This review was updated on September 21, 2024
Nobody wanted The Godfather. The list of directors approached by producer Robert Evans to oversee an adaptation of Mario Puzo’s then-unpublished novel of Mafia life was exhaustive, from Sergio Leone to Otto Preminger. Every one of them rejected the offer, until finally someone suggested this guy Francis Coppola, who might never have made a hit but at least he was Italian-American. Astonishingly, even he turned it down – the book was ‘pretty cheap stuff’, Coppola sneered – before friends prevailed upon him to reconsider, pointing out that his production company, American Zoetrope, was in $400,000 worth of debt, and that he really couldn’t afford to be choosy.
So Coppola swallowed his pride. The result was not only the single most financially successful movie to date, but one that remains almost universally beloved well into the 21st century, appearing in the top rank of best movie lists in publications as diverse as Sight & Sound, Empire and Time Out, and remaining so culturally significant that Heinz have seen fit to release a range of Godfather-inspired pasta sauces bearing the film’s instantly recognisable title font.
The story is Shakespearean in its simplicity
The story is Shakespearean in its simplicity: as an ageing ruler – Don Corleone, imbued with absolute authority by Marlon Brando – reaches the end of his life, he must choose which of his three sons – hotheaded Sonny (James Caan), feeble Fredo (John Cazale) or upstanding young Michael (Al Pacino) – is fit to inherit his empire. Photographed in shades of black and autumnal brown, punctuated by moments of still-shocking violence – the horse’s head, the restaurant assassination, the tollbooth – and flawlessly performed down to the tiniest supporting roles, this is not only grand entertainment, but an emotional and intellectual experience to rival any in cinema.
Find out where it lands on our list of the 100 greatest movies ever made.
What to watch next:
Rocco and His Brothers (1960); The Godfather Part II (1974); Goodfellas (1990)