#1 The Godfather (1972)

The Godfather (1972)
R
Running time: 2 hours 55 minutes
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Cast: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte.

Synopsis
Popularly viewed as one of the best American films ever made, the multi-generational crime saga The Godfather is a touchstone of cinema: one of the most widely imitated, quoted, and lampooned movies of all time. Marlon Brando and Al Pacino star as Vito Corleone and his youngest son, Michael, respectively. It is the late 1940s in New York and Corleone is, in the parlance of organized crime, a "godfather" or "don," the head of a Mafia family. Michael, a free thinker who defied his father by enlisting in the Marines to fight in World War II, has returned a captain and a war hero. Having long ago rejected the family business, Michael shows up at the wedding of his sister, Connie, with his non-Italian girlfriend, Kay, who learns for the first time about the family "business." A few months later at Christmas time, the don barely survives being shot by gunmen in the employ of a drug-trafficking rival whose request for aid from the Corleones' political connections was rejected. After saving his father from a second assassination attempt, Michael persuades his hotheaded eldest brother, Sonny, and family advisors Tom Hagen and Sal Tessio that he should be the one to exact revenge on the men responsible. After murdering a corrupt police captain and the drug trafficker, Michael hides out in Sicily while a gang war erupts at home. Falling in love with a local girl, Michael marries her, but she is later slain by Corleone enemies in an attempt on Michael's life. Sonny is also butchered, having been betrayed by Connie's husband. As Michael returns home and convinces Kay to marry him, his father recovers and makes peace with his rivals, realizing that another powerful don was pulling the strings behind the narcotics endeavor that began the gang warfare. Once Michael has been groomed as the new don, he leads the family to a new era of prosperity, then launches a campaign of murderous revenge against those who once tried to wipe out the Corleones, consolidating his family's power and completing his own moral downfall.

Review
One of the greatest films ever made in modern world cinema, Mario Puzo's 'The Godfather' defines what a contemporary iconic masterpiece should be, spawning memorable quotes and cinematic moments that will stand the test of time for sure. The timeless tale of a Mafia family's rise and fall is told with such intelligent complexity and intense poignancy. With Marlon Brando's characteristically exceptional Don Vito, the central figure of one of New York's most notorious crime family, the essence of the story is tastefully brought out with humane themes such as the ever present stronghold of family values. The transformation of Al Pacino's prodigal son character from a reluctant outcast to a ruthless, powerful successor of the crime empire explains well of how a typical doe-eyed young man could change to his worst in times of hardship and desperation. In short, Coppola's gangster chronicle succeeds in being one film so great, so culturally significant that everyone agrees on.

Rating
Full 5 Stars