#12 The Godfather

FILMS FOR THOUGHT

By: Alex Holzum

    In 1998 a large group of big names in the film-making community got together to compile a list of the top 100 films of all time.  Among this list is my next film choice.  Coming in at number 3, we have The Godfather.  This is another film that I watched in my High School film class.  The Godfather is the first movie in the three part series.

    The movie opens up with a wedding scene.  This is a very busy scene where a lot of important things happen.  Thank GOODNESS for my film teacher narrating everything that went down in this scene because there is no way I would have been able to keep up with everything.  The wedding that we are seeing is for the daughter of Don Vito Corleone (played by Marlon Brando).  The most important thing to remember while watching the opening scene is that a Sicilian man cannot refuse any request asked of him on the day of his daughter's wedding.  Vito Corleone is a Sicilian immigrant that has made it big in America by maneuvering through the ranks of the mafia until he got to the esteemed position of Don.

  Within this opening scene, we learn that Vito Corleone is a very rich and important man that has three sons, one daughter, a wife, and Tom who is the consigliere and Corleone's adopted son.  The whole movie is just the Corleones taking care of the "family business" while still maintaining their family (sort of).  It is really interesting to listen to the values of the Don and the other family members.

    This movie is one of my favorites because it makes you laugh, cry, and most of the time just watch in awe as you see into a lifestyle that is very different than most peoples'.  I will end this post with a few fun facts about this movie that I learned while watching it in my film class:

*  The horse head that you will eventually see...IS REAL (straight from the glue factory).

*  Marlon Brando stuffed cotton balls into his cheeks to get the Don look that he has

*  Al Pacino actually broke his face outside of filming this movie but the director took advantage of his broken face bruising by filming the scenes where his face is supposed to be broken while his face was still naturally swollen and bruised