Catching Up With The Classics: ‘The Godfather Trilogy’
The Godfather Trilogy
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
There has been no lack of superlatives used to describe Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather. So taken for granted is its greatness, one doesn’t even need to have seen it to know that, next to Citizen Kane, it remains the standard by which cinematic portraits of American striving are measured. Simply put, we can’t watch Goodfellas, The Sopranos, or even The Simpsons and Family Guy without being reminded of its influence. However, up until recently, my dark secret was that while I knew The Godfather was a great movie, I had never actually sat down and watched any part of the trilogy. Perhaps it was based on reluctance to watch a nine-hour gangster saga, (the genre has admittedly never been my cup of tea), or maybe I was afraid to “gasp” dislike these canonical works and thus risk never having my opinions taken seriously again. Whatever the reason, after briefly putting aside my neuroses and finally watching the three films, I felt relieved at being drawn into the violent, criminal, yet somehow romantic and morally informed world of the Corleone family. It’s not uncommon for The Godfather saga to be compared to Shakespearean tragedy, and it’s fascinating just how accurate this connection is. Of course, even Shakespeare has his problem plays, and each of the three Godfather films is not without structural imperfections. At the same time, just like the Bard’s weaker works are nonetheless considered worthy of study, many of the trilogy’s “flaws” are what contribute to its enduring impact.
