The Godfather (Extra Credit)

1. Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening.

The classic movie "The Godfather" directed by Francis Ford Coppola is one of the most memorable gangster films ever made. Following the original feature film, Coppola was also able to make a sequel followed by "The Godfather 3", which excitingly ended the trilogy of his Godfather movies. Exciting, gritty, and real "The Godfather" tells the story of a crime mafia family who is ran by the mob boss Don Corleone who eventually passes away and leaves his throne to his reluctant son Michael who initially never wanted to be apart of the family business. The movie has won numerous awards including an Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from another medium. This successful gangster film is timeless and continues to be relevant in the movie world as quotes from this movie will forever be remembered in film history.


2. Find a related article and summarize the content.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/6189162/The-Godfather-Nobody-enjoyed-one-day-of-it.html

Even though "The Godfather" is a filled with very dramatic scenes and actors and actresses who did such an amazing job with their performances, Coppola agrees that the process of making the movie was, "just non-stop anxiety and wondering when I was going to get fired." In a article written in September of 2009 by writer Phillip Horne, "The Godfather" movie making process is revealed in article tilted, "The Godfather: 'Nobody enjoyed one day of it'." In the article Horne reflects on how the idea of "The Godfather" was brought up and how Coppola wasn't to thrilled about directing the film at first as he felt the novel that was based on the movie was, "a popular, sensational novel, pretty cheap stuff”. He later referenced the novel to, "a king, almost Greek-a King with three sons". When coming to the selecting of picking who would play the Don Marlon Brando was not a first option, in fact Paramount President demanded that "Marlon Brando will never appear in this picture," but with the smooth talking Coppola convinced the Paramount President to allow who he felt to be the greatest living screen actor Brando play the Don Vito Corleone. The rest of the casting was also very problematic as selecting an actor to play the Don's son Michel was hectic, eventually choosing Al Pacino to play the role. Throughout the filming of the movie Coppola felt that he was being undermined by his group of cinematographers and producers and thought that he would be fired at any moment, Pacino also felt that he would get fired, feeling that he still hadn't won over the cast. Lucky for Coppola every idea he had turned out great as he was quoted saying, "without exception, every one of his crazy ideas I used turned out to be a terrific moment”, and also filed the film with, "hundreds and hundreds of interesting specifics".Other things such as the music, Don Vito's death scene and the move length, were controversial in the process but in the end created a wonderful masterpiece.

3. Apply the article to the film screened in class.

The article did support the way I initially felt about the movie as I could tell it would not be an easy process to develop a movie with so much psychological and drastic dimensions placed into one film. After reading the article and reflecting on the film I could appreciate the film even more as I felt that in the end all the right choices were made as for the actors and the way Coppola directed was very intriguing. Even being criticized by his own cast Coppola overcame the negative comments and was able to make film history with a phenomenal film that eventually would become a trinity of films that would be relevant for an eternity as people young and old are still discovering the magnetism of the film "The Godfather".

4. Write a critical analysis of the film, including your personal opinion formed as a result of the screening, class discussions, text material and the article.

Before watching "The Godfather" I heard of its plot and dramatic filters in the movie and I was highly satisfied after watching the movie for myself. It was everything that was discussed to me prior such as the good directing, moving performances by the actors and actresses, and also a long but interesting plotline that served as a basis for a very good gangster film. I have always been a fan of gangster and mob films and comparing "The Godfather" to some recent works I must conclude that without the "The Godfather" as a foundation for gangster films to follow, this type of genre probably wouldn't have been as successful in modern days.