University of Virginia Library

CINEMA

'The Godfather' Invites Us All To Shudder

By PAUL CHAPLIN

What can you say about a
film which is breaking box
office records everywhere in
this country, appealing to both
the critical as well as fickle
mass popular audiences? You
can say a great deal, for "The
Godfather" is clearly a triumph
of numerous people, having
created a work which is vastly
entertaining and rich in
frightening implications.

The film, it should be
pointed out, takes place in the
late Forties and not the years
of the Depression. I mention
this to dispel anybody who
would see "The Godfather"
expecting to see a Thirties
gangland film like "Little
Caesar." After the war, the
American nation is at peace,
welcoming her boys back
home, trying to get things
moving again, and establish
new foundations, such as
celebrating the marriage of the
only girl to a handsome young
man.

Don Corleone's wedding
for his daughter is a huge
party, with countless people
extending best wishes to the
girl, then leaving the golden
sun drenched yard and
venturing into a dim library,
bowing in homage and begging
requests of "the godfather,"
leader of a powerful Mafia
family.

Within the first few minutes
of the film, director Francis
Ford Coppola establishes both
the visual and moral themes for
the remainder of the film. The
worlds of "The Godfather" are
of light and dark, with the
members of the family having
difficulty functioning in the
former. The evils of the dark
world extend into the light, so
there is tension when
Corleone's henchmen leave the
wedding to carry out the day's
business.

Like "The Last Picture
Show," this film's plot is very
minimal. Adapted by Coppola
and Mario Puzo from Puzo's
mammoth novel, the film is
not so much a series of
monumental events,
but the daily workings
of a Mafia family. What makes
the single incidents of the film
monumental is the shocking
realization on our part that
everything we see on the screen
is not surprising to the
characters involved.

These people are cool for
the most part, with their true
horror and violence lying
beneath their surface actions,
Don Corleone knows the
extent of his power and how to
effectively use it to keep
people in control and check.
He is old, however, and must
pass his position as head of the
family to one of his sons.

In the title role, Marlon
Brando is superb. His is a quiet
performance which establishes
a tone for the entire film. He
sits with a scowl permanently
on his face, his voice soft and
raspy. He is not on the screen
that much, yet his presence is
so dominating in the scenes
that one is totally conscious of
him.

The quietness inspired by
Brando is most noticeable in the
acting of Robert Duvall and Al
Pacino. As the adopted son
who handles the legal problems
of the family, Duvall's
characterization of Tom Hagan
shows how strongly this
outsider has adapted the
godfather's traits, being shrewd
and businesslike in his methods
of handling himself in a crisis.

As Michael, Pacino is the
family's golden boy back from
the war, college educated, and
his father's hope for a son in a
legal profession, someday
becoming a politician. He is
forced to accept the violence
of the family's life and
thinking, and as he does he
gradually resembles his father.
As Michael ages in the film we
understand how Don Corleone
matured. When Michael's jaw is
broken, his cheeks take on the
puffiness of his father's and his
voice slowly becomes strained
and raspy also.

Michael's brother, Sonny, is
the family hot-head. Played by
James Caan, I found him to be
the most fascinating character
in the film. Perhaps this was
due to his short temper which
makes him explode and hit
walls; it is the released violence
within him that makes the
audience able to identify him
as a mobster. He becomes the
object of our collective hatred
for the killings on the screen,
and there is a morbid joy when
he is killed in the film.

I say "joy" because that is
the sensation I experienced
when I saw the film. Coppola
doesn't let the audience hate
the Corleone family; we are
outraged by them, but cannot
expect justice to win the battle
against crime.

From the flashy style of his
earlier "You're a Big Boy
Now," Coppola's work in "The
Godfather" is a step
backward. The film is shot in
an older method, with little
attention to close-ups, and
much use of mid-shots, which
lets the audience's eyes wander
through each frame picking up
little details.

Everything in the film
works and works well together.
The acting, script and
direction are essential to the
success of any film, but until
recently negligence has been
evident to costume design, set
dressing and music. In "The
Godfather" we aren't
marveling at a tour of the
Forties; we are existing in the
Forties, photographed in
glorious gold tones outdoors,
and rich yet strikingly sinister
deep browns and blacks
indoors.

"The Godfather" has been
called an anti-mafia film made
from pro-Mafia material. In a
way I'll buy that, but "The
Godfather" is actually a large
metaphor for the corruptness
of American business and
capitalism. The references to
the family's business make
such a reading impossible to
ignore, and anyone who does
so must live in a dream world.

CD/David Ritchie

Brando: Sitting With A Scowl

In the shocking final scenes
of the film, Michael becomes
godfather to his sister's baby.
During the baptism, a
ceremony of rebirth and
newness, his henchmen
mercilessly execute his rivals as
he calmly answers for the
child, "I do renounce Satan
and all his works."

The montage of the killings
is, I admit, heavy handed and a
cliche, yet Coppola's restraint
(except for the blackmailing of
a producer) during the film
permits the ending of the film
to cause intense exhilaration
in our minds. We rapidly make
conclusions about Michael and
the Corleones, and hope that
this isn't happening, even if it
is only a movie.

"The Godfather" will not
make concessions to us; the
bad guys don't get it in the
end. As Brando said in
Newsweek, "I think the tactics
the Don used aren't much
different from those General
Motors used against Ralph
Nader...He is a man of deep
principle and the natural
question arises as to how such
a man can countenance the
killing of people. But the
American Government does
the same thing for different
reasons that are not much
different from those of the
Mafia."

"The Godfather" doesn't
invite us to look into our past
to see what we were. Instead
we view the film and shudder
to see what we still are or
might become. Like Michael,
we are becoming capable of
looking people straight in the
eye and lying, and the shock of
that lie must come to repel
us as much as it does when we
see it illuminated on a screen.

(Now at the Paramount)