Take the Cannoli

On Friday night I did the coolest thing I've ever done in the city. I talked Marky Mark and Maria into going to Film Forum with me to see The Godfather. I was a film major, so you can see why this would be such a momentous occasion for me. I've heard the talk about it being a classic, a masterpiece, a must see, and I was a little bit afraid it wouldn't live up to my expectations (as is the case with most every thing that I get super-excited for).


It was amazing! I don't know how I made it thru school as a film major having never seen it! It truly is a classic. The cinematography! The editing! The direction! The acting (Al Pacino, James Caan--I didn't realize it was them til halfway thru the picture, and didn't realize it was Diane Keaton til the credits rolled!)! The music! Everything was perfect.

And to get to experience it for the first time not on a tv by myself sitting on my couch but in a picture-house with a full audience! One of my dreams is to build a time machine (or use someone else's) and get to travel back to experience Star Wars and other great classics for the first time on the big screen. I can't believe that I got to experience that with The Godfather!

Do you know how many classic quotes have come from this picture? "Leave the gun, take the cannolis", "Take it to the mattresses", "I made him an offer he couldn't refuse", "Sleep with the fishes". Plus classic scenes and sequences--the opening wedding sequence, Don Corleone with the cat, Michael coming out of the restaurant bathroom, the horses head in the bed, the christening scene. It's just an amazing picture (back in the day they used to call movies pictures; I think it's kinda cool).

I had a film teacher once who said that a good film is marked by at least three great scenes and no bad ones; this film has not one bad scene. This film was made in 1972 and it's ten times better than a lot of stuff that comes out now with supposedly better technology. I love that it was shot on film, that the scenes don't look perfectly lighted and slick, and that the blood and gore looks tame (and that's a good thing) when compared with The Departed and other recent gangster films. I could go on an on about this film and how amazing it is, but will stop film-nerding out and say that it has changed my entire outlook on movies, and will direct you to Roger Ebert's review, because he has a way of explaining things better than me, especially about the cinematography and actors and is a film critic I truly respect.


I clapped at the end of the movie. It was such an amazing experience that I can't wait to get to see Part II later this week. I hear it's better than the first one...