Who can give me some reviews of the movie "The Godfather"?

The past and present life of the "Godfather" trilogy

The Count published on: 2011-04-16 01:03

This article would like to pay tribute to the great "The Godfather" The Godfather trilogy has my highest respect.

There are very few movies that can profoundly influence a common vocabulary. If this phenomenon really exists, it can well illustrate the wide and deep influence of this movie. Obviously, "The Godfather" "Trilogy is this kind of movie. As the greatest gangster movie in the history of film (one of them), the "Godfather" series redefined gangster movies. It made Coppola, Pacino, and The pinnacle of gangster movies.

There are so many articles praising "The Godfather" in the world. Its historical status and influence also make most people stay away from it. But as a die-hard fan, I thought I should write something for it. , not for any utility. The original novel "The Godfather" was a blockbuster bestseller in the United States at that time, and the author Mario Puzo became famous because of it. At that time, Coppola was also considered a young literary and artistic young man, focusing on the creation of non-mainstream short films, and refused to make commercial films, but The pressure of the market economy and film companies forced him to finally take over the filming task of "The Godfather". Unexpectedly, "The Godfather" became Coppola's most famous work. It is a kind of destiny. Sometimes it is not the director who chooses the movie, but the movie chooses the director. Just like Orson Wilson and "Citizen Kane", Coppola's film temperament in turn also made "The Godfather" , the fate between movies and people has always been unclear. The director's temperament is part of the soul of the movie, and the movie itself is also the embodiment of the soul of the creator. Maybe the collision between "The Godfather" and Coppola is a blessing.

About the original novel

The original novel of "The Godfather" itself is very interesting, the writing style is hard-core, and it is very readable. The detailed texture of the novel is neither complicated nor simple, everything is All serve to better shape the characters, and Mario's control of the inner explosion of the characters is also very precise. He is not sentimental or repetitive. He explodes within reason and remains silent within reason. This is the description of the Mafia in the original novel. So much so that people go back and wonder if the author has something to do with the Mafia, but this also shows that the content of the novel is very readable. Puzo talks endlessly about the story, and you won't feel Nagging and boring, but completely immersed in the story. In the novel, the characters of the four Corleone father and son are very distinct, without hesitation at all, and the movie also successfully created the images of the four father and son. Compared with the movie, the novel seems to be more detailed and clear in terms of narrative. , and the processing of the story line in the movie is much messier than that in the novel. If you don't read the original work, you may be confused in some places. There is no lack of strong masculinism in the original novel. Women are completely marginal in the story, and the movie pays great attention to reminding the Corleones that everything they do is just to protect their wives and children, while in the novel , the emphasis on this point is not as heavy as in the movie. The description of murder and death in the novel is very explicit, and the details of some murders are written in such detail that after reading it, I feel a sense of criminal pleasure, or there is such a feeling in the male body. A strong desire for destruction.

Many people regard the novel "The Godfather" as the Bible for men. To put it bluntly, it is a manifestation of male chauvinism. The desire for destruction and control in men is vividly reflected in the book, whether it is deep or deep. Conspiracies buried deep in the heart, the release of twisted sexual desires, and perverted and bloody killings are all subconsciously longed for by men. Holding the world in their hands, manipulating power, killing, eradicating dissidents, revenge, and sexual desire are all the evils in the male body. Flowers bloom beautifully here. Old Man Corleone, an unbeatable gangster king, a man with an unfathomable heart, a man respected as a god by countless men, he can always use his unique logic and reason to make everything seem unreasonable and unreasonable. Things that are not accepted by social laws become rationalized and give readers a sense of identity. The harsh living conditions in Sicily make men become violent, killing and fighting for their livelihood. Old Man Corleone brought this living condition to the United States. In this reinforced concrete forest, fragile people can become the food of wolves, and Corleone's struggle for his family is better said to be a complete explosion of masculinity, turning into a wolf and a man.

The philosophy of the Godfather becomes reasonable or acceptable when expressed in words. The complexity of American capital society has caused this reinforced concrete forest to lose absolute good and absolute evil. Fundamentally speaking, this It can be attributed to the uneven distribution of social wealth, and under this inequality there cannot be absolute fairness. Without absolute fairness, there will be loopholes in this society, and Corleones see that opportunity dominates loopholes. People, the philosophy of the Godfather has become reasonable under this unfairness. What is even more frightening is that many people highly agree with this philosophy. This existence becomes reasonable and necessary. When there is such a need, there are people who provide services. There is a concept that the government is a company that provides public services. As for the Mafia family, they provide public services to some people to a certain extent, and their operations are increasingly aligned with companies. So it can be said that the Corleone family is a prototype of a small government. Its existence is reasonable. This kind of existence is because there is a demand for services, so they exist. It is difficult to define whether this kind of existence is reasonable or not. You Wherever you stand, that's what it is. Corleone's rationality is based on illegal activities, and in this case, whose law is the law? The order established by those who provide public services is the law, and the philosophy of the Godfather is the law in this social loophole. There is no distinction between legal and illegal. Everything boils down to the struggle for interests and people's tendency to gain. These two points are the foundation of our social existence and the supporting points in the system of "The Godfather". Our society is originally built on killing and crime. If we kill more people, we call it a country, but if we kill less people, we are defined as "criminals." In order to maintain order, those who hold the majority of profits define death. Those who have small interests in the loopholes are labeled "illegal". As the saying goes, those who steal the hook will be punished, and those who steal the country will be the princes.

Although the expression of "The Godfather" is not reflected too deeply in the above discussion, it actually confirms the above. It is just that "The Godfather" stays at the social level for the most part. , without rising to the level of politics. The "Godfather" trilogy has very comprehensively shown the social sentiments of the time. Mario Puzo did not improve the height of the entire novel, nor did it accurately reflect "realism", but it did in some other ways It has reached its peak in terms of sales. After all, its original positioning was to sell well.

Women exist on the margins in the novel. Women are just sexual tools and accessories of men. In this novel where men are absolutely dominant, the smell of male hormones can be smelled everywhere. The female characters in it Basically staying at the level of a housewife who doesn't care about the world, McCallion can kill his brother-in-law without blinking an eye, without caring about his sister's mood, and the setting of Mike's wife is also more interesting. When McCallion After inheriting the family business, the masculine characteristics of the Corleone family began to appear in him. His wife could be deceived, and women were just peripheral objects of his great family business. The deceived Mike embarked on the path of his father and jumped out of the family business. In several sequels other than the novel, Mike gradually began to return. To be honest, the third film did lose the charm of the previous one. "Never let the other person know what you are thinking" sounds very dark, but this kind of darkness is also part of male wisdom. In a low-context culture, it is really a good idea to have such a high-context awareness. It’s not easy, so it can surprise American society. The organizational management and power struggle in "The Godfather" can be regarded as a classic teaching material in management. It embodies a kind of management thinking more vividly, realistically and realistically than textbooks, but it is covered with a literary cloak. The management thinking in "The Godfather" still has certain guiding value in terms of how to deal with, manage the organization, and how to make decisions. Those who find it funny can be spectators, and those who find it profound will naturally use it as a teaching material.

The fortune history of the first generation of godfathers that is highlighted in the novel only appears in the second part of the movie. The fortune history of the old godfather is relatively legendary, and in the description of the fortune history of the godfather, there is a lot about the importance of family to There is a lot of emphasis on the influence of Corleone Sr. What Corleone Sr. did was entirely for his wife and children. The old godfather often mentioned in his words that he should take good care of his family and children. Family is the first priority. Kind of words, but in reality, after the Corleone family became prosperous, it was not the family that supported it, but the men's inflated ambitions. In the novel, the old godfather said before his death: Life is so beautiful.

This can mark a focal point for Victor Corleone’s philosophy of life, and then Mike’s history of success almost mirrored that of the old man. At the end of the movie, Mike’s heart finally returned to family love, even though he died alone. , but before he died, he thought of his wife and daughter. The last homesickness of Italian men was their family. This is similar to the old godfather’s narrative when he died. Compared with Victor Corleone’s death in family happiness, When Mike died, it was relatively miserable, because Mike did a better job than his father. Mike grew up in the United States. He did not have the feelings of a Sicilian man like the old man, or he did not have the nostalgia of Sicilian people, although Mike still died in Sicily in the end. . Mike is not as smart as his father when it comes to his family, but this also determines that Mike’s career will be better than that of the old godfather. The final touch of the trilogy is that it echoes what the first part said, and the issue of family belonging is placed in this part. In a completely male-dominated movie, it does not seem out of place, but makes the movie more charming. Mario Puzo knows how to play with male wisdom and feelings.

There is no clear boundary between evil and justice. The boundaries defined by society today are judged based on law and morality, and these are dominated by the ruling elite. If judged according to law, There is no good person in "The Godfather". It is just a group of criminals fighting among themselves. The difference between criminals is that some criminals are bad and some are not so bad. So why do so many people start advocating the "Godfather spirit"? It is the real society Injustice caused people to need a powerful underground avenger? Or are you simply attracted by the domineering and explicit masculinity in The Godfather? This is a problem. This kind of negative hero worship can at least illustrate a subtle appeal. No matter what it is, it actually exists and has profoundly affected movies and literature.

About the movie

Coppola was still a little-known director before he took over "The Godfather". None of his previous films had a good response. People began to remember Coppola. Borady is indeed derived from "The Godfather". Coppola himself has strong screenwriting skills. The script he wrote for "General Patton" won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, so he teamed up with Mario Puzo to adapt "The Godfather" ", is naturally considered a strong alliance. In the trilogy, Coppola and Mario Puzo have been co-screenwriters, so the script of "The Godfather" has always maintained a relatively stable style. Among the trilogy, the third The script of this film is relatively weak. Since there were several decades between filming, this small lack of quality is understandable. The first part of the trilogy is the most ambitious, laying a solid foundation for the Godfather series. The first part established the rules and shaped the characters. These rules, temperament, and personalities are consistent in the three parts. The first part should have the most characters among the three parts, and the storyline is also the longest. It’s complicated. The first part can be divided into two parts. In fact, it is the delivery of two generations of godfathers, the first half led by Marlon Brando and the second half led by Al Pacino. Comparing the original novel and the movie, the author found that the movie's handling of the context is not as clear as the novel, and some places are very confusing. In the early days, Coppola's lens language was still slightly flawed, but in the second half of the movie, the overall feeling It's getting better. The plot of the final revenge is not very strong in the novel, but in the movie, this enjoyable climax has become an eternal classic, and the handling of the ending paragraph has endless aftertaste, deepening the Godfather's story. The artistic core does not exist in the novel. The expressiveness and profound meaning of the first movie of "The Godfather" exceed that of the original novel. The only shortcoming is that the processing of the context in the first half is relatively rough.

The second part begins during the war in Cuba. It mainly narrates the growth history of the first and second generation godfathers, and outlines McCallion's inner transformation process. It should be the simplest story among the trilogy, and the context is The clearest one, the second part is a two-line narrative, and time and space are not on the same line. The history of the first generation of godfathers in the novel is inserted into the second film, interspersed and narrated. In fact, the second part The main body of the film should be the growth history of the second-generation godfather. The two interspersed scenes are a comparison of the father and son at different periods and at the same age. This placement and contrast strengthens the profound meaning of the film. This arrangement has to be said to be It's very insightful. Although the plot is simple, it is not thin at all. The second part is not as grand as the first one, and is also the shortest in length among the three, but it is the one with the most lasting aftertaste among the three. Its meaning is not inferior to the first part in any way. There is a blank space at the end of the second part. It can be regarded as a stroke of genius, extremely shocking.

In film history, only "The Godfather" has two films in the same series that have consecutively won the Oscar for Best Picture. The comparison and narration of the two generations of godfathers makes the character more prominent. Mike did not inherit the old godfather's philosophy of doing things, nor did he handle the relationship between family and career well. Fundamentally speaking, this is mainly based on the two generations of godfathers. With different growth experiences, it is easier to start a business than to maintain a business. Mike is under more pressure than his father. The majesty of the old godfather comes from his "reasoning" and heart-for-heart philosophy, while the majesty of the second-generation godfather is established In terms of cold hands, the source of this difference is still attributed to different experiences. The old godfather made his fortune during the immigration wave in the United States in the early last century. The society was complex, the system was imperfect, and the economy was chaotic and depressed. It can be said that he was in troubled times. His unique philosophy of doing things has enabled him to make great achievements in troubled times. His philosophy of doing things has won the respect of many people. Sicilian rural family thinking also made the old godfather attach great importance to family relationships, so the first generation of godfathers can run the family business with ease. The growth experiences of McColleone and his father are very different. Mike grew up completely in the United States. He was influenced by American philosophy since childhood and hoped to be a law-abiding model citizen. His family's ideas and concepts were also American, which was different from his. Unlike the troubled times in the United States where his father lived, Mike's era was already a peaceful one. The United States was developing rapidly, with improved laws and a stronger government. These squeezed the development space of the family business. Mike faced a huge family transformation crisis, and the second The confrontation in the court is also to legitimize his family business. The difficulties and pressures faced by Mike are far greater than those of the old godfather. His growth experience and thinking mode have basically got rid of the old-fashioned Mafia thinking mode, and he has to survive in the cracks. It's not easy. The film's depiction of this also magnificently replicates the political, economic, legal, and social development history of the United States during that period. It uses the transformation of a family to show the grand transformation of the entire society. This transformation process is extremely sharp and sharp. It breaks out the macro framework of American democracy and American system. This is also one of the greatest aspects of the Godfather series of movies! The struggle history of a special individual presents a huge ukiyo-e of the entire society and country. The second movie is better than this.

The third part of the "Godfather" series is relatively substandard. The 16-year time span makes the third part of The Godfather not able to inherit the glory of the first two parts. Coppola shot The third film also had impure motives. The 1980s were a decade of frustration for Coppola's career. In order to revive his career and pay off debts, Coppola set out to film the third film The Godfather. The brand of The Godfather was too loud. The far-reaching cultural impact also contains huge economic benefits. Regardless of whether the filming of the third part is a self-defeating act, it cannot affect the status of the "Godfather" series in film history. Although the third part is inferior to the first two, But it also brings an end to The Godfather. Based on the excellence of the first two films, the third film cannot reach the level of Coppola's golden period of creation in the 1970s no matter how hard he tried. The third film revolves around a financing conspiracy. The elderly godfather is no longer as sharp as before and is more obsessed with family. Short-lived and self-interested, the third film has lost the spiritual temperament of the first two in some aspects. The wrinkled Al Pacino is not as majestic as the wrinkled Marlon Brando. The cold and majestic Godfather has transformed into A timid capitalist, admittedly, this transformation is extremely wise, but based on the overall temperament of the first two films, this transformation can't help but make people feel disappointed. The majesty of the Godfather's final plot at the end of the film is seen in Al Pacino's arms as he dies. The daughter's heart-rending sobs disappeared, and the godfather grew old. Think of Marlon Brando's majestic and restrained grief in the first film when he saw his dead eldest son, and Mark's silence and coldness when he murdered his second brother in the second film. What we see is no longer the invincible Godfather, but the helplessness of an old man who has lost his daughter. This also heralded the end of the patristic era.

The Godfather portrayed in the third part is still successful. Although it does not have the achievements of the first two parts, the third part still handles the ownership of the character of the Godfather very well. Although in terms of plot, There is not much new idea, but it also has something to say. Old Mike’s experience tells us that in the United States, regardless of whether it is a gangster or a white gang, the rules of survival are the same. On the surface, legal capital competition is not cleaner than the gang operation. In essence, it is dirty. The struggle for interests, under the suit and ties, is still the law of the jungle. In his later years, Mike was immersed in redemption and sitting on the capital empire, but the old Mike was crushed by sin in his heart. After decades of bloodshed, The mafia leader's hands are covered with blood, including relatives and enemies. Repentance and redemption have basically become the themes of this film. Who knows how fragile this seemingly invincible soul is, and his road to redemption is also his. On the road of self-destruction, the last generation of powerful heroes died in loneliness and repentance. He did not die on the battlefield to expand the territory for his family, but burned out in the wind like a lonely withered lamp.

Lian Po is old, can he still make a living? In the 1990s, Coppola had passed his creative peak, and he was as old as the Godfather. Coppola, who had been a pioneer for 20 years, lost his former edge amid a series of failures in the 1980s. But no matter what, as the final work of The Godfather, the third film is remarkable and brings an end to the Godfather epic.

The "Godfather" series has made a group of actors, or they made "The Godfather". The Godfather played by Marlon Brando has reinterpreted what it means to be a gang leader. Decades have passed, and when it comes to The Godfather, I don’t know how many people will have the majestic figure of Marlon Brando in their minds. His unique interpretation of The Godfather has conquered the hearts of generations of audiences. He has made the role of The Godfather immortal in the annals of film history. The Godfather he played has become a legend in the film industry. The myth of immortality! An irreversible myth! Although Al Pacino is only 1.7 meters tall, he can be called the Napoleon among movie actors. The spirit he gave to the Godfather made him the uncrowned king of Hollywood, and the series of characters he created later became even more popular. It proves his strength. Silence, cold-blooded strategizing, and a dark heart that never lets others know what he is thinking make the second-generation Godfather full of extraordinary charm, and Al Pacino's silent crying at the end of the third film has become a part of film history. A classic scene. The brilliance of the "Godfather" trilogy is inseparable from the performances of these great actors.

The trilogy of "The Godfather" all has a strong Christian flavor. The first part has a classic series of assassinations when he was baptized in the church, the second part has Fred's murder when he prayed to the Virgin, and the third part has The entire film is linked to the Vatican Church. The religious atmosphere in the Godfather trilogy is very strong. The universal teachings of Christ actually had a huge impact when put together with the Mafia. The meaning of the godfather itself is a person who guarantees religious teachings when baptizing babies. In "The Godfather", the object of this guarantee of education becomes the entire underground society, and the black power surrounds the entire society. This " The contrast between "The Godfather" and the religious godfather has become very meaningful and makes people think about it. After every religious ceremony, there is a murder. This contrast produces a very impactful artistic effect, and Old Mike's final confession and redemption are also It is very consistent with the purpose of Christianity. "The Godfather" is not anti-religious. On the contrary, the "Godfather" trilogy is deeply imprinted with the spirit of Western Christian doctrine. Criminals also have a God. This can be regarded as a unique quality of The Godfather. In addition, the trilogy of The Godfather has a strong Sicilian style. There is a sense of nostalgia in the film. Perhaps this refers to the cultural identity of the Sicilian people. These temperaments have affected the soundtrack and scenery of the movie. The soundtrack of The Godfather is relatively classical, with a strong Italian Sicilian style. Nino Rota's magical touch makes "The Godfather" also infinitely charming in terms of hearing. The classic speech Softly love has also become part of the soul of "The Godfather".

I don’t know how many people have hidden "The Godfather" deep in their hearts. I don’t know how many people fell in love with movies because of "The Godfather". And "The Godfather" may really become an unprecedented movie. The coming epic, the classic and vivid characters will always be active in our hearts. The godfather who played with the cat in the dark, the godfather who said nothing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, the godfather who cried silently in front of the theater... ...

When this generation of film workers gradually withdraw from the film stage, looking back at the glorious journey they left behind, the author can't help but feel emotional. We must express our deepest gratitude to them and thank them for leaving us a legacy. For every eternal moment, thank them for the myth they cast in film history. Times have changed, and classic things will never be dusted. In the face of great masterpieces passed down from generation to generation, we need to think about and remember them.