I thought Brando was great in the Godfather, in fact it is the only movie I have seen him in where I didn’t think he was over acting. I am certainly not a Brando fan, I think in most of his movies he sucks. but I am no critic, I thought Betty Davis was overacting in most of her movies too and though most Hollywood interviews called her beautiful I thought she was a dog.
I only wish in Godfather II, they had Clemenza, instead of Pentageli. We never really learn what happend to Clemenza, other than the guy saying, “That was no heart attack.”
Where did he overact early in his career? In Streetcar he was playing an over the top character. But in On the Waterfront he underplayed and made a potentially cliched character interesting.