The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015. Remaining movies: 252 Days to go: 254
Movie #125: The Godfather
What Francis Ford Coppola really needs is an editor.
The Godfather is an amazing film — beautifully shot, powerfully acted, and epic in both scale and theme. Simply gorgeous, and I mean that. But it is unconscionably long. The movie could’ve been cut down by an hour, easily.
Take, for instance, the entire foray into Sicily and Michael’s (Al Pacino) courtship of Apollonia (Simonetta Stefanelli). Why is this here? Yes, it’s a beautiful and fascinating segment, illustrating Michael’s embracing of the traditional family and his place therein, but that could be conveyed simply from his murder of Sollozzo (Al Lettieri) and McCluskey (Sterling Hayden). The time-lapse could be handled via exposition when Michael meets back up with Kay (Diane Keaton), the same way it’s already used to let the audience know he’s been back for a year. Maybe establish a shot of him in Sicily, and maybe another for when he gets the news of Sonny’s (James Caan) death, but the rest is completely unnecessary. I mean, he winds back up with Kay anyway. He doesn’t indicate he married anyone else in Sicily or that he’s a widower. It never comes up, so why does it need to happen at all?
Another problem — whether it has anything to do with the Sicily segment is up for debate, but it doesn’t crop up until after that point — is the pacing is all off. From the opening of the movie at Connie (Talia Shire) and Carlo’s (Gianni Russo) wedding, The Godfather is meticulously paced, spending a lot of time at the wedding and building the universe of the Corleone family. We are introduced to all the main players: Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) holds court for guests needing favors or paying respect. Consigliere Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) is a trusted advisor and treated like a son by Vito and brother by Sonny and Michael. Vito’s other son Fredo (John Cazale), however, doesn’t seem to have as much pull or garner as much respect from anyone there. As the movie progresses and business is carried out, the Sollozzo business deal comes up and the focus shifts to that particular deal and everything that comes from it. Vito is shot, and hotheaded Sonny wants to go to war after Michael barely keeps Vito from being ambushed at the hospital. But that wouldn’t be wise, so he, Michael and Tom plan Sollozzo’s murder. Everything that happens in this whole first act, all the way up to Michael dropping the gun as he hurries out the door of the restaurant, is very deliberate. One thing happens, then another, then another. There are no big gaps in time or events that have been glossed over. After this point, however, the movie is full of them. Michael spends something like a year in Sicily, and when he meets Kay again he’s been back another whole year working for his father. He asks her to marry him and before you know it they have a toddler and Michael’s been the head of the family for some time. It’s almost as if everything that happens after the Sollozzo/McCluskey incident is epilogue — epilogue after epilogue after epilogue. There are significant turns of events in these scenes — Sonny’s murder, Vito’s death, Michael’s trip to Vegas, the baptism juxtaposed with the hits on the heads of the other families — but they feel tacked on, like afterthoughts. It’s almost as if they should be in a sequel of their own.
I’ve attempted to watch The Godfather many, many times, but this is actually the first time I’ve ever seen the whole thing in a single block. Usually I fall asleep and have to pick it up again later. That almost certainly destroys any cinephile cred I might ever have hoped to have had, but it also doesn’t necessarily reflect too well on a film that is largely regarded as a masterpiece. The thing is, though, it is a masterpiece. Of that I have no doubt. It’s an amazing, incredible film. But it’s still too freaking long.
Viable Option 