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Movies: A B C G D E W Z I Y K L M N O P R S T U F X C H W W E Y I 1-10
Persons: A B C G D E F Z I Y K L M N O P R S T U F X C H W S E Y I
Crime drama "The Godfather" (The Godfather)
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
Starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton.
USA.
1972.
175 min.
"Listen, this traffic police - he does not respect himself at all!"
Mimino
"Damn it, the FBI doesnot respect anyone!"
Sonny
"It's nothing personal, Sonny.
It's just business."
Michael
"I will make him an offer that he cannot refuse."
The catchphrase of Don Vito Corleone
"Don Corleone!
I am flattered by the honor you have given me and I am happy that you have invited me to your daughter's wedding... on your daughter's wedding day.
And I hope that their first child will be male.
I assure you of my deep respect."
Luca Brasi's oratorical masterpiece
Probably everyone knows the phrase about "your daughter's wedding".
It is impossible to count how many times during the wedding ceremonies, one of the guests got up and pronounced it, addressing the father of the bride, while the guests were having a lot of fun, because it's really funny.
It is also impossible to count how many times Michael's catchphrase was pronounced in completely different languages in different parts of the world: "Nothing personal, Sonny.
It's just business"...
And this is not surprising.
"The Godfather" is one of the best, if not the best, films of the twentieth century.
On the international Internet movie database (IMDB), "The Godfather" is in the first place in the list of the best films of all time.
Almost one hundred thousand people voted for him...
The film "The Godfather" is based on the novel of the same name by Mario Puzo, and it is set quite close to the text.
Both Puzo and Coppola were repeatedly reproached for the fact that the film, they say, "romanticizes gangsters," but they indignantly dismissed such claims.
Nevertheless, this question is still open, and in this article we will try to figure out what is there and how.
But first according to tradition just a little bit about the plot...
The film tells about a certain period of the life of the Corleone family - Americans of Italian origin.
Moreover, the term " family "in this case means not only the usual family ties, but also" family " as a mafia clan under the leadership of the head, who, according to Italian tradition, was called the godfather.
The Corleone family was dominated by Don Vito (Marlon Brando).
He was also the "godfather" and the head of one of the" families " of New York - mafia clans that ran a large number of different criminal businesses from the east to the west coast of America.
During the described period of life, the Corleone family began to have serious problems.
Some people from the leading echelons of the "families" came to the conclusion that along with the era of racketeering, prostitution and gambling - the traditional types of business of mafia clans - a new era is beginning - drugs.
"This type of business can bring a lot of money, so they need to be engaged: invest money, bribe the police and judges to eventually lead the drug trade," these people said.
However, Don Vito did not agree to support such ideas.
He categorically refused to engage in drugs and said that he would not use his own extensive connections to pave the way for this new business.
Don Corleone believed that it was unethical to engage in drug trafficking.
Racketeering, prostitution, gambling - this is quite a normal and even traditional business, Don Vito believed.
All sorts of small shopkeepers still have to pay for the "roof" that the mafia provides them, and prostitution and gambling are traditional human sins, on which it is not a sin to earn money.
But to get involved with drugs no, this is not for Don Vito.
And here his own favorite phrase worked against Don Corleone - about an offer that cannot be refused.
Don Vito should not have refused to support the drug trade.
Because with his refusal, a great war began between mafia "families", because of which many people died from different sides.
Moreover, the war began with the fact that Don Corleone himself was shot.
He was seriously injured and spent a long time in the hospital.
All the power in the" family " during the absence of Don Vito passed to his eldest son Sonny (James Caan).
However, Sonny - with his explosive Italian temperament, genuine fearlessness and the assertiveness of a young bull was an excellent warrior, but a poor strategist.
Where it was necessary to act with cunning, Sonny preferred to go ahead.
Therefore, the situation of the Corleone family was getting worse and worse.
And then the don's youngest son, Michael (Al Pacino), entered the arena...
Michael always kept to himself in the family.
His father tried not to tell him much about the family's affairs, and Michael first studied, and then, against his father's will, went to war, to fight for America.
After returning, Michael began to live separately from his family and was going to marry an American Kay (Diane Keaton), when suddenly his father's injury radically changed his whole life.
Michael realized that at this difficult time for the family, he could not stay away.
And since Michael, by his nature, could not limit himself to the role of a passive participant in hostilities, he took on the burden of solving the most difficult issues…
As a result, Michael was not only forced to leave America for Italy for a long time, but later, when he was able to return back, after his father's death, he had to prove to the rest of the "family" that he could be don instead of Vito Corleone.
That he, a very young man, has both wisdom, foresight, and an iron will.
But it was very, very difficult to prove it.
For this, Michael had to go to war on several very influential members of the so called "five "families of" New York"...
***
We immediately answer the main reproach that the opponents presented to Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola: does the film serve to "romanticize" gangster "families"?
No, it does not.
There is no romanticization there at all.
Puzo and Coppola do not admire Don Vito, Michael and people of this kind at all.
They are investigating them.
They are trying to understand and show how and why Vito Corleone became the godfather.
They demonstrate how Michael a clever Michael, a man who has always had a certain dislike for his father's business under the influence of quite positive human qualities, stands up for his father and family and how he later turns into a real monster a criminal and a murderer.
In fact, the book and the film "The Godfather" are also very interesting in historical terms.
It clearly shows why it was the Italians who became so influential in the criminal business of America, why their mafia scheme of creating organizations and subordination in them for a long time was actually the standard.
And just in "The Godfather" it is quite clearly demonstrated how omerta - the Sicilian code of silence - and other methods that were a means of fighting for survival in Sicily, gradually began to serve completely different goals and objectives in America.
And these methods for solving such problems were so effective that the Italians (more precisely, the Sicilians) actually became the head of almost the entire criminal business.
But at what cost it was all done - the film and the book also show in sufficient detail.
"The Godfather", in my opinion, is most good for the characters: very bright, vital and ambiguous.
In the first place, of course, Don Vito and Michael - the brilliant works of Marlon Brando and Al Pacino.
Don Vito is not a killer monster at all.
This is a person with a powerful mind, excellent strategic talents and clear principles.
Well, yes, exactly the principles.
One part of these principles is deeply respected, but the other is only a sardonic smile.
For example, the constant hypocritical desire of Don Corleone to make (exactly make) everyone consider him their "friend".
They say that Don Corleone helps everyone completely selflessly, without demanding anything in return - well, except for respect.
Nevertheless, when the time comes and Don Vito needs the services of this "friend", he will not be able to refuse.
Don Corleone's numerous personal connections were largely based on this system of" friendship "- connections thanks to which he became one of the most powerful mafia"dons".
If a person refused to become a" friend " of Don Vito, he became his enemy.
"Whoever is not with us is against us" - this principle worked completely ironically...
Interestingly, despite the fact that Coppola saw Marlon Brando in the role of Don Vito, the producers and the management of Paramount actively objected to this candidacy.
Negotiations for the role of Don Vito were conducted with Laurence Olivier, Edward Robinson, Orson Welles and George Scott.
But Coppola was so actively insisting on Marlon that he himself was almost removed from the directors of the picture.
However, Francis still managed to persuade the head of Paramount, Stanley Jaffe, as a result of which we got exactly the Don Corleone we know today.
Marlon Brando, despite certain hooliganism that he allowed during the filming, took the role of Don Vito very seriously.
It was Brando who decided that Don Corleone's face should look like a bulldog, so he played the whole role with cotton swabs placed behind his cheeks - they created "square" jaws, and besides, made Brando's voice look like the voice of a real mafia boss Frank Costello...
Brando played his role just amazing.
A wise strategist, a loving but strict father and a mafia boss - a very bright, ambiguous and extraordinary personality.
Scenes of dialogues with the participation of Don Vito can be reviewed endlessly.
Many of the lessons that he gives to his sons and subordinates are very, very useful for many.
But the most interesting character in the picture, in my opinion, is still Michael Corleone.
Because if Don Vito appears in the film as a completely formed person with his clear views, then Michael undergoes a whole chain of successive transformations before the eyes of the audience: a young war hero and all that, a family member, a Punishing Hammer of the "family", an exile, a candidate for the "dons", Don Michael.
Michael's motives were quite pure and even highly moral, and this led to the fact that he turned into a real mafia boss without really noticing it himself.
He was just protecting his family, he was fulfilling a filial duty.
But this family was quite peculiar, and yet the family defeated Michael, although he initially tried to do everything to prevent this from happening.
Al Pacino brilliantly showed all this transformation, all the strength and power of Michael's character, without resorting to any special external effects.
Only the look and the way of pronouncing the words...
"Today I solve all my family affairs"... this phrase still gives me goosebumps, although I hear it once in the twentieth time.
I also very often review the scene when Michael is introduced to Apollonia's father for the first time in Sicily.
With what dignity he does it and how majestic he looks at the same time in his rather young years...
By the way, Michael could not have been played by Al Pacino at all.
The role of Michael was invited by Warren Batey (this sugary handsome would kill the whole movie), Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman.
They all refused.
Martin Sheen was offered the role of Michael, and he even auditioned for it.
At one time, James Caan was also tried on for this role, but he eventually got the role of Sonny.
But Al Pacino during the filming of "The Godfather" was supposed to play the main role in another film - "Beat the drum Slowly", but Coppola pressed some buttons, and Pacino was released from this picture, giving the main role to Robert De Niro, who, by the way, also tried on the roles of Sonny and Michael.
But Coppola decided that De Niro was not suitable for the role of Sonny, and Al Pacino would play Michael.
But De Niro got the role of a young Don Vito in the second "Godfather", and he won an Oscar for it.
At the" Godfathers "many actors received "Oscars".
Almost all.
Except for Al Pacino.
Incredibly, this is a fact...
The same Francis Ford Coppola insisted on the indispensable participation of Al Pacino.
However, unlike, for example, the names of Robert De Niro, Robert Redford and Jack Nicholson, the name of Al Pacino was not known at all at that time ("The Godfather" just lifted this magnificent actor to the top of the Hollywood Olympus), so the studio management and producers strongly objected to his participation.
But Coppola insisted - and managed to insist on his own, just as in the case of Marlon Brando.
Practice has shown that Coppola is not mistaken...
We can also talk about the other roles for a very long time, because they are almost all very bright and memorable (especially Sonny played by James Caan and Tom Hagan played by Robert Duvall).
But I think that this does not make much sense, because in such cases, the saying always clearly works that it is better to see once than to read long and tedious verbal descriptions.
Also, I will not talk about the great music of Nino Rota, a composer who wrote music for Fellini films, which has long become a classic.
I havenot said much about directing, but "The Godfather" is a Coppola film!
He is the creator of this masterpiece, he insisted on the candidates of actors, largely thanks to him, the acting works turned out so great...
By the way, few people know, but he could have become the director of the Godfather...
Sergio Leone.
The management of Paramount offered him to take up this project, but Leone refused, because he was hatching plans to shoot another film about the mafia (of course, we are talking about "Once upon a Time in America").
The audience only benefited from this, having received two great films, but Leone, they say, later regretted his refusal for a long time...
Finally, let's talk a little about the prototypes of the characters of the novel and the film...
In some articles I had to meet the idea that the prototype of Vito Corleone was the most famous mafia boss Vito Genovese.
However, apart from the name, the literary hero has nothing in common with this character.
But with Joe Bonanno - the head of one of the five "families" of New York - the book Vito Corleone has quite a lot in common, and it seems that Bonanno was one of the prototypes.
Just like Joe Bonanno's son Bill Bonanno has quite a lot in common with the character of Michael Corleone.
However, in reality, of course, everything was very different from in the book , judging by the nonfiction literature about those times and the book by the same Bill Bonanno...
I will summarize.
This is really one of the best films of the twentieth century.
It is simply necessary to watch it, because it is already a classic from the classics and, unlike many other old films, it still looks just great.
You can know it by heart, but you will still want to put a CD and watch a few favorite episodes or just re watch the movie from the beginning to the end.
He is quite worthy of it.
P.S. And the last "by the way" ...
Actor Lenny Montana, who plays Luca Brasi, was so embarrassed when rehearsing the scene of the meeting with Marlon Brando that the words stuck in his throat, and all these stutters and stutters of Luca were happening for real, and were not at all planned.
But Coppola liked how this scene looked, so he included it in the film and only finished the scene of Luca's rehearsal of his "speech" in front of Don Corleone...
***
***
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a masterpiece for all time
necessarily
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[ comments (7) ] Publication date: 15.04.2004
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