The Godfather Thesis

In many ways, The Godfather follows the same pattern of many cinematic classics who used to be made in a time periods or circumstances that aren't here anymore. It was made in a era when the Old Hollywood collapsed, and the new rules hadn't been established. The studios were willing to experiment and to give the movie authors free reign over their projects. One of such authors was Francis Ford Coppola, who made one of the most intimate, yet most universally appealing movies of all times; the movie which earned its cult status by satisfying both the high standards of snobbish critics and the simple needs general audience. The greatness of the movie can't be seen only in a success that followed him in a last quarter of century; it could be even

However, although the movie might seem a little bit apologetic towards Mafia, and definitely has insiders' point of view, it still has the flavour of authenticity, necessary for the viewer to have a critical relations towards the characters and their morally questionable actions.The authenticity of the movie isn't just in some references towards real-life mobsters and mob-related stories and urban legends. Coppola worked very hard to capture the way of life in his native Italian American community, and also invested a lot of effort in order to have his epic story, that takes place in late 1940s and early 1950s, firmly set in that time period through production design, costumes, hairstyles and soundtrack that is well balanced with the original music of Nino Rota, that also became one of the identifying symbols of the movie.The most memorable element of the movie are its actors. Marlon Brando, almost washed-up in the time when he made The Godfather, gave the performance of his life by playing Vito

The calmness of Pacino's character, calmness that crumbles under emotions only in brief moments of family crisis, is so in contrast with the emotional outbursts that would be Pacino's trademark in a years to come.The other actors might not be in Brando's or Pacino's league, but they benefited from Coppola's good casting and also gave the roles of their life simply by being in this movie, so well-written and directed. The only exception to this is James Caan, who works well with the role given to him, but whose all-American appearance seems a rather out of place with the more or less ethnically pure Italian American cast. Despite that shortcoming (one and perhaps the only in the entire Godfather), the cast is really more than impressive, although many actors and actresses later didn't live to the potential indicated by their performance in this movie.Those who like analysing movies to death would probably ask why The Godfather kept its cult status through the quarter of