I finally saw The Godfather for the first time

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mojo1701a: Oct 9, 2008; Oh, yeah. Loud and clear. Emphasis on LOUD!
~ David Lee Roth

Philthy posted:

No. I refuse. You can't make me.

JUST COME AND TRY!!

I'll make you an offer you can't refuse.

# ? Aug 24, 2019 04:52

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# ? Apr 16, 2024 07:33

Milo and POTUS: Sep 3, 2017; I will not shut up about the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I talk about them all the time and work them into every conversation I have. I built a shrine in my room for the yellow one who died because sadly no one noticed because she died around 9/11. Wanna see it?

mojo1701a posted:

It's one of the reasons why I always loved his reviews, and you could miss a lot if you only went by the star rating. For instance, he also gave 3 stars to The Big Lebowski, and included it as a "great movie" about 10 years later, and Goldfinger is on that list, too.

He always did say that he judged a movie based on how well it did what it was trying to do, and I think in that vein, even a very flawed movie can succeed. That, to me, is what separates the first two from Part III: the first two are great at what they do, so we forgive the flaws.

Having said that, if you've seen the first two, you really should watch III. It's not great, but it's decent enough if you treat it as more like an appendix to a book.

there are no flaws in one and two

# ? Aug 24, 2019 05:03

SidneyIsTheKiller: Jul 16, 2019; I did fall asleep reading a particularly erotic chapter
in my grandmother's journal.

She wrote very detailed descriptions of her experiences...

mojo1701a posted:

It's one of the reasons why I always loved his reviews, and you could miss a lot if you only went by the star rating. For instance, he also gave 3 stars to The Big Lebowski, and included it as a "great movie" about 10 years later, and Goldfinger is on that list, too.

He always did say that he judged a movie based on how well it did what it was trying to do, and I think in that vein, even a very flawed movie can succeed. That, to me, is what separates the first two from Part III: the first two are great at what they do, so we forgive the flaws.

Yeah it's always something when someone complains about "he gave THAT movie a higher rating than THIS movie, what an idiot!" Let's see how well that argument flies when you're complaining how your C+ Calculus exam should be graded higher than a 6th grader's A- book report.

mojo1701a posted:

Having said that, if you've seen the first two, you really should watch III. It's not great, but it's decent enough if you treat it as more like an appendix to a book.

Are you still talking to me? 'Cause I'm way ahead of you, my mang.

# ? Aug 24, 2019 07:05

SidneyIsTheKiller: Jul 16, 2019; I did fall asleep reading a particularly erotic chapter
in my grandmother's journal.

She wrote very detailed descriptions of her experiences...

Nearly all the retrospectives on Godfather III are of the "you know if you pretend that the other two never existed and overlook that a pivotal role is played by what may as well be a random person they grabbed on her way to Taco Bell it's an interesting movie!" variety. And I suppose that's fair because "it sucks" isn't really a new perspective and the movie isn't, like, The Room bad, but man some of the contemporaneous reviews are loving deliciously savage.

quote:

`GODFATHER III`: AN OFFER WE CAN REFUSE

An air of embarrassing familiarity hangs over the entire project, as if it were a story told by an aging relative not quite aware of how many times, and how much better, he has been over the same material before.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-12-25-9004160634-story.html

quote:

As a nice little film about a bunch of hoods and their involvement in some complicated conspiracy involving the Vatican, The Godfather Part III works just fine, boasting first-rate performances from its two leading men and displaying enough clever directorial touches to suggest that this Francis Ford Coppola chap is a name to look out for. As the slavishly-awaited sequel to two of the finest films of the last 30 years, however, as the third episode in what may well be the Greatest Movie Story Ever Told, The Godfather Part III is, frankly, a dreadful disappointment.

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/godfather-part-iii-review/

The Washington Post saw fit to give it two bad reviews!

quote:

It's hard to tell if this thing's serious or parody and, if it is parody, whether or not it's intentional. Is it a winky joke, for instance, to have lightweight performer George Hamilton as Pacino's business attorney, or just ridiculous casting? Hamilton's performance points to the latter.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/thegodfatherpartiiirhowe_a0b2cb.htm?noredirect=on

quote:

Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather Part III" isn't just a disappointment, it's a failure of heartbreaking proportions.

quote:

But in supplying the final chapter of the saga, it also sullies what came before. It makes you wish it had never been made.

quote:

{Coppola's} talent for filmmaking is eclipsed now by his gift for self-destruction. If that great earlier artist ever had a chance of resurfacing, it was here. But he didn't and you can't help but see "The Godfather Part III" as his headstone.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/thegodfatherpartiiirhinson_a0a9c5.htm

# ? Aug 24, 2019 08:12

Sex Farm: Nov 17, 2017

It's shocking how much Talia Shire's performance improves from the first to the second movie.

# ? Aug 24, 2019 09:06

DB Pooper: Mar 27, 2014; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Jack takes place in the Godfather Cinematic Universe and if you disagree well then buddy I dont know what to tell you

# ? Aug 24, 2019 12:56

SidneyIsTheKiller: Jul 16, 2019; I did fall asleep reading a particularly erotic chapter
in my grandmother's journal.

She wrote very detailed descriptions of her experiences...

For whatever reason the very first thing that comes to mind about Godfather Part II for me is that professional dancing couple at the beginning. I guess it's because the dude is pretty old but can still cha cha with the best of them and deep down I hope that when I hit that age I'm still smooth enough to do something like that.

# ? Aug 25, 2019 02:42

SidneyIsTheKiller: Jul 16, 2019; I did fall asleep reading a particularly erotic chapter
in my grandmother's journal.

She wrote very detailed descriptions of her experiences...

You know, it didn't even occur to me that in the past month two Godfather references (and kind of specific to Godfather Part II, at that) actually made national news.

NY Daily News posted:

The Godfather: A political primer

As recent news stories overlap and to preview our new semester�s Godfather 101 Seminar, a preliminary lesson plan is helpful. There won�t be a quiz, but this information is fair game for the final exam.

To avoid sleeping with the fishes, take notes on this.

quote:

Lesson One: Who was �Fredo� and why did CNN host Chris Cuomo howl and squeal when being compared to this fictional character from �The Godfather� saga?

Answer: Frederico �Fredo� Corleone is one of Don Vito Corleone�s three sons in Mario Puzo�s 1969 landmark novel �The Godfather.� He is the weakest and least effective of the sons. Whereas Santino �Sonny� Corleone is bold, strong, aggressive, quick-to-anger, and full of fire, Fredo is hapless, ill-coordinated and passive; he is not a leader or a good follower. He fails in his bodyguard duties on the very day his father is nearly assassinated. And Fredo�s thinking, in general, is not sharp.

In the first two films spawned by Puzo�s bestselling novel (the book was an immediate blockbuster success; it sold millions of copies long before the first film premiered in 1972), the character of Fredo is played to perfection by the late John Cazale. He has our sympathy when he manifests human faults and weaknesses.

In the second of the �Godfather� films (spoiler alert!), Fredo makes terrible choices that his brother Michael deems traitorous, thus ensuring his own demise.

quote:

Lesson Two: Who was Frank Pentangeli? And why is he dominating news stories about disgraced political operative Roger Stone?

Answer: Pentangeli is a fictional character created by filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola for �The Godfather: Part II.� As co-writer of the screenplays for all three �Godfather� movies, Coppola brilliantly directed and produced and also effectively wrote original material that built on the vast panorama of Puzo�s novel.

Frank Pentangeli does not appear in the novel written by Puzo.

Instead, this character emerges in the portions of the second film installment Coppola wrote as he invented a complex narrative to take the tale of the Corleones to the very end of the 1950s. Almost all of the material in the so-called �flashback sequences� of the second film (the Little Italy episodes featuring Robert De Niro in his Oscar-winning performance as young Vito Corleone, making his way up from the streets of New York circa 1915) were drawn from Book III of Puzo�s corpulent novel. Otherwise, the latter-day Las Vegas-centered story in �Part II� was invented by Coppola, with Puzo�s deft assistance.

https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-the-godfather-a-political-primer-20190821-jmdmwtyuafh47knixgne4ufnw4-story.html

Dat relevance.

# ? Aug 25, 2019 21:33

SidneyIsTheKiller: Jul 16, 2019; I did fall asleep reading a particularly erotic chapter
in my grandmother's journal.

She wrote very detailed descriptions of her experiences...

In other news, the guy who played Carlo, Gianni Russo, just released his autobiography, apparently here are the highlights:

quote:

Russo lost his virginity to Marilyn Monroe at age 15.

Russo killed a pedophile hospital worker at age 11.

The mob killed JFK.

The mob killed Marilyn Monroe.

Pablo Escobar intended to kill Russo and his family, but let him live in exchange for re-enacting a scene from "The Godfather."

Russo was the first person Marlon Brando called in 1990 when son Christian Brando shot and killed his sister Cheyenne�s boyfriend.

Russo had threesomes with Liza Minnelli after both took a liking to the same Vegas showgirl.

Russo had a date with Zsa Zsa Gabor that ended with her setting him up for sex with another woman.

https://www.wibc.com/blogs/chicks-right/godfather-actor-gianni-russo-makes-outrageous-claims-about-marilyn-monroe-killing

# ? Aug 25, 2019 22:23

Rod Hoofhearted: Jun 18, 2000; I am a ghost

SidneyIsTheKiller posted:

In other news, the guy who played Carlo, Gianni Russo, just released his autobiography, apparently here are the highlights:

Sounds like a crock of poo poo from someone who suffers from borderline personality disorder.

# ? Aug 25, 2019 22:27

Grape: Nov 16, 2017; Happily shilling for China!

Poasty posted:

It's shocking how much Talia Shire's performance improves from the first to the second movie.

She has more of a role is all I think. She's barely a character at all in the first one.

# ? Aug 25, 2019 22:58

SidneyIsTheKiller: Jul 16, 2019; I did fall asleep reading a particularly erotic chapter
in my grandmother's journal.

She wrote very detailed descriptions of her experiences...

I think the way she delivers the line "Why don't you get your WHORE to do it for you" while breaking dishes was really authentic considering how many times I've seen women do that IRL

# ? Aug 25, 2019 23:13

Instruction Manuel: May 15, 2007; Yes, it is what it looks like!

SidneyIsTheKiller posted:

I think the way she delivers the line "Why don't you get your WHORE to do it for you" while breaking dishes was really authentic considering how many times I've seen women do that IRL

"Babe, for the last time, that's my mother and could you please stop calling her that?"

# ? Aug 25, 2019 23:25

JK Fresco: Jul 5, 2019

Paramount wanted The Godfather to appeal to a wide audience and threatened Coppola with a "violence coach" to make the film more exciting. Coppola added a few more violent scenes to keep the studio happy. The scene in which Connie smashes crockery after finding out Carlo has been cheating was added for this reason.

# ? Aug 26, 2019 02:00

Milo and POTUS: Sep 3, 2017; I will not shut up about the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I talk about them all the time and work them into every conversation I have. I built a shrine in my room for the yellow one who died because sadly no one noticed because she died around 9/11. Wanna see it?

The crockery was a stray found on the studio set

# ? Aug 26, 2019 02:08

JK Fresco: Jul 5, 2019

But it was authentic, i agree

# ? Aug 26, 2019 02:20

Grape: Nov 16, 2017; Happily shilling for China!

The studio also didn't like Al Pacino partly because he was too unknown, but also because he was too actually Italian looking for a leading man (swarthy and scary looking). And wanted Ryan O'Neal instead.

This is Ryan O'Neal.

Imagine that if you will.

# ? Aug 26, 2019 02:45

Rupert Buttermilk: Apr 15, 2007; 🚣RowboatMan: ❄️Freezing time🕰️ is an old P.I. 🥧trick...

Mr Coppola, I admire your pictures very much.

# ? Aug 26, 2019 02:52

Grape: Nov 16, 2017; Happily shilling for China!

Imagine the Nevada senator from II doing his racist "oily hair" bit, except it's aimed at Dirtyblonde McPinkerson.

Also imagine him being movie brothers with John Cazale lol.

# ? Aug 26, 2019 02:58

Romes128: Dec 28, 2008; Fun Shoe

Somebody explain the tiny drinking glasses thing. It�s oddly distracting to me while watching the movies.

Is it just an old school thing people used to do, or is it an Italian thing to drink out of small glasses?

# ? Aug 26, 2019 06:48

Torquemada: Oct 21, 2010; Drei GlÃ¤ser

Grape posted:

This is Ryan O'Neal.

Ah, the best comedy ever made, and strong contender for my favourite movie.

# ? Aug 26, 2019 07:54

Kazak: Jan 10, 2012

Grape posted:

The studio also didn't like Al Pacino partly because he was too unknown, but also because he was too actually Italian looking for a leading man (swarthy and scary looking). And wanted Ryan O'Neal instead.

This is Ryan O'Neal.

Imagine that if you will.

Oh poo poo its Barry Lyndon

# ? Aug 26, 2019 13:10

Arrhythmia: Jul 22, 2011

Romes128 posted:

Somebody explain the tiny drinking glasses thing. It�s oddly distracting to me while watching the movies.

Is it just an old school thing people used to do, or is it an Italian thing to drink out of small glasses?

The noble Italian needs only 1/5th the water that degenerate northern races need. Any more and they would fall apart, like putting a saltwater fish in a freshwater tank.

# ? Aug 26, 2019 13:45

Pneub: Mar 12, 2007; I'M THE DEVIL, AND I WILL WASH OVER THE EARTH AND THE SEAS WILL RUN RED WITH THE BLOOD OF ALL THE SINNERS

I AM REBORN

# ? Aug 26, 2019 14:16

mojo1701a: Oct 9, 2008; Oh, yeah. Loud and clear. Emphasis on LOUD!
~ David Lee Roth

Rupert Buttermilk posted:

A better appendix would be to have Michael Corleone die on the way back to his home planet.

I have been told by multiple Italians that Sicily qualifies as such.

Grape posted:

Imagine the Nevada senator from II doing his racist "oily hair" bit, except it's aimed at Dirtyblonde McPinkerson.

Also imagine him being movie brothers with John Cazale lol.

Somehow I'm not sure that '70s Hollywood would have been above hair dye and a large amount of tanning spray.

# ? Aug 26, 2019 14:47

JK Fresco: Jul 5, 2019

Romes128 posted:

Somebody explain the tiny drinking glasses thing. It’s oddly distracting to me while watching the movies.

Is it just an old school thing people used to do, or is it an Italian thing to drink out of small glasses?

That's just what normal drinking glasses were sized like back then. Same with coffee cups - a "cup" of coffee is supposed to be about 6 ounces.

Not coincidentally, a lot fewer people were enormously fat back in the 40s

# ? Aug 26, 2019 23:50

SidneyIsTheKiller: Jul 16, 2019; I did fall asleep reading a particularly erotic chapter
in my grandmother's journal.

She wrote very detailed descriptions of her experiences...

mojo1701a posted:

I have been told by multiple Italians that Sicily qualifies as such.

Somehow I'm not sure that '70s Hollywood would have been above hair dye and a large amount of tanning spray.

They didn't bother with James Caan, and he was supposed to be brothers with Pacino and Cazale. Apparently they even considered Robert Redford (!).

# ? Aug 27, 2019 04:16

DB Pooper: Mar 27, 2014; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

JK Fresco posted:

Not coincidentally, a lot fewer people were enormously fat back in the 40s

The somethingawful.com forums had not been invented yet

# ? Aug 27, 2019 07:45

Grape: Nov 16, 2017; Happily shilling for China!

SidneyIsTheKiller posted:

They didn't bother with James Caan, and he was supposed to be brothers with Pacino and Cazale. Apparently they even considered Robert Redford (!).

Hey Hollywood turns the ancient Romans and Greeks into blonde blue eyed Aryans with British accents, why not for modern Italians and Greeks?

# ? Aug 27, 2019 17:54

WILDTURKEY101: Mar 7, 2005; Look to your left. Look to your right. Only one of you is going to pass this course.

I guy the oranges = death thing, but who on Earth taught Michael how to eat an orange? I've never ever seen anyone else eat an orange like that.

# ? Aug 27, 2019 19:17

Arrhythmia: Jul 22, 2011

WILDTURKEY101 posted:

I guy the oranges = death thing, but who on Earth taught Michael how to eat an orange? I've never ever seen anyone else eat an orange like that.

Dude eats them like an apple it's insane

# ? Aug 27, 2019 19:29

SidneyIsTheKiller: Jul 16, 2019; I did fall asleep reading a particularly erotic chapter
in my grandmother's journal.

She wrote very detailed descriptions of her experiences...

The other day I saw A Most Violent Year and I bring it up here in The Godfather thread for a couple reasons:

Earlier I mentioned how at its core The Godfather is about a guy who hates his career and it got me wondering if a movie that was about a much more ordinary situation but with the same kind of cinematic presentation could be as effective. Watching A Most Violent Year I felt like it was almost specifically designed to test this idea. It had a lot of compelling moments, but yeah, I was kind of missing the violence (talk about false advertising) and life-or-death stakes.
Related to the the talk of a work being open to interpretation (at the risk of being opaque) vs. being direct (at the risk of being too simplistic), I can't for the life of me tell what the movie is trying to say about the Oscar Isaac character. The entire movie seems to treat him sympathetically aside from one moment near the very end that seems just deliberate enough to make me go "wait, so was this a stealth Nightcrawler this whole time?" It bugged me enough to watch it a second time and I'm leaning on "yes", but either way I can't help but see it as a lack of commitment on the movie's part. Or worse, if the entire point of the movie was to get the viewer to disagree with it, that rubs me the wrong way, like a form of cinematic trolling or something...

# ? Aug 30, 2019 23:30

SimonCat: Aug 12, 2016; by Nyc_Tattoo; College Slice

Does anyone think that Marlon Brando was playing Vito to Old in The Godfather? He is supposed to be 54 at the start of the first movie but he always seems a lot older.

# ? Sep 8, 2019 03:23

Grape: Nov 16, 2017; Happily shilling for China!

SimonCat posted:

Does anyone think that Marlon Brando was playing Vito to Old in The Godfather? He is supposed to be 54 at the start of the first movie but he always seems a lot older.

He plays him more feebly after the shooting mostly, which is kinda plausible?

# ? Sep 8, 2019 03:38

SimonCat: Aug 12, 2016; by Nyc_Tattoo; College Slice

Grape posted:

He plays him more feebly after the shooting mostly, which is kinda plausible?

That makes sense but it also seems like he had Sonny when he was 15 years old.

Edit: James Caan was 32 when they made The Godfather. I'm just bad at guessing actors ages.

SimonCat fucked around with this message at 04:02 on Sep 8, 2019

# ? Sep 8, 2019 03:59

Rod Hoofhearted: Jun 18, 2000; I am a ghost

SimonCat posted:

That makes sense but it also seems like he had Sonny when he was 15 years old.

Edit: James Caan was 32 when they made The Godfather. I'm just bad at guessing actors ages.

People in old movies seem older to us partially because of fashion and hair styles and what not.

# ? Sep 8, 2019 04:21

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# ? Apr 16, 2024 07:33

Pneub: Mar 12, 2007; I'M THE DEVIL, AND I WILL WASH OVER THE EARTH AND THE SEAS WILL RUN RED WITH THE BLOOD OF ALL THE SINNERS

I AM REBORN

According to this thing the first movie takes place over like 10 years so it checks out I guess.

https://godfather.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline

# ? Sep 8, 2019 06:41

The Something Awful Forums > Main > General Bullshit > I finally saw The Godfather for the first time

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