I was honestly bored throughout the entire movie but its so popular and considered a classic so I was really curious, for all the people who love this movie, what is it that you like about it? What elements made it a classic?
shareThe beginning of the movie is really slow for a younger person... if you were multitasking, texting, etc while watching... you may not have been able to catch the introduction of all the characters... Do you like any movies from this era or genre?
shareI usually don't turn to movies in this genre on my own. I usually only end up watching them if someone else turns it on or in this case because I wanted to go through all the movies on IMDB's top 250 list. The movies I like on the list of similar movies on this site (in order by how much I like them) are Fight Club, The Dark Knight, Shawshank Redemption, and Forrest Gump. A couple movies from the era I like are Pretty Baby and The Other. I don't mind older movies as long as the plot doesn't require special effects or themes that were too heavy to portray accurately at the time.
shareThe reason I asked is that there is another movie from this era called The Deer Hunter about the Vietnam War era in America that also has an interminably long wedding scene... felt almost as though you were actually attending the event... and I think it's easy to let your mind wander so by the time the more exciting drama comes you don't really care what happens. More modern crime dramas whether its Scorsese or Tarantino usually begin with a burst of violence and are edited to suit younger attention spans. Scorsese and Coppola are pretty similar in age, but stylistically Scorsese has adapted more to a 21st century aesthetic which might explain why one is still much more popular than the other today.
All I can say films from the seventies are a unique breed... they come from a time when the MPAA had just relaxed its standards, things were still breaking away from the studio dominated golden era of film... and there was a lot of artistic freedom and a lot more independent feeling. Films were probably a lot more about art and less about money than any other time even though they still had films like The Godfather, Jaws and Star Wars that made a relative fortune. Because they didn't have to worry as much about such a centralized system... they could be more indulgent exploring film as an art form. Don't get me wrong... money and studios were still a big factor... but it was a rebellious time and there was more autonomy than before.
TLDR? There was no such thing as TLDR in the seventies... you could break the mold a little and not worry about following audience tested templates that guaranteed entertainment success.
If you ever get a chance, watch it again some time. You might like it better without such high expectations.
I wouldn't mind giving it another chance. It was a few years ago that I watched it. I may notice some things that I didn't on the first run that may make me appreciate it more. And it's got to be popular for a reason, especially since it came out at a time where Hollywood didn't just depend on a franchise to carry the movie instead of actually making a good movie.
shareI wouldn't recommend you rewatch it unless you become more familiarized with older films.
My parents made sure I watched Classic films like Ben Hur, Gone with the Wind, and Lawrence of Arabia so early on I was familiar with lengthy pacing and rich numerous characters. So now I don't have the same issues younger ones do with pre 2000 films. I even watch some silent films sometimes actually.
I usually don't push people to watch something like The Godfather if they aren't used to the genre/era/slower pacing. If you never feel time urge to watch older films then TGF may not be for you.
This is one of my favorites btw, I watch the trilogy every year.
I'm used to the pacing of older films... but I'm another one who doesn't love this film or it's sequels, and wouldn't put it in the AFI top 100, much less at the top of the list. I recognize it's a well-made family drama, but I don't identify with any of the characters - and I don't *like* any of them.
So here's a question for the "Godfather" fans: Do you like the characters or identify with them?
Yes and yes.
When you say you're used to the paving of older films, what films are you referring to? The 80s, 90s, & 00s? If older what films are your examples for slower pacing?
1970s? Try 1920s! Really, I grew up watching "old movies" and even Chaplain silent shorts, which were on TV when I was a kid, and still watch films of all eras.
So the period isn't s problem for me, I just don't like watching films about mean and violent people. My idea of good films about criminals are funny and clever things like "A Fish Called Wanda", or "Topkai".
Maybe crime/gangster films aren't your forte? If you hate a genre, no use forcing yourself to like it.
Lol, mean or violent.
Me I like the genre but I'm not much for war films but I will watch them for exposure and to expand my palette.
No, I'm just not keen on gangster films (or war films), and I'm old enough to know that my preferences in that area aren't going to change. I just don't like spending brain time with gangsters, or in war zones.
However, I am interested in why people like things or don't, although I don't think I'll ever understand why the critics are so in love with the "Godfather" films. Real people are so much more likely to give sensible explanations.
I'll give you a thorough review of my take on tgf if you want but I'm oh my phone so I'll do it later on my computer.
share"I wouldn't recommend you rewatch it unless you become more familiarized with older films."
The OP did say they liked The Other and Pretty Baby. Those are slower in pace and roughly from that era so I doubt it has much to do with that. Maybe I'm wrong. it wouldn't be the first time..... LOL!
Idk I don't find them particularly slower paced tbh.
It's like Star Trek, it isn't for everyone but even if it is, there is a way to introduce it at the right time/moment, & which ST to introduce to them first.
It's like school there's a process to learning to appreciate a wide variety of films bit even then, you won't like every genre/subjects.
True.
shareI'm curious. you say you watch the trilogy once a year. I also have all three in a box set. Do you like the third one very much? I really don't care for it.
Love the first one but Part Two is my favorite.
I do like the third one but it does have problems. I always imagine how it could've been improved everytime I watch it tbh, lol!
share"And it's got to be popular for a reason, especially since it came out at a time where Hollywood didn't just depend on a franchise to carry the movie instead of actually making a good movie."
Just my thoughts on this...
Many of us at that time had read the book. It was a best seller and many were talking about it. Even the kids at school had copies and those who didn't borrowed from the ones who did.
Part of the draw may have been that. Once the movie came out people flocked to see it. Word of mouth and talk on TV also got people in the theaters. The violence was talked about at the time too. That also got people talking about it.
It may need a second look if you get the time.
Have you seen part two? Even better!
For me the there are too many characters and it's hard to keep track who's who. I do like the movie though and I didn't multitask.
shareFor someone young, I'd tell them to watch on computer at 1.25 or 1.5 speed. Also use the subtitles. This way a 3 hour movie becomes 2 hours and you can see the characters names on the subtitles. Normally, this would be an abomination against art... but I know how bad some people's attention spans are... so you do what you can to get them interested.
Maybe try that for a rewatch.
I do agree that the film can be overwhelming at first with so many characters and etc which is why I always recommend to watch it with subtitles. These films really lend themselves to multiple viewings as you learn or notice new things with every rewatch because it is so rich in every aspect.
I would also recommend to read the first book if you are up to it. For me, reading the book added and enriched the film even more and it is a very fast paced book too.
I think anyone coming to a highly beloved and hyped up movie later on after its release is bound to feel some sense of, "that's it?" or disappointment towards it. Once you built up those kind of expectations almost nothing will match that....that's my opinion anyways. Hype is a necessary evil when it comes to shows or movies, I think, because you need that buzz to get people to see it, but at the same time it can be a killer for your mentality going in.
I can see how the pacing could throw someone off as well as its length. You go in knowing the most iconic parts of it and then might get annoyed when it's not just wall to wall that stuff, but a lot of other content in there as well. I wasn't around when it came out so I can't speak to what it was like then, but I can relate to the feeling of being sort of surprised at what I saw when I did first watch it cause I went into it with that hype same as anybody. But now after repeat viewings I love it and can see why it's become a classic.
Someone who's more knowledgeable or was around then correct me, but I don't know if audiences were as used to saga's as we are now. I think the sheer size of this story was impressive and maybe people also weren't as used to seeing gangsters made into stories. Of course they existed and people knew about them, but to get a more in depth exploration of that world might have seemed more new and titillating than it is now as well. That juxtaposition of family and violence, that runs throughout many stories now, may have seemed quite stark then. I'm kinda guessing here as to why it seemed to hit with audiences so hard, but at the end of the day it mostly comes down to the basics of it just being a well made and well performed film. There's a reason it's been aped and cited as an influence for many people and it's because the way it was crafted seems to have elevated the medium in a lot of people's eyes and made them want to make something just as good.
That's about what I got for ya!
As for sagas, do you mean serial shows or epic saga type films? Because there were plenty of the latter which is why they had very lengthy films back then with Intermissions like the following:
-Ben Hur
-Lawrence of Arabia
-Doctor Zhivago
-Gone with the Wind
As for the audience back then being unused to the gangster genre, well, actually they were. There were plenty of gangster genres in films and tv since the 1920s but they were so very unlike The Godfather. Gangster films back then were usually a morality tale and genres that were not as epic or saga-ish or imbued with so many iconic Italian traditional elements. In a way, gangster films prior to The Godfather films were more similar to Scorsese's, they were brash, fast paced, NY Street wise gangsters that were presented as hoodlums or petty criminals. The gangsters in TGF otoh were very different, they were shown in a very romanticized light, a family, a king and his 3 sons, an Empire preserving itself from destruction from the outside elements. The Godfather was like watching Hamlet or The Starks from Game of Thrones, these were not petty criminals, not street hoods, not ill educated brash temperamental stupid goons. They were Kings and Princes, intelligent machivellian types. And since The Godfather, when was the last time we had these types of characters in such a grand fantastic scale? Game of Thrones? 40 years and the latter is a breakthrough on tv, not in the cinemas. Not even Star Wars is as politically epic and romatically grand within the scope of an Empire/King like The Godfather was and is. I can only think of one other and that's Game of Thrones. Can you think of another?
Even House of Cards simply isn't on the same level as these two.
Another thing that adds to the why TGF films are in another class is their created world, it is Italian American but more so than Scorsese's films. It is a world of the old and the new Italian-Americans, we are witness to a whole new world we have never been privy to before, nor ever will be. Even later Italian Gangster films is very much about New York Culture rather than Italian Culture like TGF films are (thanks to both Puzo and Coppola). This believable rich world helps romanticize it even more, it becomes believable like why the Harry Potter, LOTR, and Game of Thrones worlds are so believable as well. They are rich in detail and breathe that other-worldliness we are all amazed and drawn to, wholly original, new, and unique unto itself. Very few films/stories can present such a world we readily believe in and want to be a part of.
You don't have to like it. It's fine.
shareI thought the movie looked beautiful, for one thing. Almost every shot is gorgeous in some way. I was also really invested in Michael's character arc where he starts off trying his best to separate himself from the family, only to end up running the organization. In most stories, if the protagonist has avenged the death of his loved ones, secured his family's safety, and acquired power in the process, it would be seen as a triumph, but here, it's heart breaking.
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