Before I get called out for my uninformed opinions, a quick disclaimer. I’m far from a movie buff and I am about as familiar with the classics as Margot Robbie is with playing away on a cold rainy night in Stoke. To prove this, I have only now watched The Godfather, and I am 30.
I gave it a go after recently reading the first book in the series, brilliantly written by Mario Puzo. Rather than seek it out in Waterstones, it was actually a random purchase, having spotted it on the shelf of my local TK Maxx.
To start off with, I loved the book, and with my toddler away for the night, I enjoyed watching the first film, after having a rare three hours to myself. Marlon Brando as Don Corleone was exceptional, and certainly more of a believable mob boss than, let's say, Pierce Brosnan in Mobland. But for me, it was Al Pacino’s portrayal of the Don’s son, Michael, which was the most captivating thing about it. His transition from the start of the film, where he tells Kay Adams, “that’s my family, it’s not me,” to the end when he is a cold-blooded killer, was marvelously entertaining.
Anyway, insufferable drivel about books always being better than movies aside, allow me to proceed to what was an ever so slight let down. As I said, I’m not a big film guy, and the only real mobster reference I had to compare it to was The Sopranos. And going off feeling alone, I enjoyed The Sopranos a lot more. James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano is my favorite TV character of all time. Simply put, I found the complexity of Tony more alluring than even the formidable Don Corleone.
The greatest moments in The Sopranos were not necessarily related to mobland activity, it was Tony’s interactions with his family, from visiting colleges with Meadow, having a doomed anniversary dinner with Carmela to dealing with AJ getting into trouble at school. As much as The Godfather flawlessly told a story about the criminal underworld, I would have liked a little more real life interaction between the Don and Michael and their loved ones, like we see in The Sopranos. But it is a small complaint, and definitely an unfair one, given there were 86 episodes of The Sopranos, and therefore a lot more time to explore family dynamics.
Having said all that, I thought The Godfather was masterful, and can certainly now see why it is so often quoted by people in the know about being one of the greatest films of all time. It has encouraged me to watch the second film, which many say is even better than the first.
