Oversight Marathon: The Godfather Trilogy (1972, 1974, 1990)

There were two main reasons that I decided to do this Oversight Marathon.  The first reason was that I had never seen Citizen Kane.  It’s supposedly the best movie ever, according to many sources.  The other reason was a trilogy that is known as one of the greatest, with two movies known as two of the greatest movies of all time.  This was the saga of The Godfather.

I had previously only seen The Godfather, and not either of the sequels.  I didn’t like The Godfather upon my first viewing.  It was too slow for my liking.  I was fifteen or sixteen at the time.  What I wanted was fast-paced gangster action, and I didn’t get that through a lot of the movie.  Instead I got a lot of serious acting interspersed with the odd action sequence that lasted a few seconds then was done.

Boy, was I wrong to write the movie off like that.  I rewatched it before watching the two sequels for the first time.  I now know what I was too immature to notice at the time when I first watched it.  The movie is not slow.  The Godfather is deliberately paced.  What seems slow on the surface is filled to the brim with great acting.  I missed that the first time, instead just wanting gunfire, killing, brawls, and the such.  I didn’t want to see that and I don’t know why.  It’s wonderful.

The second film in the series brings more of that.  The interwoven stories of Vito Corleone establishing himself and Michael Corleone dealing with familial issues would make for two great films, but the viewer is getting them in one package.

The final chapter of the trilogy is the lesser entry, yet is still quite a solid film.  The majority of it is still well paced, while acted, and a great story.  The problem is how it pales in comparison to its predecessors in terms of how masterfully crafted the film is.  There are bigger flaws than in either of the previous two films.

The three movies do come together to create one of the greatest film trilogies ever made.  This is up there with Back to the Future, The Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars.  But are any of the individual movies the best ever?

I would not rank any of these movies as high as most people seem to.  I always see them in top fives of people’s best movies ever lists.  They are great movies, don’t get me wrong.  I just don’t see them as the best ever made.  I would put parts of each film up among the best moments in movies of all time.  However, as a whole, I don’t think I’d put any of them in my top movies.

This is all out of personal preference though.  People can keep putting these movies at the top of their lists.  I don’t have the same emotional connection to the series that so many people seem to have.  Something keeps me at a slight distance.

Either way, this is a great trilogy that deserves to be watched.  If you have not seen any of the movies, you should get on it.  You shouldn’t be disappointed.