'The Godfather:' Movie 1

What a way to begin my 11 Movies to Watch Before 2011. I DVR'd The Godfather on AMC's "Thanksgiving With the Godfather." While they cut out a couple of choice words and one or two graphic images, according to my father, for the most part, everything was in there. My only other experience with Francis Ford Coppola thus far was Apocalypse Now. Both were great films, but between the two The Godfather is definitely my favorite. While Coppola's film was rather long, it proved to be worth the wait despite Marlon Brando's obnoxious voice (I said it).

Al Pacino made a beautiful transformation from innocent war veteran to head of the Corleone family. It was also nice to see Robert Duvall in a completely different role from Kilgore in Apocalypse Now.

QUICKIES

"Don Corleone, I am honored and grateful that you have invited me to your home on the wedding day of your daughter. And may their first child be a masculine child." Luca Brasi

"In Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns." Calo

"Hey, listen, I want somebody good — and I mean very good — to plant that gun. I don't want my brother coming out of that toilet with just his dick in his hands, alright?" Sonny

"My father is no different than any powerful man, any man with power, like a president or senator." Michael
"Do you know how naive you sound, Michael? Presidents and senators don't have men killed." Kay
"Oh. Who's being naive, Kay?" Michael

"That's my family Kay, that's not me." Michael

Fun Facts

Ernest Borgnine, Edward G. Robinson, Orson Welles, Danny Thomas, Richard Conte, Anthony Quinn and George C. Scott were considered by Paramount Pictures for the role of Vito Corleone.

The early buzz on the film was so positive that a sequel was planned before the film was finished filming.

Marlon Brando wanted to make Don Corleone "look "like a bulldog," so he stuffed his cheeks with cotton wool for the audition. For actual filming, he wore a mouthpiece made by a dentist; this appliance is on display in the American Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, New York.

During an early shot of the scene where Vito Corleone returns home and his people carry him up the stairs, Marlon Brando put weights under his body on the bed as a prank, to make it harder to lift him.

Marlon Brando did not memorize most of his lines and read from cue cards during most of the film.

The name of the traditional Sicilian hat (worn, for instance, by Michael's bodyguards) is "coppola."

Director Francis Ford Coppola worked with relatives in this film, (making it a family film in many contexts). In chronological order of appearance:
- his sister Talia Shore portrayed Connie Corleone throughout the trilogy
- his mother Italia Coppola serves as an extra in the restaurant meeting
- his father Carmine Coppola is the piano player in the Mattress sequence
- his sons Gian-Carlo Coppola and Roman Coppola can be seen as extras in the scene where Sonny beats up Carlo, and at the funeral
- and his daughter Sofia Coppola is the baby Michael Rizzi in the baptism (she was three weeks old at the time of shooting).

Don Vito Corleone's distinctive voice was based on real-life mobster Frank Costello. Marlon Brando had seen him on TV during the Kefauver hearings in 1951 and imitated his husky whisper in the film.

This was voted the "Greatest Film of All Time" by Entertainment Weekly.