The Godfather Film Thread

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While I have nothing but admiration for the artistic merit of the Godfather movies, particularly Parts 1 and 2, there is a scene from the second movie which is, in my view, an indictment of the rottenness beneath the surface glamour that sustained the lifestyle of the Corleone Family and their hangers-on.
Senator Pat Geary (G.D. Spradlin), who you may remember incurred the wrath of Michael in the opening scene, has woken after spending the night with a young prostitute to find her lying dead next to him. If I recall correctly the lady concerned had been stabbed, and the bedsheets were soaked in blood.
It seemed that she had been murdered during the night
by one of the Family’s hirelings.Now the hitherto recalcitrant senator would be brought to heel by the implicit threat of blackmail and the end of his career in politics – not to mention a murder charge.
Tom Hagen was called and the conversation with the senator went something like this: “Senator, this girl has no family. She will be missed by no-one. All that will remain from here on is our friendship”.

No mention at all of calling a priest or anything such as that!
As always, played to perfection. A moment from an amazing movie which I have not heard discussed before.
 
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I saw it like 10 years ago or so. The first film is more in my memory.
 
Lol.

It’s about Vito Corleone who is a nice mobster, and family man played by Marlon Brando. Who doesn’t speak Italian well, and speaks in a whispery voice.
He’s got a beloved wife, three sons and a daughter who is also Adrian from Rocky.

He used to be Robert DeNiro when he was young, who didn’t speak much English. (At some point he must have taken English emersion classes)

He became a mobster because his entire family was killed in Sicily by the local mafia Don.

So he gets shipped to New York as a child, works in a grocery store, gets fired, steals a carpet and then shoots the Black Hand, a small time mobster who runs the neighborhood, demanding kickbacks.

The sons grow up. Fredo is not smart enough to be the mafia head, he gets stepped over. Santino is too hot headed. That leaves Michael. Adrian, I mean Connie, isn’t involved in the family business.

Michael becomes a very good mafia boss, and the family becomes more Americanized. They progress from little Italy, to Long Island and then Tahoe.

He commits crimes, gets away with the crimes. He tries to get out, they drag him back in.

At the end Sophia Coppola is his daughter, and we learn that directing films is actually her strong point, not acting.

🤓
 
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My family is Sicilian. So how come when the movies came out my family liked them even though it portrayed Italian Americans as ruthless criminals?
 
My parents were Sicilian. The films are well made and the stories interesting. The acting is also very good.

And it’s fun to hear Sicilian and not have to read the subtitles.
 
I though maybe it was family loyalty.

and the food scenes.
 
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That recipe looks good, but how does a guy named “Smejkal” know anything about Sicilian spaghetti sauce?

I’d rather use a Marcella Hazan cookbook, my Italian friend loves her stuff.
 
I finally watched all three last year, 30+ years after the fact. The best part is all the Godfather references in other media that I get now (e.g. the Simpsons’ many Godfather-inspired scenes).

My biggest takeaway from watching the trilogy so much later is that Godfather III was surprisingly worthwhile, compared my expectations. For decades all I had heard was how horrible it was and how Sophia Coppola’s acting ruined the trilogy. My expectations were so low that the movie far exceeded them. It had a lot of worthwhile parts (as @BartholomewB said, the scene in the cloister was fantastic). And Sophia Coppola was not good, but nowhere near as bad as I’d been hearing my whole life - certainly not bad enough to ruin the movie or the trilogy.
 
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I think they just transcribed the ingredients Clemenza put into the sauce. They seemed to have forgotten the meatballs.

Have you tried the sauce made with butter, onion and tomato by Marcella Hazan? I’ve read about it but I haven’t tried it.
 
Not to hijack the thread but you’ve got it right. Has there ever been a musician so weak as Neil Young with his one note guitar solos and his insufferably incoherent lyrics? I mean, c’mon! Cowgirl in the Sand? Old Man? Don’t Let It Bring You Down? And then there’s that thin whacked out falsetto voice. Yeah! That’s talent!

But, getting back to the thread: Cannolis mean death.
 
Another charming and related movie (There’s even some crossover among the casts). The Freshman (1990)


“My father thinks Clark is an A-student…” 😂
 
I wonder why they left Maximilian Schell out of that trailer. He does a great job in the movie.
 
Because there a lot of things they get right in the movie. Even if your family does kill anyone, 😉 there are little things that you can relate to. Meals they ate, Sunday dinner, family relationships. That thing with the candle and the glass when Fredo was sick. (Every family knew some of the old stuff like that.)
 
We never did either. I sometimes put a little bit depending on who is eating it. Some people are so used to jar sauce they would miss the sweet.
 
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