Posted on 03/25/2025 3:05:28 PM PDT by nickcarraway
pls don't put the mafia on to me
It's highly impossible to exist in the American cultural landscape and not have at least heard a passing reference to The Godfather. For me, that reference came while watching You've Got Mail, which is, funnily, the most antithetical you could get in terms of genre. For a year, all I could remember was Tom Hanks' character imploring Meg Ryan's to "Go to the mattresses!" and thinking, what?!
In the name of research, I forced my friend to watch The Godfather with me. Despite the fact that it has a glowing Rotten Tomatoes score of 97 percent, is Francis Ford Coppola's magnum opus and cemented the Coppola family as a Hollywood dynasty, I have to say...I didn't love it.
TBH, I Was Just Here for Marlon Brando
The TL;DR of The Godfather for anyone still living under a rock: The film follows the Corleone family, helmed by patriarch Vito (Brando), as they come under threat by a rival crime family after Vito, styled Don Corleone, refuses to invest in a narcotics business. At the center of the drama is Don Corelone's son, Michael, who at first rejects the "family business" but soon becomes more enmeshed than he'd ever planned.
As an admirer of the Golden Age of Hollywood, I'll readily admit that my main curiosity (aside from understanding the You've Got Mail reference) was Brando. I couldn't be a self-professed lover of 20th-century cinema if I'd never seen him in a movie, right? The Godfather was a good introduction to the legendary actor, who played Don Corleone with a bewildering dichotomy between the cold and senseless mob boss and doting father and patriarch. Oh, and discovering what Al Pacino looked like in the '70s? Priceless.
This Is the Epitome of Toxic Masculinity
I'll admit that I'm often the first to roll my eyes and say, ugh, men. But, I do pity them—we live in a society where sometimes, it feels politically incorrect to be a dude. Despite their foibles, they do have many good qualities. Unfortunately, they're perpetually in the shadow of toxic masculinity. And for that alone, I'm risking my life to drag The Godfather through the mud.
My friend and I had high expectations for the nearly three-hour film. For something that was demanding the time that amounted to almost half a workday, I expected new revelations into the male psyche. Instead, my main takeaway was kill people who piss you off. Also, avenge the family honor at all costs! Sadly, these things were not new ideas.
Even if you think Coppola's film is the greatest movie of all time, I think we can agree that it employs senseless violence. Machine-gunning someone in front of the camera for almost 30 seconds feels gratuitous—ten seconds would have sufficed. Practically speaking, it's impossible to stay standing after being hit by bullets for even three seconds, I'd surmise. (Not speaking from experience.)
All the Women Are Written Off
My main beef here is the way Michael dotes on his girlfriend, Kay Adams (Diane Keaton), only to remorselessly MARRY ANOTHER WOMAN when he flees New York to Italy.
This Italian wife's only credit is that she's beautiful. This girl manages to be captivating without uttering a single word...and she remains silent for the duration of their relationship until she is killed, brutally. And what does Michael do then? Finally return home to New York to hit up the girlfriend whom he ghosted.
I'm not saying that the problem was depicting these situations—among many others. As a writer myself, I do believe that the purpose of art is to allow us to explore all the touch points of the human condition—including the ugliness. My qualm here is that every single woman in this film lacks agency. They are literally extras in this film—even Kay Adams, who has more lines than most. You could argue that "this was just the time period and the culture," but please. Women have always wanted more, even if they weren't able to get it. (See the works of Jane Austen for many examples.) Depicting them all as meek and powerless is to write them off completely.
Objectively Good Art, But I Can't
I think that art can be objectively good and that you can also still hate it. That's The Godfather for me. After 175 minutes, I can't say I was any more enlightened to the male brain than I had been previously. If anything, it only reinforced my perceptions. In one aspect, I supposed I did glean something. Tom Hanks was right. Ladies, if someone is giving you trouble, you have to go to the mattresses. Who's the Godfather now?
I think Kay has agency. She looked the other way when she wanted to, then she didn't when she stopped wanting to. Connie had the freedom to marry that bum, even when everyone knew it was a bad idea.
Weren’t you just saying this?
The Godfather was a fine movie, but it came out in a decade filled with great movies. I don’t consider it the best movie of the decade - it may not even be in the top 10 for the ‘70s.
Women don’t get it.
I worked with a young woman who had never watched it.
I loaned her my DVD box of all 3.
She gave them back and said, “must be a men’s thing”.
Name better ones.
If you're watching The Godfather for the first time, contemporary expectations of a mafia movie might make you let down if you expect it to have wall-to-wall gunslinging drive-by's up and down main street every 5 or 10 minutes. It's not the persistent adrenaline rush that Hollywood has portrayed the mafia like in movies since The Godfather.
Nobody could be that stupid.
I’ve watched the Godfather I & II probably several times and every time, noticed something new. I finally purchase the book and that helped fill a lot of gaps in the movie. I would recommend anyone who has never seen it to read the book first and either rent it or watch whenever its on TV uncut, uninterrupted.
Regarding Diane Keaton, easily the most overrated actor in the movie. I cringe every time her character appears on screen.
As if I care what a woman thinks - go make me a sammich.
I was lucky enough to see the first two in a theater about 15 years ago.
I am also one of those people who thought the first one was better than the second one. When I finally saw The Conversation, which Coppola made in between 1 and 2, I thought that was as good also. RIP Gene Hackman.
Strange movie. Spooky.
Kind of remade with Will Smith. Enemy of the State?
This review reeks of toxic femininity.
And it was published.
Things ain't what they used to be.
Marissa Wu writes here like every mother who just watched her teenage son’s favorite movie. Her piece is unintentionally funny. I was literally chuckling as I read. Miss Wu demonstrates yet again that Feminists can’t see past themselves.
Blazing Saddles? Funny but greater than Godfather?
Ok
I like II fine. A little darker and deeper and the plot was confusing some.
The Exorcist was so scary.
With a 97% rating, an awful lot of women “get it”. I guess a few women don’t get it.
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