by Nevin Hooper

TV- version

Hello, once again fans of classic films, and I am so, so happy to finally talk about this film. It is considered one of the best films of all time and is a perfect film about the struggles of family life, the Italian mob, and just a perfect film in general! So, here we go into one of the most celebrated films of all time, The Godfather!

If you are not familiar with my grading system it goes like this: I grade films on a scale from 0/10 (movies that are so horrible that they should have never been made) to an 11/10 (movies that are so good, so amazing, that you just can’t give the average 10/10 grade).

This magnificent film tells the story of the struggling Corleone Crime Family after its leader, Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando, in one of his best roles), survives an assassination attempt from another family. Because of this, the new patriarch of the Family, the youngest son of Vito, Michael (Al Pacino, who gives by far his best performance), is determined to avenge his father. The rest of the film follows the near fall and hysteria of the Corleone Crime Family.

I will just go out and say that in my opinion, this is the best American film ever made. I have never seen a single movie throughout my entire movie-watching journey that I have found better than this one. Some may back down and not watch this film and it’s equally amazing sequel because of it’s length, but because of that, these people are missing a phenomenal film. Francis Ford Coppola’s direction is stunning, along with the brilliant Oscar-winning screenplay that so believably brings to life these characters. The cinematography is also excellent with interesting metaphorical imagery to express the difference between these people’s “normal” life and the crime business life in which they are forever entrapped. And I do believe that almost every single shot in this movie could be a perfect framed photograph. The performances in this movie by everyone are also perfect. Marlon Brando does an amazing job portraying the heartbroken Don, which garnered him a very worthy Best Actor Oscar. But, by far the best performance in this film, that I also think is still to this day the most Oscar-snubbed performance ever, is from Al Pacino. Sure, he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for this film, but why in the world did he not win it?! He deserved that Oscar so badly, but of course, he did not win it, and I have to deal with that. I mean, even in the second movie he gives a performance that some may argue is a better performance than what he does in the first one, and he still didn’t win Best Actor for that film either! Anyway, I just can’t talk about this film enough to tell you how great this movie is. It is a timeless masterpiece, and will forever be a cinematic masterpiece, and definitely deserves my highest grade of an 11/10.