50th Anniversary Screening

Best Cinema Experience ever (with the lotr marathon). Very detailed Review of my favorite and the greatest film of all time.

My father would say historical event. 

INT DAY: DON'S OFFICE (SUMMER 1945)
Bonasera, we know each other for
years, but this is the first time
you come to me for help. I don't
remember the last time you invited
me to your house for coffee...even
though our wives are friends.

The Opening scene. Considered by many of the greatest scene of all time and for me personally its totally even when in this watch so many scenes for me were on the same level as the opening sequence.
I mean when we first see Bonaseras teeth and then his head and similar his voice its one of the most dark and epic opening entries which hasnt to do with an action scene. Its so dark and gritty that I always needs five second to get into the mood in this film. We had for the watch yesterday a kinda party mood because we watched a Doors documentary before and this doesnt connect with this film but in the same moment where the music and the paramount pictures symbol shines this mood was forgotten. Brando delivers here one of the greatest acting scenes ever.

BONASERA
Be my friend.
DON CORLEONE
Good. From me you'll get Justice.
BONASERA
Godfather.
Absolutely epic dialogue. I think on a first watch you absolutely couldnt evaluate this film. It needed more than three watches for me that I can see all its greatness.

EXT DAY: WEDDING PARTY (SUMMER 1945)
The entire family poses for a family portrait:

The Change to also one of my favorite scenes the Wedding. Dont know how Coppola could created the mood of this party but it feels so undescribable real. Especially I love that this scene is so endlessly feelgood and no one knows what about to come to this perfect family. Which is the perfect Compare.
I also think the Character Introduction is at the very best in this scene because everyone gets their little scene especially michael is interesting but also there not to expect that he will go into the business. But also Tom Hagen with the kiss to his wive and surely sonny with his directly open and angry type stands out. Fredo Barzini Brasi not to mention also being introduced with very little scenes is just perfect but all these conspicuities come over the watches. I remember on my first watch I really just fall in love with the vibe and dont knew who is who. I just can recall that I endlessly love the vibes there. Clemenza dancing drinking, mama corleone singing and the old guy after her couldnt be more original I think. Most amazing is also the introduction of the following story of johnny fontaine played by the legendary singer al Martino. The girls screaming and everything all on a wedding day is just the feeling you get what vito has reached in his life. The music from legendary Nino Rota is making this movie. The whole flair and ambience just originated in such a form because of the music.

SONNY
Goddamn FBI...don't respect nothing.
The FBI intro and sonny recalls my love for this whole introduction scene. A wedding is perfect for that because everyone is there.

DON CORLEONE
ACT LIKE A MAN!
The first and only time we see Vito getting out of his calm and pacient mood because of Johnny which like I said introduces the next legendary act which shows simple and perfect how things are working in the mafia business.

DON CORLEONE
I'll make him an offer he can't
refuse.
INT NIGHT: AIRPLANE (SUMMER 1945)
Love that cut respectively most of all cuts but this one is so amazing because it takes you into another mood with its jazzy note and late summer feeling directly into Hollywood at that time.

WOLTZ
You like horses? I like horses, I
love 'em. Beautiful, expensive
Racehorses.
Haha best scene which you could only enjoy in a rewatch because you have to know what will happen next. The cult scene of the horsehead in WOLTZs bed is one of the greatest proof of power in film history. The dialogues where the great Robert Duvall shows all of his acting skills which in other movies would have been the absolute best perfomance are just amazing to like I said how the business works. He has the same calmness as his "father" and represents an amazing consigliere.

INT DAY: OLIVE OIL OFFICES (SUMMER 1945)

Change into the real drama

DON CORLEONE
What percentages for my family?

SOLLOZZO
Thirty per cent. In the first year
your share would be four million
dollars; then it would go up.

Absolutely stunning to see Vitos Handling with such a serious negotiation. After the conversation also amazing to see how he makes a point on sonny who is from the simple too emotional to be a good DON.

EXT DAY: FIFTH AVENUE (WINTER 1945)

Perfect time change into another season of the year with michael and Kay buying christmas presents its great to see how normal Michaels life is.

FREDO
I'll have to get it myself; Paulie
called in sick this morning

Ahhhh this scene is so little but also so dramatic. Fredo the unlike of the family gets the most important to save the DON.

The scene itself where the DON is shot is simply a Banger to shot the main character in the very beginning. After that nothing is as before and the Tension and dramatic of the film comes into.

SOLLOZZO
Get in the car. If I wanted to
kill you you'd be dead already.
Trust me.

First in this scene where its amazing to see that the Tattaglia family doesnt want to kill the Corleones, no they just want that they take the offer and not beginning a war. Tom Hagen as the important character in this scene with his calmness is perfect to understand that its strictly business but after then talking with sonny it is first shown that they are completely different types and it doesnt fit to lead the family business.

The headlines read: "VITO CORLEONE SHOT, CHIEFTAN GUNNED
DOWN."

BANG. Michaels face when he reads the line says everything! And the watcher knew a bit of what will come. His character shows literally one of the greatest character studies of all time.

CLEMENZA
A Sicilian message: Luca Brasi
sleeps with the fishes.

After very dramatic dialogues between mostly Sonny on who was the traitor this scene I really love too. When they are waiting for Luca Brasi which is killed many scenes before they finally get this message. Absolute badass. Fishes in his Bulletproof vest.

CLEMENZA
Leave the gun. Take the Cannoli
One of another cult scenes and oneliners which brand themselves in your head. A scene so calm and badass I think there is no other scene as classic to see a Mafia kill. The landscape the car. Absolute calm but so ice cold.

CLEMENZA
You won't see Paulie anymore. He's
sick for good this winter.
Haha love that.

EXT NITE: DON'S HOSPITAL (WINTER 1945)

Change to the Hospital and a not family into Michael visiting his dad at the right time. Amazing how Michael who never was into the family business cares about his dad like no other.

MICHAEL
Get rid of those and look like
you've got a gun in your pocket.

That scene is so fuckin great. The Tension is so unbelievable high in this and as slowly as the car drives by as great it is. Thats simply what makes this movie. The scenes work so well because they simply take the time they are needing to reach the spectator.

MCCLUSKEY
(furious)
Goddam it, I said lock him up. Put
the cuffs on him.
Another amazing casting which often is under the radar with the great and classic actor sterling hayden adds another puzzle part to one of the greatest casts of all time.

MICHAEL
(pause)
Then I'll kill them both.

Ahh there is the Michael we kinda waited for. Sitting like the most badass kid in his chair and talking like he is the godfather.

Everyone in the room is astonished; they all look at MICHAEL.
Silence. SONNY suddenly breaks out in laughter. He points
a finger at MICHAEL, trying to speak.

Great great scene where so many different heads of the family discussing on what to do.

EXT NITE: SOLLOZZO'S CAR (WINTER 1945)

Change into one of the big highlights of the film and most tensed minutes. The car scene alone to the restaurant could be a finale to another film. The looks they give eachothers are saying everything.

EXT NITE: LUNA AZURA RESTAURANT (WINTER 1945)

Cant tell ya my heart anyhow bumped at this scene so fast I couldnt do anything even if Ive seen it several times haha the tension still reached me like no other scene.

MICHAEL
Is it all right if I go to the
bathroom?
Michael talking to Sollozzo in italian with a lightness firstly shows he is the right man for the job. Even when you can see the fear in his face but hoping that the others wont see what they have planned. Hayden eating like a grump is everything in compare to the very sceptical Sollozzo.

Showtime.. The kill is simply stunning and ice cold like planned. You cant believe that it seems to go good because it has to something unplanned but it didnt which is I think the great thing about the scene. And yes in this scene you can see in Michaels Face when he is killing them that there is no turning back. He became the man he never wanted to be.

EXT DAY: MANCINI BLDG. (SPRING '46)

Its Total War and the ambience and flair in the city couldnt be darker. The mansion of Corleone is filled with bodyguards and everything feels so dramatic and once again tensed. I can see no lengths in this movie. I just cant see. Every scene has something wonderful.

CONNIE
Oh Sonny, please don't do anything.
Please don't.

He stops, and then laughs good naturedly.

SONNY
Hey. Con. What'm I goin' to do?

Thats it. Remind me of the same scene in Goodfellas years later which has the same greatness. The classical Protector instinct comes out here which only in such a family comes to the case of direct revenge. Just satisfying to see. Great great acting here by the way from the also simply magnificent Caan who has maybe the most difficult role because he has to play the kinda asshole like emotional godfather which Michael has to see to be not. He has to be the perfect mix from HAGEN and SONNY like his father was. Even when I would say after the three parts in the end he was 70% like SONNY and 30% like HAGEN. But in Part 1 he was the perfect mix.

SONNY
Well it's war! We might not be in
this shape if we had a real war-
time Consiglere, a Sicilian. Pop
had Genco, who do I have?
(TOM starts to leave)
Hey Tom, hey...hey. It's Sunday,
we're gonna have dinner. Don't be
sore.
Another great scene from SONNY and TOM which supports the very diffiicult relationship they have. Just too different without the DON in there middle.

EXT DAY: ESTABLISHING SICILY SHOT

Change to one of my favorite film parts of all time. The sicilian story of michael. The cut is maybe the greatest cut in movie history where Brandos nose turns into a goat in sicily. In the background for the first time the unforgettable love theme. One could think it is meant symbolically that brando becomes a goat because he is the goat ;D

DON TOMMASSINO
That is your birthright...but
Michael, use this car.

MICHAEL
No...I would like to walk to
Corleone.

Just the hangout part of the film where Michael is walking with his two bodyguards to the wonderful landscapes. LOVE IT!

CONNIE
The food is on the table.

CARLO
I'm not hungry yet.

CONNIE
Eat it, it's on the table.

CARLO
Ba Fa Goulle.

CONNIE
BA FA GOULE YOU!

Haha these fights are always for the entertaining part of the film. Absolutely sensational played because you just have this one shot to destroy everything haha. But Talia Shire knows her role and plays the best out of it. A crucial point this fight on first sight might not be but like I said in a rewatch you can see it. Its the fight which gives CARLO the vibes to become a traitor.

SONNY
(quietly)
That sonofabitch; that sonofabitch...

Hehe and here comes the solution to the at the whole time very emotional and personall driven SONNY. I have to say that this scene is still shocking and in the first Watch Ive absolutely never expected that. Its mindblowing like so many of the twists in here. You expect the same like before that you get satisfied with SONNY beating CARLOS ass.

DON CORLEONE
But you needed a drink first.
HAGEN
Yes.
DON CORLEONE
Now you've had your drink.
Pause.
HAGEN
They shot Sonny on the Causeway.
(pause)
He's dead.

Marlon is back and the dialogue directly kills it. Never a character also in part 2 has such an amazing charisma. His reaction to the Kill of Sonny is just greatness in acting. I think coppola is thankful himself that he took the risk to give an at this time done brando this role. Kinda similar to Bette Daviss best role in all about eve which also was done at that time but then surprisingly played her best role. Both my favorite of all time came back and showed them all!!

INT DAY: BOARD ROOM (SPRING 1946)

The meeting of all meetings. Never enjoyed brandos acting as much as in this watch in this scene. I liked it even more than his acting in the beginning.

DON CORLEONE
Tattaglia has lost a son; I have
lost a son. We are quits. Let
there be a peace...(he gestures
expressively,
submissively, with
his hands)
That is all I want...

Could there be more epicness in a mafia novel?? Goosebumps! Brando in his gesture plays the greatest out of him.

DON CORLEONE
I forego my vengeance for my dead
son, for the common good. But I
have selfish reasons. My youngest
son had to flee, accused of
Sollozzo's murder, and I must now
make arrangements so that he can
come home with safety, cleared of
all those false charges. That is
my affair, and I will make those
arrangements.
(with strength)
But I am a superstitious man...and
so if some unlucky accident should
befall my youngest son, if some
police officer should accidentally
shoot him, or if he should hang
himself in his cell, or if my son
is struck by a bolt of lightning,
then I will blame some of the
people here. That, I could never
forgive, but...aside from that, let
me swear by the souls of my
Grandchildren that I will never be
the one to break the peace we have
made.

That speech was my favorite Brando moment on this rewatch because there he gets everything he wants and also whats even greater is through the meeting:

DON CORLEONE
Tattaglia is a pimp. He could
never have outfought Santino. But
I wasn't sure until this day. No,
it was Barzini all along.

He knew that Barzini is the man behind all the threads which is a thing only the don himself could see. On of the greatest moments of the character. Especially in which calm way he is saying it makes it unforgettable.
-------------------------------------FADE OUT-----------

EXT DAY: BARONIAL ESTATE
MICHAEL sees her; now face to face. He looks.

Her face. Incredibly beautiful with olive skin, black hair
and a rich mouth.

Apollonia. Ahh the heart is melting haha. Now we come to the beautiful part of the greatest film of all time. The change of these dramatic war decisions and michael hanging out in sicily is everything you need to have the greatest pacing a slow film can have.

MICHAEL
She wore a red dress, and a red
ribbon in her hair. She looks more
Greek than Italian. Do you know a
beauty like that?

As MICHAEL describes her, VITELLI laughed less and less,
until he wears a scowl.

VITELLI
No.

Haha this scene is sooo amazing and funny always gets me. And directly when you think shit its over Michael kills it with his DON vibes. Couldnt be more satisfying. The following meetings and the whole romance itself is simply wonderful to watch. I love every second in this wonderful sicily. The Wedding the flair the dance with the love theme all unforgettable for me. They get me every goddamn time and let us totally forget that there is war.

She looks at him.

APPOLONIA
Grazia.

The chemistry of both is simply stunning. How she shows him the necklace how he treats her and how he convinces the whole family was always a skill im just jealous of. In sopranos there were several scenes in which the same happened and I inhaled them haha.

MICHAEL
It's safer to teach you English.

APPOLONIA
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday...See, I learned
it. Now teach me to drive!

Again the chemistry in the very little scenes they have together totally strikes so that the following tragedy is just mindblowing dramatic.

APPOLONIA
(calling out)
I'll drive to you.

He smiles affectionately.

CALO stands beside the car, smiling, with his lupara dangling
by his side. There is no sight of FABRIZZIO. Suddenly the
smile fades from MICHAEL's face. He steps forward and holds
out his hand.

MICHAEL
No. No!

One of the greatest scenes of the film. Always heartbreaking and destroys every good they built.

EXT DAY: MALL (SPRING 1951)

There it comes. The two dialogues of two of the greatest actors of all time. Both in the role of their life playing their heart out and it looks like nothing! Maybe the most unimportant scenes for the story itself but for the characters and actors probably the greatest.

DON CORLEONE
No, I wanted other things for you.

MICHAEL
You wanted me to be your son.

DON CORLEONE
Yes, but sons who would be
professors, scientists,
musicians...and grandchildren who
could be, who knows, a Governor, a
President even, nothing's impossible
here in America.
Too dramatic to hear everything what we thought said by the DON directly to Michael after all what happened. After he is going to became the man his father was.

EXT DAY: STOCK FOOTAGE LAS VEGAS (1955)
Maybe my least favorite part of the whole film even when I still like it because of Fredos and Michaels part in it.
Shows for the first time what Fredo is doing and Michael how to handle with it. Even when Moe greene seems to be also a badass Michael cares for nothing. With the sicily tragedy he is colder than ever before and that in the DON role is very dangerous.

MICHAEL
You straightened my brother out?

MOE
Hell, he was banging cocktail
waitresses two at a time. Players
couldn't get a drink.
Thats my favorite part of the LAS VEGAS Part. Amazing because Michael would save Fredo before everything even when MOE was right. Its Family.

MICHAEL turns, and sees KAY.

Mhm also a seen which kinda hurts because Michael here doesnt feel safe with his decision to get KAY back. He know it wouldnt be like in the old days to many things have happened. But he has no choice. He wants a strong woman who knows him and thats why he gives everything to get her back. Diane Keaton is an amazing actress I think but sure she has her highlights in Part 2 I think and not in this. Here she plays her role very solid especially the distrusting parts.

HAGEN
Mike, why am I out?

MICHAEL
You're not a wartime Consigliere.
Things may get tough with the move
we're trying.

Change to this important and great scene where Michael firstly is in his fathers office and doing business with publishing the future plans. Tom had his time like SONNY and Michael knows it that he had to be rough but calm just like his father.

DON CORLEONE
Tom, I never thought you were a bad
Consigliere, I thought Santino a
bad Don, rest in peace. He had a
good heart but he wasn't the right
man to head the family when I had
my misfortune. Michael has all my
confidence, as you do. For reasons
which you can't know, you must have
no part in what will happen.

I love how the "papa" tries to get his kids together. Simply the greatest charisma a character on film ever had.

He rises, and looks at Michael...

DON CORLEONE
...and at that meeting you will be
assassinated.

Second time that Vito has the magical gift to know everything even when it seems different.

After that a scene which maybe the loveliest death in movie history for me. Pure greatness from Brando in this scene. Improvising at its best. I always see him dying with a smile in my face and that lovely joke with the orange teeth. Hach just my favorite film character of all time portrayed by my favorite actor of all time. What I have to say more.

EXT DAY: CEMETERY (1955)
The great Don Corleones funeral is the beginning of the very final. I love how the tension is build again here. It seems once again like in the start so dark and gritty because of barsini taking the funeral to his own and Michael only looking there like the most badass ever. It bubbles inside him and the watcher knows there has to come something oh hell. And then TESSIO comes to Michael and wants to arrange the meeting and everything seems to be like the great don vito corleone has sadi.

CONNIE holds the baby up to MICHAEL.

CONNIE
Kiss your Godfather.

The grand finale. You have to put this film to an ending that makes it worth? No problem. All twists are highlighting in its very ending. And that with the greatest style ever for a godfather as a godfather. The changing of the church scenes with the dialogues and the Happenings at the same time are everything. The Music the tension all highlights in the finale and Michael with his masterplan revenge everything. I just love the finale its too dramatic and great to be true.

MICHAEL
(quietly)
Barzini is dead. So is Philip
Tattaglia, so are Strachi, Cuneo
and Moe Greene...I want to square
all the family accounts tonight.
So don't tell me you're innocent;
admit what you did.

CARLO is silent; he wants to talk but is terrified.

Hehe and thats the revenge for the mother.. who is responsible for SONNY. Ice cold! Even when his sister is married to that man Michael doesnt care. Absolute badass!! Absolutely epic.

KAY
Is it true?

She looks directly into his eyes, he returns the look, so
directly that we know he will tell the truth.

MICHAEL
(after a very long pause)
No.

WOW! This scene is the true finale I think. Absolutely stunning that he turned into the person he would never wanted to be. To lie to his wife just for business. And his look. Oh hell Al Pacino this was your greatest perfomance. The change from the smile and happy boy in the start to the absolute badass DON is with Travis Bickle and Vito Corleone in both parts for me the greatest character study ever. Acting at its very best which you will probably never see as good again.

CLEMENZA takes MICHAEL's hand, kissing it.

CLEMENZA
Don Corleone...

The smile fades from KAY's face, as she looks at what her
husband has become.
And after that this complete end scene. The look of KAY speaks volumes and there is nothing to do about it. ABSOLUTE GREATNESS! Without any doubt one of the greatest scenes of all time. Then Nino Rotas legendary music begins and the greatest film of all time have come to the end but gladly we have the second greatest film ever made as the sequel.

Ok thats it. Thats my detailed review of my favorite film of all time. All in all I have to say that Im so happy to finally seen this on the big screen which was one of the most amazing experiences ever. If you have the chance to watch it in cinemas then do it thats the hopefully the offer you cant refuse because this is cinema history, acting at its absolutely maximum, a screenplay you could die for, a music score for the ages and no matter what my favorite film of all time!