The Godfather review

Overview

The ageing head of a New York crime family hands his empire to the son who wanted no part of it. A business, a family and a country are all rewritten in the same long afternoon.

The short verdict

The gangster film as American tragedy — patient, precise and still the benchmark for how power corrupts on screen.

Story

Structured like an opera: a wedding, a negotiation, a betrayal and a door closing. Every scene is a transaction, and every transaction costs someone a piece of themselves.

Direction

Coppola keeps the camera formal and the violence brief. The horror is administrative — decisions made in carpeted rooms while the consequences happen elsewhere.

Performance

Brando's Don is heavy with history; Al Pacino's Michael transforms in front of you, from outsider to heir, with almost no dialogue doing the work.

Cinematography

Gordon Willis lights faces into shadow so often that the darkness itself feels like an inheritance.

Music

Nino Rota's waltz is one of the most recognisable themes in cinema — and one of the saddest.

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