The Godfather

The Godfather
$16.95
Excellent book. I like the ending in the book best. I really like how you get what the characters motivations are - which isn't always noticeable in the movie. The side story about Luca...more about Sonny and the bridesmaid...how Fabrizzio got it...etc.

The Godfather, Part II (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition)
$14.98
Although many consider this sequel to be better than the original, I am not so sure about that. It is certainly a great movie, but so was 'The Godfather'.

This is a continuation of the story with Don Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) now in power. There are flashbacks to his deceased father Don Vito Corleone (played by Robert Deniro in the sequel). Both actors are superb.

The story itself is great. There is a lot of action and intrigue in the Corleone crime family. It will certainly keep viewers entertained throughout.

I would definitely recommend watching 'The Godfather' before seeing this one. Although I think it would do fairly well as a standalone, it will be even better for those who benefit from knowing the background of the first one.

The Godfather Part II - The Coppola Restoration
$19.99
Although many consider this sequel to be better than the original, I am not so sure about that. It is certainly a great movie, but so was 'The Godfather'.

This is a continuation of the story with Don Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) now in power. There are flashbacks to his deceased father Don Vito Corleone (played by Robert Deniro in the sequel). Both actors are superb.

The story itself is great. There is a lot of action and intrigue in the Corleone crime family. It will certainly keep viewers entertained throughout.

I would definitely recommend watching 'The Godfather' before seeing this one. Although I think it would do fairly well as a standalone, it will be even better for those who benefit from knowing the background of the first one.

The Godfather (Widescreen Edition)
$14.98
I am one of the few middle-aged males in the USA who had not seen this film until now. I watched to find out why people think it's one of the greatest films ever. Even Kubrick, whose films I love, thought so. I expected to be offended by a celebration of mafia violence and the underworld, but I was wrong. It was serious, boring, and utterly pretentious.

Yes, the actors are good, but who can take this story seriously? One commenter discusses the great drama of Michael Corleone's transformation from the 'good son' to the head of the family. From where I sat, it seemed to happen instantaneously and without conflict. Also puzzling was why his New England girlfriend, Kay, is so faithful to him through his desertion, despite being troubled by his activities. Just WHO is she?? Then there's the Irish Tom Higgins - we are supposed to just accept that a non-Sicilian, non-ITALIAN is the chief advisor to a Don who puts family and community above all. How multi-cultural! Of course, we don't get a clue about what his odd position might mean to Tom. He's a one-dimensional character like Kay.

I found the idyll during Michael's exile in Sicily laughable. (Was the mistaken car-bombing of his wife a allusion to The Big Heat, in which Marlon Brando's sister plays a character who meets the same fate?) Apparently the pull of blood and soil is too much for a Corleone to resist.

I gave this three stars because if you like watching incredible melodramas with some well crafted rub out scenes, this if for you. That is, if you entranced by the Mob, and can't get enough of it, this film will entertain as promised. It's not incompetent or truly bad, but just vastly overrated by a public that for some reason gets a vicarious thrill out of watching savages live outside the rules (how tiresome) of society.