It may be old but it's still beautiful
So, last night, I watched The Godfather. It's been a while. Last time I saw it was in Godfather Trilogy format where everything's chronological and frankly, that feels lacking. The Di Niro stuff should be in Godfather II (which I intend to also watch this week).
On its own, The Godfather is a truly great movie. It lacks subtitling in places (which left me doing simultaneous translation for my g/f) but if you're not hastily translating, that actually adds to it. The era of the late 40's is great but it's not so much even the story or acting that make this film as the pace. The whole film has a beautiful inevitability about it but nothing is actually rushed except in a couple of places where the characters are meant to be on the edge of panic and this is echoed in the cinematography perfectly, unsettling the viewer and raising sympathy despite the acts which are carried out.
Take the example of the infamous "horse's head" scene. We open with a shot of a California villa, we hear birdsong, the sun is shining, we pan slowly toward the side of the house, we close up on an upper window, we cut to the sleeping form of Jack Woltz, he wakes, he notices something wrong, he blearily tries to figure out what, looks at his blood covered hand and only then throws back the covers. It's not a shock, it's a dance.
The various disposals of enemies during the long Latin christening service are similarly slow, methodical, precise. Steps and countersteps.
I strongly advise a rewatch of The Godfather and yes, enjoy the story and the acting; as always, you simply cannot take your eyes off Marlon Brando if he's in shot which is truly the mark of a screen legend, but especially, watch it for the direction. Coppola deserves every credit he got for this film; the direction is truly genius.