The Godfather, widely considered the greatest gangster film ever made, is being shown on BBC2 tonight at 10pm, completely free of charge. More than five decades after its release, the film continues to command a devoted following.
A landmark of cinema
Starring Marlon Brando in one of his most celebrated roles, the film also launched Al Pacino into the upper echelons of Hollywood stardom. The narrative follows the Corleone crime family in the opening instalment of an extraordinary trilogy helmed by Francis Ford Coppola.
The mafia masterpiece, adapted from Mario Puzo's novel of the same name, centres on the Italian-American mob headed by Don Vito Corleone and his youngest son Michael, portrayed by Pacino. Diane Keaton plays Michael's devoted yet troubled wife.
Awards and acclaim
The film shattered box office records and dominated the 1972 awards season, scooping three Oscars for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, with Brando also taking home Best Actor. It also garnered seven Golden Globe nominations, ultimately winning in the categories of Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Actor (Brando), Best Original Score, and Best Picture.
One Reddit user hailed it as the "best film of all time." Meanwhile, a Rotten Tomatoes reviewer named Steven wrote: "Now half a century old, Francis Ford Coppola's revered New Hollywood masterpiece has one of the best-known final shots in film history - but it almost had a much more Catholic ending."
Critical praise
One admirer remarked: "Coppola was able to take a trashy pulp novel and turn it into something close to Shakespeare; a sweeping, epic tale of family, crime, corruption and the Immigrant experience in America."
A second critic commented: "The Godfather works like a masterfully conducted orchestra, whose immaculate symphony is a meticulously crafted and extraordinarily integral thread in the fabric of cinema history." A third observed: "The Godfather is the most memorable, most influential, most quoted, most beloved, most discussed, most imitated, most revered and most entertaining American movie ever made."
A fourth noted: "It is a gangster film without any of the pity and hatred we might feel towards such aliens in our midst, because it recognises that in all of us there is the ignition towards power and criminality. For all its graphic violence, the movie was-unlike the novel it was based on-no mere exercise in popcorn sensationalism; it was emotionally complex, tragic, melancholy, definitely for grownups."
The Godfather will be broadcast on BBC2 at 10pm.
