The Godfather



Issa's baptism
with Ninang Maricon
and Ninang Chona

Godfathers and godmothers are supposedly our second parents, whenever something untoward (knock on wood!) happens to our real mom and dad. My children’s godparents are all of my sisters, a few of our relatives, and a few of our close friends. I am also a ninang to at least one of my sisters’ kids.

I’m just amazed at celebrities who have 50 pairs of godparents for their unica hijo or hija. Hmm..I wonder how much pakimkim and gifts the child receives every Christmas—may one hundred gifts na agad siya!!!

Movie Review:   The Godfather Trilogy

I can’t help but feature all the three Godfather films here because whenever I decide to watch one Godfather, I end up being immersed and embroiled emotionally in the Corleone family. For how could you not be addicted to the continuing saga of their lives? The clockwork precision of how the mafia clans operate, how loyalty in family and friends are put at the highest importance, and how they have to sacrifice personal happiness and beliefs for the sake of the family reputation make the Godfather Trilogy worth spending my whole rainy Saturday in front of my DVD.

The Godfather  (1972)

The story begins as "Don" Vito Corleone, the head of a New York Mafia "family", oversees his daughter's wedding. His beloved son Michael has just come home from the war, but does not intend to become part of his father's business. Through Michael's life the nature of the family business becomes clear. The business of the family is just like the head of the family, kind and benevolent to those who give respect, but given to ruthless violence whenever anything stands against the good of the family. Don Vito lives his life in the way of the old country, but times are changing and some don't want to follow the old ways and look out for community and "family". An up and coming rival of the Corleone family wants to start selling drugs in New York, and needs the Don's influence to further his plan. The clash of the Don's fading old world values and the new ways will demand a terrible price, especially from Michael, all for the sake of the family.

My Review:

The movie opens the clandestine Mafia world that no outsider has ever penetrated. I was intrigued by how everything is operated by word of honor, by impressions, by gut feelings. And I, as a viewer, am welcomed to ponder on how much of this is translated in real life.

Trivia:

Paramount senior management, dissatisfied with the early rushes, considered replacing Francis Ford Coppola with Elia Kazan with the hope that Kazan would be able to work with the notoriously difficult Marlon Brando. Brando announced that he would quit the film if Coppola was fired and the studio backed down.

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.

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

Though Coppola wanted to portray Italians authentically, he cast many actors in the Corleone family who were not Italian: Marlon Brando is of Dutch ancestry, James Caan is German and Jewish, and Abe Vigoda is Russian-Jewish. Nevertheless, he wanted someone with Sicilian looks to play Michael, which is why he fought for Al Pacino, despite a strong desire on Paramount's part to cast a "name" like Ryan O'Neal or Robert Redford - and Coppola's own concession that many Italians are blonde-haired and blue eyes, like Redford and O'Neal.

The presence of oranges in the Godfather trilogy indicates that a death-related event will soon occur (even though production designer Dean Tavoularis claimed the oranges were simply used to brighten up the darkly shot film).

The Godfather II (1974)

The continuing saga of the Corleone crime family tells the story of a young Vito Corleone growing up in Sicily and in 1910s New York; and follows Michael Corleone in the 1950s as he attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.

My Review:

The best of the Trilogy, in my opinion. Here, two stories were narrated seamlessly. The movie reveals the psychological rationale of how people can be changed from a quiet grocery clerk into a ruthless mafia don. If we are wondering why Michael did what he did, this movie provides the eye openener we need to understand the characters.

Trivia:

To prepare for his role, Robert De Niro lived in Sicily.

Filming was delayed for a month after Al Pacino developed pneumonia on location in Santo Domingo.

Francis Ford Coppola considered bringing Marlon Brando back to play Vito Corleone as a young man, convinced that he could play at any age. As he worked on the script, though, he remembered Robert De Niro's exceptional audition for The Godfather (1972) and cast him without offering the part to Brando.

The Godfather III (1990)

In the final instalment of the Godfather Trilogy, an aging Don Michael Corleone seeks to legitimize his crime family's interests and remove himself from the violent underworld but is kept back by the ambitions of the young. While he attempts to link the Corleone's finances with the Vatican, Michael must deal with the machinations of a hungrier gangster seeking to upset the existing Mafioso order and a young protoge's love affair with his daughter.

My Review:

I think this was the weakest Godfather movie of all since this was really not part of the original book. After a long wait of more than 15 years, Godfather III paled in comparison to the twists and plot of its two predecessors. Al Pacino was still superb, especially at his daughter's dying scene. Tom Hagen was sorely missed as the family lawyer.

Trivia:

Robert Duvall wanted $5 million to reprise his role as Tom Hagen. The studio turned him down and the part was recast and altered for George Hamilton to play the new character, lawyer B.J. Harrison. A line of dialogue was inserted that explained Hagen had died years before.

Al Pacino was offered $5 million but wanted $7 million plus profits from gross to reprise his role as Michael. Coppola refused, and threatened to rewrite the script by starting off with Michael's funeral sequence instead of the film's introduction. Pacino agreed to the $5-million offer.

Francis Ford Coppola said that in the final sequence, Michael's outcry was almost completely cut out due to its agonizing sound.

A Corleone brother dies in every 'Godfather' movie. Sonny is assassinated in The Godfather (1972), Fredo is murdered in The Godfather: Part II (1974), and Michael dies at the end of The Godfather: Part III (1990).
(www.imbd.com)