The Godfather was a commercially successful film based on the novel, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone and Al Pacino as his son Michael. Reviews praised the performances and the film's influence in establishing the crime genre. While some debate whether Goodfellas is a better depiction of the mafia experience, both films are considered the best in their genre.
2. Context
• 24 August 1972 was the release date of the Godfather (In the UK), although the US release date
was 15th March 1972
• It is based on the novel of the same name by Mario Puzo
• It was directed by Francis Ford Coppola (Who in fact directed each film of the Godfather trilogy)
• Using boxofficemojo.com I have researched that the Godfather was commercially a success, over
its lifetime it has made $134,966,411 from a $6,000,000 budget making a profit of $128,966,411.
• It stars the famous Marlon Brando as the iconic Vito Corleone and famously also stars Al Pacino
who plays Vito’s son and future don of the Corleone crime family, Michael.
• Source(s): http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=godfather.htm
3. Composition (age and gender) of the
audience
• Using information from a Prezi slideshow and the Godfathers IMDB, the target audience are
mainly older adults (because it rated R for restricted), 18+ and you can almost assume that the
main gender watching will be most definitely men as the story is a son taking over the (crime)
family business from his father who is an icon in the criminal underworld and one of the famous
dons of the New York Cosa Nostra. And also in the mafia (Cosa Nostra) the women are separated
from the business and not told about it, which would put off a female audience.
• Source(s): https://prezi.com/ylmtpbh7xcin/the-godfather/
• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068646/
• https://www.slideshare.net/EllaMills/gender-representation-in-the-godfather-75530600
4. How the Godfather was received (Movie
reviews)
• The Godfather has a lot of positive reviews from the critics, with many proclaiming the
performances from Brando and Pacino. Kim Newman from ‘Empire’ described it as the ‘the dawn
of the age of the mega-movie.’ which shows its influence as it paved the way for many other films
of the same ’mafia’ crime genre. (Speaking of which: Empire readers actually voted The Godfather
as the best film of all time).
• Furthermore I researched its reviews on IMDB, and I scrolled down the page and there wasn’t
that many negative (constructive) reviews, the majority of reviews rate this as one of the top films
that American cinema has to offer, they all see it as a real classic with the majority scores being
9’s and 10’s, and with the amount of critics who normally have a variety of opinions, they’re all in
agreement when they say The Godfather is a true classic.
• Source(s): https://www.empireonline.com/movies/godfather/review/
• https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/godfather-voted-greatest-film-top-10588627
• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068646/reviews
5. Comparison to similar products: Godfather
and Goodfellas.
• The Godfather and Goodfellas are similar in terms of genre, both are about the Cosa Nostra (mafia) but one is
fiction, and one is factual (with a little bit of fiction but Goodfellas is a biographic), Godfather is about the (fictional)
Corleone family and Goodfellas is about the real life Lucchese crime family associate Henry Hill.
• Although The Godfather is a classic film, many people see Goodfellas as a better film purely because of how GF’s is
based on real life and not fiction. Fact: many people question the Godfather’s ’authenticity’ as they weren’t
allowed to use the word ’mafia’ in the film despite it being about a mafia crime family. Fact: a real life mob boss,
Joe Colombo of the Colombo crime family went through the script of the Godfather and took out any reference to
the word mafia which affects the realism but it’s a classic nevertheless.
• Although the debate still goes on today, many people do agree on one thing: they see these two films as the top 2
mob related films of all time. But some people do think Goodfellas is better because they can watch it whenever,
the Godfather is long so that is what drives others to prefer GF’s.
• Summary of comparison: people do see these 2 as the best mob films. Some people are put off by the Godfathers
length and could only watch it a handful of times whereas they see Goodfellas as a film you could watch many a
times. Godfather is old fashioned, Goodfellas is a biopic. People also believe the Godfather has a complex plot,
Goodfellas is easy to follow in comparison. Godfather was better in terms of literal quality, Goodfellas is the more
entertaining film.
• Source (s): http://www.killermovies.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-456413-godfather-or-goodfellas.html
6. History of production
• Paramount Pictures wanted an Italian American director to direct so the film would be ‘ethnic to
the core’ (As in the real life American Mafia: only Italian-Americans can join, more specifically:
Sicilians)
• The Godfather was mainly filmed in New York with many locations being used (Which gives the
historical context as in real life this is where the real Mafia was prominent during when the
Godfather was produced/made)
• Also the Godfather was filmed in two Sicilian towns Savoca and Forza d'Agro being used to film
when Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) was sent to Sicily after he killed Virgil Sollozzo (the man who
tried to have his father Vito Corleone, played by Marlon Brando killed after Vito refused to
protect Sollozzo because he was into drugs, which Vito was against) and the corrupt policeman
Mark McCluskey. Which also gives the film realism as the whole aspect of the mafia was founded
in Sicily.
• Source (s): http://www.jgeoff.com/godfather/gf1/gf1scene.html
7. Cast
• Marlon Brando – Don Vito Corleone
• Al Pacino – Don Michael Corleone
• James Caan – Sonny Corleone
• Diane Keaton – Kay Adams
• Robert Duvall – Tom Hagen
• Al Lettieri – Virgil Sollozzo
• Richard Conte – Don Emilio Barzini
8. Peers’ opinion of the Godfather
• I asked my friend Lewis a few questions about the film and he said that the
Godfather itself was certainly in his top 10 films of all time
• He praised the micro aspects including the: acting, the lighting
• When he watched it for the first time it didn’t change his opinion on films
themselves but once he watched it again he saw that the Godfather was a
key movie in the whole media culture
• He also praised how this film wasn’t just a mob film, he enjoyed the aspect
of the fact that it’s also a family film, he comments that he enjoyed the
story of the Corleone family being reshifted
• Finally he said that this film was the main reason he began to watch the
other sub-genres of crime films, aka more mafia related films.
