the story. Now, instead of appearing almost out of nowhere we see that The Godfather Coda will center around the Immobiliare scheme, giving the film a purpose versus just seeming to throw things at us and hoping audiences sort things out.

Another change was that Connie (Talia Shire) was less Lucrezia Borgia and more Connie Corleone. In The Godfather Part III, Connie seemed to take on a more active role in the plotting, becoming the de facto Godmother. Now, while still involved in the family business she is not the primary instigator. Gone is the scene where she tells Vincent to kill Zasa or plots to kill her own godfather Don Altobello (Eli Wallach). Again, it's difficult to near impossible to change her Machiavellian ways, but Godfather Coda cut down on that curious thread. 

There were other changes such as cutting down on Altobello and Michael, who seemed to be wastes of time to me. Other changes in sound (such as hearing slot machines when The Commission meets in Atlantic City) or dialogue (showing Vincent was orchestrating the mass executions of their enemies) gave the film in my view not just more structure but greater depth, comprehension and cohesion.

Perhaps the biggest change, at least that I can remember, is when Michael suffers his diabetic stroke. In The Godfather Part III, it was shorter and more direct. Here, it's not only longer but more tragic, at one point Michael calling out "Fredo!", an admission of his tremendous guilt over killing his own brother.

As for the "new ending", it was as good as Coppola could make without literally reshooting the sequence. Again, he had to work with what he had, and while perhaps it would be impossible to give Michael a proper send-off I think The Godfather Coda gave him a more respectable one that what he got in The Godfather Part III.

In terms of acting pretty much what was true then is true now: Sofia Coppola is terrible, Andy Garcia is great. 

The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone will probably be as close to what Francis Ford Coppola can get to making what he would have wanted as the end to The Godfather Saga. If I were recommending the saga to newcomers, I would recommend they watch The Godfather Coda rather than Godfather Part III, or at least see Coda first. I think they would find it if not a satisfying conclusion, at least a much better and coherent one. Only those who have not seen Godfather III will be able to fully judge how The Godfather Coda works or doesn't, but here we see a film, stripped from all the bad press and poor reputation, that could have been better than what we ultimately got. 

DECISION: B+ 

The Godfather Part III: A Review

THE GODFATHER PART III

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in".

This is one of the most quoted lines from whole of The Godfather saga, which is curious given how poorly most fans think of The Godfather Part III. That line could serve as The Godfather Part III's theme given how nearly everyone from the first two Godfather films was essentially roped into this. This film is a sad way to end the tale of Michael Corleone's fall. More a set of The Godfather's Greatest Hits, The Godfather Part III is a confused mishmash of plots and performances with only one genuine bright spot.

It's a bit hard to give a general plot summary of The Godfather Part III given that the film throws a lot at the viewer in terms of story and characters, but here goes. Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) is attempting to not just become a legitimate businessman but a respectable one, currying favor from the Catholic Church to metaphorically cloak his sins. He faces troubles all around him however.

Michael's son Anthony (Franc D'Ambrosio) wants to become an opera singer versus joining the family business. Michael's daughter Mary (Sofia Coppola) is essentially an unwitting front for the shady Vito Corleone Foundation. With Tom Hagen dead and his son Andrew (John Savage) a priest, Michael relies on his business manager Harrison (George Hamilton) and sister Connie (Talia Shire) for support.


And then there's Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia), Michael's illegitimate nephew. Vincent wants to join the family business, but like his father Sonny, Vinnie has a fierce temper, especially towards Joey Zasa (Joe Mantegna), who is one of Michael's underlings running the old neighborhood into the ground. Aunt Connie has a soft spot for Vinnie and Michael, somewhat reluctantly, takes him under his wing.

Along with Vincent and Joey's war we have Michael's involvement with the Immobiliare real estate corporation, a major business run by the Catholic Church. Getting majority control to bail out a shady Archbishop involves getting the Pope's personal approval, but Paul VI is dying and unable to. Therefore, machinations involve getting their own Holy Father on the Throne of St. Peter. Fortunately, Cardinal Lamberto (Raf Vallone) is an honest man unaware of the nefarious deals going on, but his honesty puts the new John Paul I in danger.

In all this we also get the machinations of Don Altobello (Eli Wallach), Connie's own Godfather who is up to no good himself and Vinnie's romance with Mary. Never mind that they are first cousins: somehow only Michael, weak from a diabetic stroke, seems angry about this. The price for Vincent Mancini to become Vincent Corleone and take full power: the termination of his affair with Mary, a price he is most willing to pay.

The Immobiliare plot culminates at Michael's operatic debut in Sicily to perform Cavalleria Rusticana, where those plotting against Michael and Vincent pay a bloody price but so does an innocent, leaving a weak Michael to die alone.

In theory, there is nothing wrong with the idea for a Godfather Part III, but watching it again I sense that no one had any enthusiasm for the project. From director/co-writer Francis Ford Coppola (with Mario Puzo) to everyone returning from the first two Godfather films, it seems that no one wanted to be there. So much seemed rote, almost methodical in its mechanical nature.

I could not shake the idea that Coppola in particular felt that he needed to just hit some of the same notes to try and give viewers what they supposedly liked about the first two films. It was essentially watching a cover band perform all the hits except that the cover band was made up of the original players.

Echoing Don Fanucci's death with Joey Zasa with the religious festival felt sad, especially given that having a John Gotti-like character opened up so many possibilities in terms of showing the old versus the new. Again and again The Godfather Part III could have done so much more but kept stopping.

Fine, so Robert Duvall refused to take part in the film. Why not have his son Andrew Hagen be the new consigliere? Fine, so they decided to somewhat introduce a new character, Harrison, to fill in that role. Why not have Father Andrew Hagen be part of Vatican backroom politics, aiding to help the unwitting Cardinal Lamberto ascend the throne or deal with this meddlesome Archbishop?

Instead, you have this thoroughly useless character introduced, who has no purpose or reason to be here. Same with Grace Hamilton (Bridget Fonda), a reporter attempting to uncover the truth of the Corleones. We see her at the opening party, then in bed with Vincent, and then she disappears whole-cloth from the film altogether. It was only at the opera that I realized, "Wow, Bridget Fonda hasn't been seen in well over two hours".

The Godfather Part III essentially had two plotlines: Joey Zasa and Immobiliare, either of which would have worked for a whole film. For reasons I cannot fathom Coppola opted to ram both of them but never made clear which was the one to bother with.

Plotwise the film is such a chaotic jumble one really wonders not so much what was going on but why time was taken up with one story to simply lurch to a whole new story sans rhyme or reason.

Acting-wise The Godfather Part III is a nearly universal embarrassment. Many people have singled out Sofia Coppola for blame. According to my late friend Fidel Gomez, Jr., the audience actually applauded when Mary got killed accidentally. It is true that Coppola gave a terrible performance, and that her death scene would elicit more howls of laughter than horror, but I am not going to bash Sofia Coppola for her effort.

She was put in an impossible situation. Stepping in at the last minute when Winona Ryder dropped out, Sofia was asked to do something she had little to no training for up against veterans who knew their roles inside and out. On the whole I think Sofia Coppola gave as good a performance as she could under difficult circumstances. It does not absolve her of a genuinely bad performance: her scene with Pacino asking the perhaps too-close-to-home questions "Why are you doing this? Why am I doing this" particularly stiff and uncomfortable to watch.  However, it is, in retrospect, grossly unfair to single her out when just about everyone was horrendous.

As a side note, at least three times in my notes I wished that D'Ambrosio's Anthony would be the one that ended up whacked. I found his performance flatter than Sofia Coppola, even when he was in the opera. I though his character more annoying than Mary and his performance emptier.

Eli Wallach's performance was equally if not more hilariously bad. Playing Don Altobello as this tottering old fool whom the film keeps pushing as some kind of Machiavellian mastermind, his final scenes at the opera are simply too funny to be serious. It is a more laughable performance than that of Sofia Coppola. Same goes for Mantegna as Joey Zasa, so wildly camp one almost expected him to call himself "Fat Tony".

Pacino and Diane Keaton as his now-ex-wife Kay looked so bored, as if they were just saying thing while waiting for the check to clear.

The film comes alive only when Andy Garcia is on the screen. You can believe Vincent is the combination of the three Corleone brothers. He has Sonny's fiery temper and violent streak. When whacking his hated rival Joey, we see Michael's methodical ruthlessness and intelligence. When playing love scenes with Grace and Mary or in his fondness for his Aunt Connie, a little bit of Fredo's warmth comes through. Garcia was compelling, intense and magnetic as Vincent Mancini-Corleone to where a film built solely around him could have reached the heights of the first two Godfather films.

Shire, to be fair, did well as Connie to where I wish she had more time as the de facto Godmother. Hamilton too did well as the business manager Harrison.

The film does have a couple of flashes of brilliance. The whacking of Joey Zasa, while not great had potential and Pacino had one good moment when he confesses his sins to Cardinal Lamberto. Oddly, what was meant as a climatic scene when assassinating the heads of the major families via a helicopter felt almost boring, a sign of how weak the film overall was.

On the whole however, The Godfather Part III is a sad and sorry mess. Jumbled, confused, with too much going on and nearly universally bad performances save for Garcia, The Godfather Part III is a case of going to the well once too often, hitting the same beats as its predecessors but not finding their melody or rhythm.

Speak Softly Love but see this film unless it's for Garcia or for completion's sake.

DECISION: D+

The Godfather Part II (1974): A Review (Review #1272)

THE GODFATHER PART II

The Godfather Part II is really both sequel and prequel to The Godfather, a sweeping tale of the rise of mob boss Don Vito Corleone and the fall of his son Michael. A massive epic running almost three and a half hours, The Godfather Part II chronicles the American dream in vivid albeit dark colors.

The film ebbs and flows between turn of the century New York and 1958 Nevada, so a plot summation requires a little dexterity. In the pre-Godfather sections we see young Vito Antolini forced into exile due to a longstanding vendetta. Coming through Ellis Island, his name is changed to that of his hometown, Corleone.

As a young Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) attempts to raise a family and keep to an honest life, he finds circumstances force his hand into a life of crime. Joining with neighbor/small-time hood Clemenza (Bruno Kirby), Vito now takes on the local boss, Don Fanucci (Gaston Mochin) for control of the area. Vito is generally a good man, using his 'influence' to help those in need but not afraid of using the full force of his powers.

He returns to Sicily one last time for a final confrontation with elderly mob boss Don Ciccio (Guiseppe Sillato). Vito took his whole family to Sicily, though given their ages it is unlikely that toddler Michael or baby Connie would remember. Perhaps if they did, Michael would see how he echoes his father.

In the post-Godfather section family head Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) faces a host of trouble. There are the minor problems such as his sister Connie (Talia Shire), now a bitter mob princess running around from man to man. Then there are major problems. Longtime Corleone caporegime Frankie Pentangeli (Michael V. Gazzo) is furious that Michael appears to side with Jewish mobster Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg), who is funding Frankie's rivals for control of his territory. Michael survives an assassination attempt at his home, and now he is determined to smoke out whoever is the mole working for Roth, whom Michael knows is behind the attempted hit.

Pentangeli is himself set up for assassination but the attempt is accidentally thwarted. Frankie thinks Michael sold him out, so now he's going to sell Michael out to the government. In reality, Michael's older brother Fredo (John Cazale) was the rat, though whether he was duped or not is a subject of debate. As he faces enemies on all sides, Michael's cunning and coldness helps him survive but at a high cost.

Michael's long-suffering wife Kay (Diane Keaton) takes shocking steps to ensure there will be no successor to Michael's bloody throne. As for Fredo, he like Roth and Pentangeli pays for his sin of treachery, with the cost being Michael's soul.

The Godfather Part II is more than a simultaneous continuation and remembrance of the Corleone family saga. It really is a story about family, particularly fathers and sons. We see how Michael is in many way's Vito's son. Both hold long resentments and enact cruel vengeance on those who injured them. It does not matter that one was a virtually senile old man or one's own somewhat senile older brother. It was their need to 'defend their family & family honor' that motivated their brutality.

Director Francis Ford Coppola curiously had Vito take Michael's hand after both his murders (Fenucci and Ciccio). I do not think it was intentional but one can see perhaps symbolically how Vito was passing on his bloody legacy to the one son he hoped would not carry on the tainted family legacy.

The film is absolutely fantastic about having you empathize with Vito yet recoil with Michael. We see Vito in many ways as a victim, particularly when he arrives alone and silent to America. As so many of us are either immigrants or children of immigrants, we can identify with Vito and the hope of a new life away from the burdens of the old country.

However, we see in The Godfather Part II the dark side of the American dream: the Corleone family did indeed find prosperity in America, but one built on crime, brutality and death.

The film is also a sly critique of capitalism. Note that Michael and Roth, these two mobsters who built their empire on crime, are sitting at the same table with industrialists who essentially rule Cuba. As the Revolution heats up we see only Michael realizing the danger his empire faces while everyone keeps dancing. Note that Roth and his partners metaphorically cut Cuba among themselves via Roth's birthday cake with a map of Cuba as the frosting. They are essentially businessmen, but whose industry involves criminality up to and including murder.

The corruption of the Cuban government is more brazen than that of the American government, embodied by the WASP Nevada Senator Geary (G.D. Spradling). He actually provides a humorous moment when he essentially flees the Senate committee meeting on organized crime when Michael is perjuring himself like crazy. In his flustered declarations that 'not all Italian-Americans are mobsters', Geary shows the pomposity and stupidity of those in power. We know Geary is amoral and corrupt to where Vito's dreams of a 'Senator Corleone' look rational, even hopeful. Michael is right: both are part of the same hypocrisy.

The Godfather Part II is exceptionally acted. De Niro affects Marlon Brando's raspy voice from the first Godfather and speaks almost exclusively in Italian. That isn't a distraction however, as DeNiro makes Vito a very sympathetic character: competent and decent who was basically forced into this brutal world. Gazzi and Strasberg were also exceptional as the emotion-driven Pentangeli and the cold-thinking Roth, almost balancing each other.

While all three were nominated for Best Supporting Actor (with De Niro winning), I am surprised that Cazale was not for his Fredo. It was an equally strong and moving performance. Your heart breaks for Fredo when he stumbles into his explanation as to how he ended up as Roth's stooge. In his mix of clumsiness, hurt, rage, ineptness but genuine sweetness and pathos Fredo is extremely sympathetic. You leave knowing that he did not deserve his fate.

Shire also excelled as Connie, going from angry at Michael to loyal to him. Keaton had a bravura moment when she confesses the truth about their lost baby to Michael. It's shocking and heartbreaking, Kay's pain and fury and desperation all exploding simultaneously. Robert Duvall too was strong though I think his role as Tom Hagen was diminished.

Now we go to Al Pacino as the Corleone patriarch. His performance is brilliant whether he calmly signals that Fredo's time is up or slapping Kay for destroying his dreams of a dynasty. We see Michael has destroyed what he insists he loves most: his family. That we can find even an ounce of humanity within Michael's now-dark heart is a credit to Pacino.

The last shot of him is simultaneously heartbreaking and chilling. As he remembers all his siblings long before he assumed power, we can see so much and so little in his cold eyes. Does he regret? Does he feel pain to now being the undisputed king? He is a sad and pathetic figure, alone and damned. Michael has reached the summit but still has nothing to show for it.

The Godfather Part II echoes The Godfather in many ways. Both essentially begin with religious festivities that mask nefarious goings-on. Both have the conflict of betrayal and loyalty at their center. Both touch on the struggle between doing what is right and what is necessary. It was necessary to wipe Roth out. Was it right to wipe Fredo out?

Every element in The Godfather Part II works: the performances, Gordon Willis' cinematography, Carmine Coppola and Nino Rota's score. If there is a quibble it might be that some might find the jumping between the past and present a bit jarring and/or confusing. Some may find the length a difficulty, particularly with certain parts that might have been cut without affecting the overall flow. I find those minor quibbles.

There is debate whether The Godfather Part II is superior or inferior to The Godfather. I am firmly in the former category. The Godfather Part II, this tale of corruption both external and internal, of the price of loyalty is chilling and tragic. The sins of the fathers do taint their sons, and sometimes what we do for our family may end up damning them in the long run.

DECISION: A+

1975 Best Picture: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

The Godfather (1972): A Review (Review #1237)

THE GODFATHER (1972)

I know people who are obsessed with The Godfather, who can quote every line and know the family ties of the Corleone family better than their own family tree. The Godfather is an epic: a story of family and loyalty and the darkness that lurks beneath them.

Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) is the powerful head of a Mafia crime organization, one that holds immense power and sway over government officials, judges and underworld activities. Vito's heir apparent is his oldest son Santino, better known as Sonny (James Caan). Sonny is hot-tempered and easily antagonized, unlike Vito's consigliere (lawyer/adviser) Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), Vito's informally adopted son, who is calm and methodical.

Vito's second-oldest son Fredo (John Cazale) is generally ineffective and weak, his youngest son Michael (Al Pacino) is kept out of the 'family business' and has returned from World War II as a war hero. Michael returns from the war in time for his sister Connie's (Talia Shire) wedding to Carlo Rizzi (Gianni Russo), bringing along his very WASP girlfriend Kay Adams (Diane Keaton).  After the wedding and addressing a subplot where Hagen puts the squeeze on film producer Jack Woltz (John Marley) to cast Vito's godson, crooner Johnny Fontane (Al Martino) in a war film, we get to the main plot.

Vito is offered a chance to break into the narcotics business by Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo (Al Lettieri) in exchange for financing and protection. Vito sees drugs as the downfall of the Mafia and politely declines, but Sonny lets it slip he would be interested. Vito is angered that Sonny would share his opinions with others outside the family but Sollozzo sees an opportunity.

He puts a hit on Vito to get Sonny to be the new Don so they can do business, but he only ends up igniting a mob war, one that gets Michael fully immersed in the family business when he kills both Sollozzo and Captain McCluskey (Sterling Hayden), Sollozzo's corrupt right-hand man.

Sent into exile for his protection, Michael goes to his roots in Corleone, Sicily where he woos and marries Apollonia (Simonetta Stefanelli). The war however, goes on, ultimately claiming both Sonny and Apollonia.

Vito, seeing how things have devolved and mostly recovered from his assassination attempt, meets with the heads of the Five Families to formally end the war. He now goes into semi-retirement, putting Michael as the de facto head. Michael, deciding to become legitimate, goes to Las Vegas to make their casino partner Mo Greene (Alex Rocco) an offer he can't refuse. Greene is incensed and thinks he can push Michael around the way he does Fredo, but he's in for a surprise.

Vito's last piece of advise is that after his own death a traitor within the Corleone family will plot to kill Michael at the bidding of whoever was behind Vito's assassination attempt, as they see Sollozzo as part of a larger plan. Michael has decided to settle all family business, once and for all, in a brutal bloodbath that will make them the undisputed masters of the underworld, though with a terrible price both personal and moral.

The Godfather has achieved a mythic status, particularly from mob aficionados who look upon the world of the Corleone Family as something if not necessarily to emulate at least to admire. Unlike other gangster films such as the original Scarface, Angels with Dirty Faces or White Heat, this group is elegant, charming and wealthy. There's nothing overtly sordid or tawdry in their world apart from infidelity and spousal abuse, two things that sadly plague non-mobsters.

I think it is fair to say that The Godfather somewhat romanticizes a very brutal world where killing and other nefarious criminal enterprises take place, but the film is more than that.

It is an extraordinary piece of work artistically, a highly intelligent adaptation of Mario Puzo's novel. It is also a rich tale of family and loyalty, of how your roots both shape and sometimes bind.

On the artistic side, director Francis Ford Coppola crafts such a visually rich film where the symbolism and foreshadowing pop out. Right from the beginning at the wedding we see the juxtaposition: the brightness, joy and frivolity of the wedding countered by the darkness of the various requests the guests make of Vito. This is shown especially by Gordon Willis' cinematography: the wedding bathed in sunshine, Vito's office in almost satanic darkness.

At the famous 'leave the gun, take the cannoli' scene, note where Coppola sets the scene. Out in the distance you see the Statue of Liberty from behind, metaphorically turning her back on these immigrants and their sordid acts.

Before Corleone assassin Luca Brasi (Lenny Montana) gets killed (or whacked as the Mob term goes), you see the glass windows have a fish design, foreshadowing that soon Luca Brasi 'sleeps with the fishes'.

Coppola uses foreshadowing often. When Michael tells Kay the story of how his father helped family friend Fontane through violence, he tells her calmly "That's my family, Kay. That's not me". We can see that despite himself, Michael (the only Corleone child with a thoroughly American name versus his siblings' names of Santino and Fredo, with Connie probably being short for Constanzia) will end up as perhaps the biggest part of both 'families'. After Michael tells his father in the hospital, "I'm with you now", the double meaning of that line is clear.

As a side note, it's interesting that among themselves the Corleone siblings go by more "American" nicknames like Sonny, Freddy and Connie (Mike or Mickey being Michael's nicknames), reflecting again their own desire to be more integrated versus their parents who still hold fast to their Italian roots. Michael, if one notices, struggles with Italian, speaking it slowly, sometimes struggling with the language, again reflecting his more integrated life.

That theme of 'the sins of the fathers coming upon the sons' is reflected in Vito and Michael's final conversation, where Vito speaks of his aspirations for his sons (an old school man, he'd never consider having Connie as head of the family). He recognizes Sonny was not fit to lead due to his short temper, his unofficial son Tom Hagen was not Sicilian, and Fredo was intellectually and spiritually weak. Michael, he hoped, would have achieved greatness separate as perhaps "Senator Corleone, Governor Corleone", but there just wasn't enough time.

The tragedy of their collective failure dooms both men to this life of supporting their family at a high price.

In the climatic purging of the Five Families, the intercuts between the holiness of the baptism and the brutality of the various killings, punctured by the organ music that ties them both, reflects Michael's loss of his soul so extraordinarily well. He can claim to renounce Satan, but we now that the one least involved in the family business has given himself fully to Satan under the guise of said family.

Coppola deserves major credit for drawing simply perfect performances out of his entire cast. Brando displayed his old powers as Vito, a man who rarely broke emotionally and remained calm and mannered even when angered. Only twice does he break out: when he slaps and berates Fontane for crying and when he turns to the undertaker Bonasera (Salvatore Corsitto) to prepare Sonny's body and make him presentable given the ferocity of his killing.

"Look how they massacred my boy," the old Don almost wails, the old man as close to breaking as he ever has.

Brando's performance, much imitated and spoofed now with that soft, raspy voice and jowls, is really one of extraordinary skill. He is compelling, where he dominates every scene he is in.

Pacino also does extraordinary work as Michael, the man slowly corrupted by loyalty to his family. His performance is equal to Brando's in showing how Michael came to slowly, coldly and fully embrace the darkness. You see how Michael went from that war hero chasing after his WASP dreamgirl to the man who does not flinch from having his brother-in-law killed.

Caan, despite not being Italian, is ferocious as Sonny, the 'shoot-first-ask-questions-later-if-at-all' temporary Don who let his emotions overtake his reason. Hagen counters him brilliantly as Hagen, the cool, rational member who thinks things out rather than storm in the way Sonny does.

Though his role was smaller, Cazale was excellent as Fredo, the most sensitive of the Corleone brothers. He shows this at the attempted assassination of his father: first he bungles trying to pull his pistol out then starts weeping over his father, screaming "PAPA!". This more than anything captures Fredo's inept but gentle nature. Keaton too as Kay, the long-suffering and ultimately betrayed woman and Shire as the tormented sister are also quite excellent.

The film also has the benefit of Nino Rota's iconic score, which brings in the tragedy and romance of the story so well.

The Godfather even has at least one moment of humor. When Woltz is raging to Tom Hagen about how he wants to destroy Johnny Fontane's career, he says it's because Fontane had an affair with one of Woltz's proteges. "She was beautiful! She was young! She was innocent! She was the greatest piece of ass I've ever had and I've had'em all over the world!" Far be it for me to know the ways of the world, but how someone can simultaneously be "innocent" and "the greatest piece of ass (one has) ever had" I don't know.

As a side note, if as Godfather fans maintain Johnny Fontane is based on Frank Sinatra and his alleged Mob connections, then we can speculate that the "war film" Fontane is desperate to be in would be the equivalent to From Here to Eternity. Fontane tells the Don that the character he wants to play "is a guy like me, I wouldn't even have to act". In From Here to Eternity, the character Sinatra plays is pretty much like Sinatra: a skinny, scrappy Italian kid.

Moreover, in real life Sinatra was in a downward slide in his career, much like Fontane was in The Godfather. Both the real Sinatra and his alleged doppelganger Fontane knew 'the war picture' would put them back on top.

Sinatra at the time was also in a tempestuous relationship with movie star Ava Gardner. Could she have been 'the greatest piece of ass' a Woltz-like figure ever had? That's doubtful, as Gardner's career was riding high when she was with Sinatra, but she did lobby hard to get Sinatra cast in From Here to Eternity, with the end result that Sinatra did revive his career and win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the film.

I'm in now way saying Fontane was Sinatra or that he got the role in From Here to Eternity via Mob ties and a horse's head. People can make that connection if they wish, that is all.

I think part of the appeal to The Godfather is that a viewer can relate to the Corleones because we all have family issues in the same way they do: the love for your parents and siblings, the struggle between keeping to our heritage and integrating into the more dominant American culture, the aspirations for our children which can also be terrible burdens for them.

We all know the burden of family and conversely the call to stay loyal to the family. I don't think one person doesn't relate to Michael's warning to Fredo when he sides with Mo Greene: "Fredo, you're my brother and I love you, but don't ever take sides against the family again". I doubt one person hasn't felt a sense of betrayal when a family member sides against the family.

In its way, The Godfather is very relatable to the viewer: that pull-push between the individual and our family ties.

The Godfather, this tale of love, loyalty and loss, enraptures viewers, perhaps a bit too much in presenting these criminals as elegant people. However, underneath the criminality of the Corleones we see a story of family, tradition and the high cost of them all. Expertly written, acted and directed, The Godfather truly is a triumph of cinema.

One final note on The Godfather, and it relates to the myth of the orange. I don't know how the orange became this harbinger of death and I'll take Coppola's claim that it was a coincidence that oranges were mere props that found their way at certain points. However, for those who enjoy juicing their orange myths, they can be found all over The Godfather if one wants to look for them:

Tessio (Abe Vigoda) handles an orange at Connie's wedding (he gets whacked at the end).
Woltz's dinner table has oranges when he declines Don Vito's request to put Fontane in his movie (his horse gets whacked and Woltz wakes up with its head on his bed)
Vito buys oranges right before he's shot (he almost gets whacked)
Carlo wears a bright orange suit when Sonny beats him up for beating his sister (Carlo gets whacked)
The restaurant where Sollozzo and McCluskey get whacked is bathed in orange neon light
Sonny passes a billboard for oranges as he races to rescue Connie (Sonny gets whacked)
There are oranges at the unofficial Board Meeting of the Five Families (the heads of which get whacked)
Vito stuffs orange slices into his mouth before dying in his garden

Curiously, there are no known oranges seen when Apollonia bites the dust, but there it is.

DECISION: A+

1976 Best Picture: The Sting