THE GODFATHER DVD COLLECTION

By: SCOTT COLLURA
Date: Saturday, October 13, 2001

Francis Ford Coppola not only led his generation of young, new filmmakers who revived the form in the early '70s, he has also made, in the course of his uneven career, some of the greatest American films ever. Now, Paramount Home Video has released two such films, THE GODFATHER and THE GODFATHER PART II, along with the less successful THE GODFATHER PART III, in a superb box set that reminds us what DVD is really all about. Any fan of the films and I can't think of anyone who's seen these movies and not become a fan knows that THE GODFATHER pictures are the kind of movies that you come back to time and again, and never tire of. That said, the DVD format was seemingly made for such films, and Paramount has done a great job with this extensive set.

It all started with 1972's THE GODFATHER, based on the popular Mafioso-themed novel by Mario Puzo. Both the book and Coppola's film (which Puzo co-wrote with the director) brought a legitimacy to the gangster image, as well as the gangster film. The two weave the tale Don Corleone and his family, a complicated saga akin to a Greek myth or the dynasties of royal families like the Caesars, helped shape the public's perception of the underworld as a group of honor-bound, if ruthless, people who commit their crimes and murders for the sake of their families or "The Family." Gone were the cigar-chomping stereotypes of a James Cagney or Paul Muni, and in their place we were given the pensive, brilliant Michael Corleone and the warm, fatherly Vito. This transformation of the stereotype continues to this day with projects such as the hugely popular THE SOPRANOS.

Coppola achieves this trick early in the first film, with the perfectly staged wedding scene where the audience is introduced to the large cast of characters. The young Michael (Al Pacino) has returned from World War II and attends his sister Connie's (Talia Shire) wedding, with his WASPy girlfriend Kay (Diane Keaton) in tow. The Corleones are of Sicilian descent, a fact that Michael for all his college-educated, man-of-the-world wisdom clearly considers as a point of pride. He is, perhaps, less proud of the family business: his father, Vito (Marlon Brando), is the "Godfather," head of a vast mafia crime family in New York. Hot-tempered older brother Sonny (James Caan) is Vito's heir apparent, while foster brother and family lawyer Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) is "consigliore" (counsel) to Vito. Then there's Fredo (John Cazale), the warm-hearted, if dim-witted, fourth Corleone brother.

I could go on, for the extended GODFATHER clan is practically endless. Even after innumerable viewings, it is difficult to catalogue all the family members, associates, bad guys, wives, mistresses, children, business partners and so on who make up the mythology. But it is to Coppola and Puzo's credit that despite the risk of information overload for the audience, they are able to draw their viewers in with that opening scene. From there, the high craft of the film serves to highlight the compelling story: masterful period piece details, textured cinematography by Gordon Willis, unforgettable performance after unforgettable performance, iconic music, labyrinthine plot, and so on.

As the center of all three films, Michael starts off as a straight shooter who shuns the family business. But when his father is nearly killed in an assassination attempt, Michael finds his true calling. With nerves of steel, and a cunning willfulness that is matched only by his potential for bloodthirstiness, the youngest Corleone son saves his father from a second attack, and then seeks vengeance on the assassins in one of the most memorable scenes in the entire series. After Sonny is gunned down in a hail of machine-gun fire (inspired by BONNIE AND CLYDE), Michael assumes the role of Don as his father eases into retirement. But is Michael really following in his father's footsteps, or has he taken the family to a new, darker level?

This question is one of the chief themes of the second film, THE GODFATHER PART II (1974), which Coppola reluctantly at first turned to after the huge success of the original. This film is even more ambitious than its predecessor in that it depicts not just the saga of Michael and his family, but also offers the story of the early life of his father Vito, as played by Robert De Niro. The two stories are told concurrently, as Coppola gives us a half of hour Michael here, then cuts to a half hour of Vito there, and back again all while the two tales follow a similar thematic throughline.

After an intense prologue that

explains how the boy Vito wound up an orphan in New York City, PART II introduces its wide cast of characters through another family party scene, a la the first film's wedding. This time it's Michael's son's First Communion, on Lake Tahoe, where the Corleone family and business has moved. Familiar faces are present: an increasingly angry Connie who believes (rightfully so) that Michael had her husband killed years before; brother Fredo, who is growing impatient with his lack of responsibility in the family; and Kay, whose love for her husband is disappearing as quickly as the man's humanity. But Michael is too focused on his business problems to realize what his iron-fisted rule is doing to his family. Associates Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg) and Frankie Pentangeli (Michael V. Gazzo) are not to be trusted (even though they offer two of the most vivid characterizations of the entire series), and a planned business deal in Havana is doomed by Castro's rebellion there.

While Michael is inscrutable, apparently spiraling into an inescapable descent of evil in order to "protect" his family, the young Vito's story offers an intriguing parallel. As a poor immigrant, Vito will do anything to provide for his family in turn-of-the-century New York. Eventually, this impulse leads to a life of petty crime, which inevitably evolves into bigger and bigger things before resulting in murder. But while the young Vito is ruthless, his motivation is to take care of his growing family. Michael, in a sort of generational decay that seems to be the gist of the films, perverts that goal to the point that he actually takes to murdering family members in order to save the larger whole. It's a vicious circle.

The film is the rare example of a sequel that actually equals and possibly surpasses its predecessor in quality. Again, the photography of Gordon Willis is remarkable, offering warm tones for the young Vito scenes that are reminiscent of photographs from the era, while contrasting the "modern" scenes with a harsh use of light and shadow. De Niro is impeccable in his realization of the young Vito, taking Brando's performance as a starting point and working from there, just as Pacino's Michael completes his transformation here into one of the creepiest, most enigmatic characters in film history. Coppola embraces the strongest aspects of the original with this film such as the now-clichéd crosscutting climax, as Michael consolidates his power and dispatches his enemies but also forges new paths and character arcs that further enrich both the story and the technical qualities of the film.

Such high praise would not come as easily for THE GODFATHER PART III (1990), a film that Coppola resisted making for many years. Finally, due to financial problems, the director agreed to return to the Corleone fold, though the result would be a mixed bag that received a lukewarm critical and popular response upon release.

It's now the late '70s, and Michael is an old man who has clearly succeeded in expanding the family's wealth and power. In fact, the Corleones are almost legitimate now, as Michael receives an honorary award from the Pope himself for his good works! But as that most famous line from the series says, "Just when I thought that I was out, they pull me back in!" For all his attempts at abandoning the old ways, Michael's Mafioso roots won't let him go he only learns that no matter how high into the power structure of the world he climbs, evil men and corruption await him throughout.

Some familiar faces return in this film, including Michael's now estranged wife Kay and his sister Connie (who is now the matron of the family), but many of the others who helped make the original films so memorable  are at this point either dead or not present. Duvall's Tom Hagen, in particular, is sorely missed, and the new generation of Corleones generally aren't as appealing or talented as the actors who preceded them. Andy Garcia is adequate as the bastard son of Sonny who is destined to replace Michael, but the inexperienced and oft-maligned Sofia Coppola (daughter of Francis) really doesn't belong in a film of this stature, and other figures such as Eli Wallach's Don Altobello just don't have the same appeal as a Hyman Roth or a Sollozzo "The Turk."

The film is also different in tone than its predecessors in that it is not about Michael's downfall as much as it depicts his attempts to redeem himself for past sins. It's also a tragedy, since ultimately we all know that the man is too far gone for redemption. In fact, Coppola wanted to call the film THE DEATH OF MICHAEL CORLEONE, but Paramount resisted that dark moniker. Still, it would have been appropriate, since PART III is much more as the director explains in his commentary on these discs an epilogue to the first two films rather than a chapter in and of itself. As such, this is a movie that was perhaps doomed from the start. For while it is handsome to look at and intriguing in its own right, it does not embrace the concepts of the first two and as such is a different beast altogether.

Regardless, the entire

trilogy is featured on the first four discs in this five-disc box set (PART II is stretched over two discs). Paramount has done the films proud with widescreen anamorphic transfers and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound audio mixes. If this level of quality is the reason why Paramount has been a bit slow on the take to fully embrace the DVD revolution, then I'm willing to wait however long it takes to produce such product. There have been some complaints that the quality of these transfers are not up to expectations, but I found them to be fine and I suspect only the true AV geeks out there will have complaints.

Each film offers an audio commentary by Coppola, and by and large these are very rewarding tracks. The director offers insight into the making of the films that only he can, describing the turmoil he was suffering on the first film (and how he was almost fired on it), the reluctance he had to make a second picture, and how it was purely for financial reasons that he got involved in the third. GODFATHER fans will enjoy these commentaries, which are fairly thorough and always intelligent.

As for the fifth disc in the set, it is a voluminous collection of bonus materials that starts with THE GODFATHER FAMILY: A LOOK INSIDE, a 73-minute documentary that was made around the time that the third film was released, but covers in fairly thorough detail the entire series (though the second film receives the least attention and the third the most). There are lots of interviews from main players here (circa 1991), but Coppola himself, though prevalent throughout the doc, is the least interesting since he repeats here many of the anecdotes heard in his audio commentaries (even if the documentary was filmed a decade before the commentaries were recorded). Of most interest in this segment are the abundance of filmed rehearsal footage and some screen tests.

"On Location" features the production designer of all three films, Dean Tavoularis, returning to the Lower East Side of modern day Manhattan for a look at the exterior street locations used in the films (particularly the De Niro scenes of early New York in PART II). This seven-minute segment also contains some black and white footage of the crew modifying the locations to match them to the period settings of the films. A real treat, especially for a New Yorker like myself who knows those streets firsthand.

"Francis Coppola's Notebook" is a sort of film student's wet dream, as the director sits down with his eponymous notebook which he used as a virtual bible while making the first film. He pasted each page of Puzo's novel into a huge loose-leaf binder, and marked the thing with notes, underlinings, and scribblings while preparing his movie. This is a unique look into the working methods of Coppola, and it's just too bad that it doesn't run 10 hours as opposed to its mere 10 minutes.

"Music of THE GODFATHER" is made up of two segments, one a five-minute audio recording (accompanied by clips and stills) of composer Nino Rota working with Coppola on his music. The second is a three-minute piece featuring the director's father, Carmine, who also collaborated on the music of all three films. "Coppola and Puzo on Screenwriting" offers eight minutes of interviews with the two authors of the films, and more archival footage of the two working together. Again, this is an interesting segment that one only wishes could have run longer. Also, tidbits regarding a possible fourth film are offered up here.

The master DP responsible for the photography of the three films is discussed and interviewed in the three-minute "Gordon Willis on Cinematography." Next, we have storyboards from PART II and animatic storyboards from PART III, though these are only from select scenes from the films. "THE GODFATHER Behind The Scenes 1971" clocks in at about nine minutes, and while it offers even more on-set clips and interviews, the overall result is that of a rather stilted studio promotional piece of the time (which is exactly what it was).

The exhaustive extra features continue with the "Additional Scenes / Chronology" section, wherein almost an hour of extra footage from all three films is presented in chronological order (story-wise). GODFATHER fans will recognize much of this material from Coppola's TV cut of the combined first two films, THE COMPLETE EPIC.

"The Family Tree" section is quite[IMG4R] cool. Obviously, it's a tree tracing the Corleone line from Vito's parents all the way to Michael's kids. The viewer can click on each section and enlarge it, thus leading to more specific details such as Sonny's immediate brood, or Tom Hagen's, and so on. Click on a specific name, and a bio of the character is brought up, as well as one for the actor (or actors) who played the role. Filmmaker bios are also found in a separate section on the disc (you can also select a particular talent's name from within their bio and be brought directly to video clips about the person elsewhere on the disc).

We're not done yet. Photo galleries (including a rogue's gallery) and trailers are also included, as is a section called "Acclaim and Response," which provides a text list of all the Oscar nominations and awards the films received, as well as actual select clips of acceptance speeches by Coppola and others from the awards shows themselves. These are a kick, if only for the sight of the outlandish '70s styles on display. This section also offers a brief introduction by Coppola to the original 1974 network television airing of the show, which is interesting in that it indicates how sensitive TV audiences of the time were to violence and mature subject matter.

Finally, there are also a few Easter Eggs to be found on this disc, including a James Caan screen test, an amusing SOPRANOS clip wherein the gang is watching a "bootleg" version of THE GODFATHER on disc, and an even funnier montage of clips from the films dubbed in various foreign languages.

It's truly an exhaustive, and exhausting, collection. And it's well deserved, as THE GODFATHER films have been among the most eagerly anticipated DVDs since the format launched. Fans have finally gotten what they've been waiting for in fact, the only thing missing is the cannolies.

THE GODFATHER DVD COLLECTION

Movie Grades: A+ / A+ / B     Disc Grade: A

Reviewed Format: DVD

Rated: R

Stars: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, Talia Shire, John Cazale, Andy Garcia, Sofia Coppola

Writers: Francis Ford Coppola, Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's novel

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Distributor: Paramount Home Video

Original Years of Release: 1972 / 1974 / 1990

Suggested Retail Price: $105.98

Extras: five-disc box set; widescreen anamorphic; Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound; audio commentaries; THE GODFATHER FAMILY: A LOOK INSIDE documentary; "On Location," "Francis Coppola's Notebook," "Music of THE GODFATHER," "Coppola and Puzo on Screenwriting," "Gordon Willis on Cinematography" and "THE GODFATHER Behind The Scenes 1971" featurettes; storyboards; additional scenes and chronology; "The Family Tree" character and actor bios; filmmaker bios; photo galleries; trailers; text list of GODFATHER Oscar nominations and awards; clips from awards shows acceptance speeches; 1974 network television intro by Coppola; Easter Eggs; French mono language track; English and French subtitles