Why is "The Godfather" considered such a perfect film?

[Tarkovsky]

Hi Tarkovsky, my name is... apparently still Nameless. I enjoy swimming naked, long walks on the beach, sharing a blanket outside under a full moon with that special someone, and candleit dinners.

Wanna fuck?

I don't think my girlfriend would appreciate that. She gets a little touchy about the whole idea of sleeping around.

Now when you say touchy...

 

[ReservoirAngel]

... I just find the opening of it to be quite boring. Jaws, the Godfather and Scarface, I'll admit to not really liking.

So equally you wouldn't like The Wizard of Oz, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Battleship Potemkin, The Seven Samurai, Gone with the Wind, The Shawshank Redemption, Rebecca, Vertigo, Psycho, Breathless, The Grapes of Wrath, 2001, Wall-E, Dr. Strangelove, It's a Wonderful Life, The Maltese Falcon because of the "fuck long boring bits"?

I'm being deadly serious here when I ask what your favourite film is, and are you ever planning to go into network programming, because that terrifies me.

Actually I love Wizard of Oz, Seven Samurai, Shawshank Redemption, Rebecca, Vetigo, Psycho (in fact pretty much all of Hitchcocks films that I've seen), 2001, Wall-E and Dr. Strangelove. The other ones I either haven't seen or don't remember seeing.

My favourite film changes all the time. The one I always tend to say when people ask that question is Once Upon a Time in the West. Because that film is utterly amazing.

I really don't know what about a film makes me have that 'god this is so boring' reaction. Some films that are slow I fucking love, but others I just can't stand. I mean, this is a personal example from my life: I can easily sit and watch all three of Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy films with no problems and rapt attention throughout. My brother (a guy who adores The Godfather I might add) can't tolerate Leone's films in the slightest.

And I don't ever plan on going into network programming in any way, shape or form whatsoever.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I really don't know what about a film makes me have that 'god this is so boring' reaction.

Neither do I if you enjoy 2001 (imho, the most slow paced film of all time - good but SO slow) but not The Godfather. Hrrrmmm...good to see you have a good taste in films though. Perhaps, as was said above, you don't enjoy character based films...Have you watched Taxi Driver?

But try and watch all of the films mentioned, they're all really good.

 

[ReservoirAngel]

I really don't know what about a film makes me have that 'god this is so boring' reaction.

Neither do I if you enjoy 2001 (imho, the most slow paced film of all time - good but SO slow) but not The Godfather. Hrrrmmm...good to see you have a good taste in films though. Perhaps, as was said above, you don't enjoy character based films...Have you watched Taxi Driver?

But try and watch all of the films mentioned, they're all really good.

I always figured my love of 2001 came from the use of music in it. Oh yeah, I didn't say. I fucking LOVE 2001!

I think you're the only person to describe my taste in films as good. Everybody else calls me taste shit...mostly cause I've got a fucking eclectic DVD collection, ranging from stuff like 2001, to stuff like the Transformers films, and everything in between. People praise me for having stuff like 2001, Schindler's List (one of the best films I've ever seen) and Hitchcock films, but then slam me for having the Mortal Kombat films, Transformers, and Love Actually.

I haven't seen Taxi Driver yet. I've been meaning to get around to it, but kept forgetting about it.

And I wish I could watch Citizen Kane and be fully invested, but that film's gotten to the point where the entire point of the film is already known by now to everyone.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I think you're the only person to describe my taste in films as good.

Taste in film comes a lot more from what you've seen than what you've enjoyed. Though I'll still rag at you for liking Transformers.

I haven't seen Taxi Driver yet. I've been meaning to get around to it, but kept forgetting about it.

I think that's gonna be the big test, as it's almost purely character-driven with very little actual plot/action.

And I wish I could watch Citizen Kane and be fully invested, but that film's gotten to the point where the entire point of the film is already known by now to everyone.

Kane is one of those films where you watch the story rather than the film. The film is still delightful, but it's the story that holds you rapt. Still makes it worth watching, even if you know the ending.

 

[MeputthecaninthebininHL2]

I was with you until you talked shit about Scarface; that movie was great, not perfect, but still great.

 

[ReservoirAngel]

Though I'll still rag at you for liking Transformers.

Oh hell everyone does that. I'm thinking of hiding the DVDs whenever somebody comes round to my place, honestly.

I think that's gonna be the big test, as it's almost purely character-driven with very little actual plot/action.

I might give it a shot. My dad's got the DVD of it, so I can always borrow it. I still think my big test of watching character-driven films with little action in it was watching Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet" film.

Kane is one of those films where you watch the story rather than the film. The film is still delightful, but it's the story that holds you rapt. Still makes it worth watching, even if you know the ending.

I'd been told (never actually done any research of my own into it) that Kane was essentially a mystery film about what some guy's last words meant. If you know the answer already, a mystery will always fall flat.

 

[The Rockerfly]

No I'm with you, I didn't find anything that they talked about to be particularly interesting. Maybe because I am not American and I cannot relate to any of it or maybe because I think a good story should really do something to drop your jaw. The kind of story like the twist in Seven, Fight Club or American Beauty.

I am not a Michael Bay fan either and I think it is so childish that film fans say that to anyone who doesn't like the same pacing they do. If you want a slow and subtle film that's fine but I prefer something a little bit more, exciting and I don't mean action packed. I like Wall-E, The Last Samurai, I love the Shawshank Redemption (except the missing killer plot isn't really resolved) but The Godfather doesn't do that, 30 minutes and nothing interesting has happened and I really don't want to sit through any more.

Having said that Aliens as slow paced? Really? Jaws I could understand but Aliens is really not that slow paced

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

The reason The Godfather is considered a good movie has little to do with whether or not ReservoirAngel was bored by it.

I suggest he put his 'thinking cap' on next time he sits in front of the tv and leave his 'hispster opinion cap' in the garbage where it belongs.

Hi Forum, my name is Tarkovsky and I am really rude.

Fixed that for you.

Of course The Godfather isn't perfect. The Godfather II is perfect! Well, it's a character driven drama. It's not going to be as exciting as films about rapist aliens with acid blood or really pissed off sharks. If I'm honest, I do find it a little boring sometimes. It's a great movie, and it's really well made, but I do see where you're coming from.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

Yeah, it's not the most exciting movie out there.

It's still atmospheric as hell, infinitely quotable, well-acted, well-written, has great pace.

A movie where you admire less what's going on and more how it's depicted.

It's kinda hard to sit through, but it's something that you probably should see.

Oh, and the Godfather 2 is better.

 

[Jelly ^.^]

I think it might take interest in the subject matter to find any movie interesting.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I'd been told (never actually done any research of my own into it) that Kane was essentially a mystery film about what some guy's last words meant. If you know the answer already, a mystery will always fall flat.

Not at all, and there's a massive plothole there.

The film is more about the rise and fall of humanity, or that's how I saw it.


Transformers has a myriad of problems; but it can be boiled down to three.
1) The title characters are secondary characters.
2) No effort is made to make us care for them.
3) Star Wars: Prequel Syndrome. You're compensating for lack of interaction with a multiplex of action.

Like The Social Network, The Phantom Menace and Vampires Suck - it's a good film with a bad script directed by someone who doesn't like the premise. And because it's been made that way, you can never go back to a time where that isn't the current incarnation.

 

[GotMalkAvian]

I'm inclined to agree; it's always been almost a point of shame among my film-loving friends that I find The Godfather boring, but I do. I love gangster movies, and to me the top of the genre will always be Goodfellas. If we're talking about non-film gangster plots, Mafia II is absolutely amazing, as far as I'm concerned, and the interactive nature of the story just makes it all the more compelling.

 

[ReservoirAngel]

I'd been told (never actually done any research of my own into it) that Kane was essentially a mystery film about what some guy's last words meant. If you know the answer already, a mystery will always fall flat.

Not at all, and there's a massive plothole there.

The film is more about the rise and fall of humanity, or that's how I saw it.


Transformers has a myriad of problems; but it can be boiled down to three.
1) The title characters are secondary characters.
2) No effort is made to make us care for them.
3) Star Wars: Prequel Syndrome. You're compensating for lack of interaction with a multiplex of action.

Like The Social Network, The Phantom Menace and Vampires Suck - it's a good film with a bad script directed by someone who doesn't like the premise. And because it's been made that way, you can never go back to a time where that isn't the current incarnation.

I suppose now would be a bad time to confess to enjoying the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy. While I'm here, I'll qualify it with the statement that I only enjoyed them for the basic appeal to my "holy shit look at that cool stuff happening!" sensibilities. As actual films they were fucking horrible. Characters were boring cardboard assholes who never ceased to annoy me, the central 'relationship' (a term used loosely when applied to Jedi Fuckhead A and boring Princess B) was bland, uninteresting and had no reason to exist and just served to turn Darth Vader into a whiny prick, and the storyline was borderline retarded.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

While I'm here, I'll qualify it with the statement that I only enjoyed them for the basic appeal to my "holy shit look at that cool stuff happening!" sensibilities.

I can understand that; hell, it's the only reason most erotica gets made. That's the thing though, you're just buying eye-porn (Especially with Megan).

But still: Which of these two is most "GAWDAM!"?
Both about the same length. Former is almost devoid of action. Latter is full of it.

Which one really grips you though?

 

[ReservoirAngel]

While I'm here, I'll qualify it with the statement that I only enjoyed them for the basic appeal to my "holy shit look at that cool stuff happening!" sensibilities.

I can understand that; hell, it's the only reason most erotica gets made. That's the thing though, you're just buying eye-porn (Especially with Megan).

But still: Which of these two is most "GAWDAM!"?

Spoiler

Both about the same length. Former is almost devoid of action. Latter is full of it.

Which one really grips you though?

Definitely the first one. Definitely. 2nd one's fun and it's nice to look at, but the 1st one just gives you that sort of "holy shit..." feeling in a way the prequel films NEVER really manage.

 

[AshuraSpeaks]

... I just find the opening of it to be quite boring. Jaws, the Godfather and Scarface, I'll admit to not really liking.

So equally you wouldn't like The Wizard of Oz, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Battleship Potemkin, The Seven Samurai, Gone with the Wind, The Shawshank Redemption, Rebecca, Vertigo, Psycho, Breathless, The Grapes of Wrath, 2001, Wall-E, Dr. Strangelove, It's a Wonderful Life, The Maltese Falcon because of the "fuck long boring bits"?

I'm being deadly serious here when I ask what your favourite film is, and are you ever planning to go into network programming, because that terrifies me.

Actually I love Wizard of Oz, Seven Samurai, Shawshank Redemption, Rebecca, Vetigo, Psycho (in fact pretty much all of Hitchcocks films that I've seen), 2001, Wall-E and Dr. Strangelove. The other ones I either haven't seen or don't remember seeing.

My favourite film changes all the time. The one I always tend to say when people ask that question is Once Upon a Time in the West. Because that film is utterly amazing.

I really don't know what about a film makes me have that 'god this is so boring' reaction. Some films that are slow I fucking love, but others I just can't stand. I mean, this is a personal example from my life: I can easily sit and watch all three of Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy films with no problems and rapt attention throughout. My brother (a guy who adores The Godfather I might add) can't tolerate Leone's films in the slightest.

And I don't ever plan on going into network programming in any way, shape or form whatsoever.

I think it comes down to a lot of factors, but I'll address two:
1. Some people, like me, find an organized crime family that highly values honor to be compelling. The tension in the wedding scene, for instance, comes from the unknown factor that is Don Corleone. In that moment, he is quiet, but radiates power. He is polite, yet it's obvious that he is entirely capable of having people killed at a moment's notice. This is exactly how I felt with the opening scene of Inglorious Basterds, although I could have done without them actually getting murdered, which deflated the tension and replaced it with revulsion.

2. I found 2001 to be boring beyond belief. I love sci-fi. I love classical music. I love long stories that draw you in. But within the first 45 minutes, there was a ton about El Diablo Monolith turning one monkey into a serial killer monkey, then some guy makes a call, talks about space travel, then gets on a ship going somewhere to...I don't know. Whereas The Godfather was reasonably paced in my mind, I felt that 2001 went glacially slow. Maybe I'll give it another try, but I can still see why, at least past a certain point, people would enjoy it. Especially, I've heard, while high.

P.S. I concede that Michael Corleone's time in the villa takes forever and doesn't add anything that a bit of well done dialogue could do. I assume Coppola was tired of the street gangster shooting and wanted something artistic.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Definitely the first one. Definitely. 2nd one's fun and it's nice to look at, but the 1st one just gives you that sort of "holy shit..." feeling in a way the prequel films NEVER really manage.

You are forgiven for all of your earlier transgressions against Coppola.

The Godfather is just one of those films where, if you do get sucked in, you notice things like the oranges and you feel yourself interacting with the film rather than watching it. If you don't get that suppressed fear from the cops surrounding the most important marriage of a crimelord though, it's just gonna seem like a dull wedding.