The Godfather by Mario Puzo

From its opening sequences at Vito’s only daughter’s wedding to the climactic closing bloodbath scenes, where the “family” wreaks its ultimate revenge on all those who’ve double-crossed them, it’s obvious that the Corleone family is a powerful force to be reckoned with. Immediately selling several million copies, the novel was quickly snapped up for film adaptation rights and marked the superstardom of mega-director, Francis Ford Coppola, catapulting him to fame.

With its nonstop action and carefully woven storyline laced with violence, sex, betrayal and family loyalty, The Godfather was a can’t-miss natural for the silver screen. The denouement baptismal scene is brilliantly executed and, perhaps in its chilling contrasts, even more riveting than the original script.

It’s not often that I’m as fond of a movie adaptation as I am of the novel it is based upon, but The Godfather proved a surprisingly pleasant exception. That’s not to say that I suggest skipping the book. Despite its near 3-hour running time, the film can’t begin to touch upon the many twisted subplots within the novel’s 500+ pages. It does, however, greatly succeed in its efforts to bring the most pertinent and bone-chilling events to life, particularly the horse head scene (which anyone who knows anything about The Godfather immediately knows what I’m talking about). This 1972 feature saga received ten Academy Award nominations and took home three of those awards, including Best Picture, Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium and Best Actor, for which Marlon Brando refused to accept the Oscar, making him the second actor to do so. The uncharacteristic gesture was an ethical ploy for widespread attention, in protest of the treatment of Native Americans in the movies.

Largely the tale of a New York crime family, the word “mafia” never appears within the pages of the novel, nor is it ever spoken in the film’s dialogue. While Brando, “the Don” Corleone steals the show, this is more widely the story of youngest Corleone son, Michael, the most decent of the lot. Al Pacino perfectly executes the good boy gone ruthless in the struggle to uphold his family’s honor and obligations. And perhaps most fittingly, it is his complex character who inspires the continuing sage of The Godfather (Parts II and III).

“I’m gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse…” Buy the book, rent the film and prepare yourself for a page-turning, eye-gluing ride.

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