Jeremy’s Tophunder №40: The Godfather

7 min readApr 14, 2020

I’ll just be honest right up front. The Godfather is almost universally regarded as a stand apart masterpiece of American filmmaking, and the last 50 years of conversations about the movie have permanently cemented that reputation. But on a list of Movies I Like, rather than Movies That Are The Best, it’s not going to land too close to the top.

The Godfather is a great movie, with several great performances, and is one of the defining films in a genre that has become a tent pole of American cinema. I can’t (and wouldn’t want to) deny any of that. But meanwhile, it’s also a movie that is a product of its era, has a handful of scenes that don’t hold up to the standards of the 21st century, and has a handful of scenes that could very easily be trimmed down or cut entirely.

I’m not somebody that complains about how long movies are. Sure, when a bloated and unfocused movie like Titanic or King Kong or Pearl Harbor hit the two hour mark and I realize there’s still an hour left, sure, I’ll get annoyed. But there are plenty of movies on my list that clock in close to or over three hours. I only get frustrated when movies drag on unnecessarily.

Some parts of The Godfather seem unnecessary to me. The opening scene at Connie and Carlo’s wedding clocks in at over 25 minutes. The scenes in Sicily stretch a lot longer than they need to. There are probably 10 or 12 other scenes that could be trimmed here and there to shave a few more minutes off the run time. I’m not suggesting to lop off any scenes entirely; I’m saying that if there was a tighter cut of the movie that ran closer to two hours than three, I’d probably enjoy it more.

That being said — the level of detail and patience that Francis Ford Coppola put into the movie makes it the legendary film that it has become. The wedding scene is 25 minutes long because it slowly (but fully) develops the world around you, introducing you to just about every relevant character, building layer on top of layer until you feel like you’re there at the wedding with the characters. Could they have done the scene in 15 minutes instead of 25? Yes. Would I enjoy it just as much? Also, yes. But would the movie be worse? Probably.

That’s a key distinction that I think about a lot when it comes to movies. A movie like Schindler’s List or Lawrence of Arabia is just plain better than Space Jam or Top Gun. They just are. To me, the “best” movies are ones where there’s an artistic purpose in mind, and some sense of obligation on the part of the filmmaker(s) to tell this specific story or to create this visual experience. A movie like Space Jam exists because Warner Brothers wanted to make a few dollars. A movie like Schindler’s List exists because Stephen Spielberg had a visceral need to tell the story of Oskar Schindler. There’s a difference. One is a piece of art, one is a piece of entertainment. Sure, the line is blurry in the middle, because the artistic movies still need to be entertaining to matter to a wide audience, and entertaining movies still have some artistic merit, but a movie like The Godfather was very clearly and intentionally made as art first and entertainment second.

Which brings me back around to my original point. The Godfather is a phenomenal movie. The wedding scene is longer than it absolutely needs to be, but the movie is better because of it. The scenes in Sicily are longer than they absolutely need to be, but they establish Michael’s deepening desire for revenge when he returns to America. There are lulls and pregnant pauses in just about every dialogue-driven scene in the movie, but those serve as immersive moments to build tension or establish character motivation.

The movie is better, but I still like it less.

Most of the time, my preference is to watch a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but seriously enough that elements are still executed well. Movies that are the equivalent of going a wedding in navy blazer, and taking shots with the wedding party. You understand that it’s a formal occasion, but you’re still there to have a good time. That’s the reason why There Will Be Blood ranked №59, Amadeus ranked №82, The Godfather ranks №40, but Ocean’s 11 and The Fugitive both land in the Top 20.

There’s a 150-minute movie somewhere in here that would probably crack my Top 10. There are so many elements of the movie that I absolutely love. Al Pacino’s performance is mesmerizing; this is probably the best start-to-finish performance of his career. Robert Duvall also submits his best work. When I think of my favorite performance in the movie, I really, really want to pick Duvall — he’s unquestionably the most underrated component of the movie — but I have to lean towards Pacino. Marlon Brando won the Oscar for Best Actor, although I’ve thought for years that Michael is really the central character. Brando’s performance is great, although a bit hammed up at times. Same goes for James Caan.

The visuals and cinematography are also great. The use of light and shadow adds a lot to the mood of each scene, especially in the opening, where the wedding scene (light, playful) is interspersed with scenes of Vito listening to requests in his office (dark, serious). All of the Family scenes at the Corleone compound feel like a sinister mobster movie, and in a lot of ways influenced the visual style of a number of mobster movies that came after it, as well as television shows like The Sopranos.

The movie still has flaws, though. Talia Shire is just not a very good actor. Either Connie Corleone was a poorly written role, or Shire went way over the top with how hysterical the character is meant to be. Based on (a) the fact that Shire is Coppola’s sister, and (b) the rest of her career, I’m leaning towards blaming Shire (and Coppola for casting her) rather than the character itself. The scene when she finds out Carlo is cheating and runs around the apartment smashing dishes is, well, a bit extra. There’s also the scene where Sonny attacks Carlo in the street and very noticeably misses a punch by a foot and a half.

These high-energy violence scenes are all in all pretty good for their era. But they don’t quite hold up today. If they were re-making The Godfather in 2020, these scenes would be better. They just would. Sonny’s death at the tollbooth seems almost cartoonish at this point. The assassinations carried out during the baptism at the end of the movie aren’t that great either. And these scenes matter — it’s a movie about organized crime. Again, it’s a product of the era. The technology to depict this kind of violence realistically just wasn’t at the level that it is now, and it was the norm for actors to really sell it when their characters die. But if the list is based on movies I enjoy watching in 2020, I can’t help but think these scenes don’t really hold up anymore.

Overall, though, The Godfather is still an impeccably made movie, and was groundbreaking in its genre. Prior to The Godfather, mob movies largely depicted the gangsters as one-dimensional criminals, and everyone was a Good Guy or a Bad Guy. The Godfather fundamentally changed the portrayal of criminality in American cinema, a shift that is still being felt today, almost 50 years later. If I were making a list of The Best Movies, The Godfather might claim the №1 spot. But this list isn’t The Best Movies, it’s My Favorite Movies. I love The Godfather for it’s cultural impact and it’s artistic quality, but it drops down the list because it’s just not always that fun to watch. You have to be in the right mood for it. When I am, nothing quite competes with it. But when I’m not, it’s just not up to snuff. For an iconic movie that I often love but sometimes can’t quite get into, I felt like №40 was a fair spot.

(For a refresher on the project, I introduced it in a Facebook Post on Day 1)

Here’s our progress on the list so far:

6. The Fugitive

7. The Dark Knight

9. Saving Private Ryan

11. The Big Short

13. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

17. Ocean’s 11

18. Air Force One

22. Remember The Titans

24. Apollo 13

27. All The President’s Men