The Godfather Parts I and II

Hey everyone,

Over the last week, I watched these movies which are undisputed classics. This isn't the first time that I've watched these installments of the Godfather series. However, the difference was that, this time, I watched the commentaries for both movies. Coppola who directed both movies discussed the process which was very different for each movie. The first Godfather was terrible for him because he was a young director who they hired to make a small movie. At this time, the novel was not nearly as popular as it would become. At first, they wanted a contemporary movie with hippies and all, but, eventually, a closer adaptation of the novel would be created where the main story occurs in the late 1940s. Once the production began, Coppola would have to answer to executives constantly who he thought was going to fire him. They claimed that the scenes were not as good as they should have been and also claimed spending and casting issues. Marlon Brando and Al Pacino were two supposed errors. As you know, they would prove to be some of the best casting decisions. As a final blow, the studio wanted the movie to last less than two hours and fifteen minutes. Coppola's first version was two hours and forty-fve minutes, but he cut it down to two hours twenty minutes. Upon viewing this version, Bob Evans, a producer, would side with Coppola and tell him to add the material which had been removed. This would save the movie and prove to be the best decision made by the studio. The movie, of course, moved on to be a monumental success and even earned three Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

On the second movie, Coppola would have complete control from the studio. He would also receive a large paycheck as well as a piece of the ticket sales. Coppola would win three Oscars for producing, writing, and directing. Coppola described the production as smooth and much less stressful. While there is an argument about which movie is better, the second film is, at the very least, an equal in every sense. These two movies are considered to be a couple of the best films ever made filling two of the top three spots on imdb.com's list of 100 top rated movies. They also both made AFI's list of 100 greatest movies, and, if you haven't seen them, you are really missing out.