This is not only grand entertainment, but an emotional and intellectual experience to rival any in cinema.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 12, 2024

This magnificent multigenerational mafia drama represents a benchmark not just in crime movies but in American cinema as a whole.

| Aug 16, 2023

Now half a century old, Francis Ford Coppola's revered New Hollywood masterpiece has one of the best-known final shots in film history - but it almost had a much more Catholic ending.

| Apr 8, 2022

Skepticism of American exceptionalism is far more commonplace now than it was when The Godfather was first released. But the fragility of the American Dream was revealing itself as the illusion it had always truly been.

| Mar 19, 2022

The Godfather films have set home-video standards for decades, and that trend continues with Paramounts astonishing 4K restorations.

| Mar 18, 2022

As the doomy burnish of Gordon Willis’s photography captures the darkened souls of the Corleones, the effect is flat-out mesmeric.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Feb 24, 2022

The Godfather is the most memorable, most influential, most quoted, most beloved, most discussed, most imitated, most revered and most entertaining American movie ever made.

| Feb 23, 2022

There is simply not a character introduced or exchange of words or looks that doesn't inform or add.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Feb 10, 2022

The Godfather shows that there is still life in the massive production engineering which made Hollywood studios the wonder of the entertainment world in their great days.

| May 27, 2021

The supporting cast is a marvel, including Diane Keaton as Pacino's bewildered fiancee, Robert Duvall as Brando's second-in-command, James Caan as Pacino's headstrong brother, [and] Al Martino in a role patterned after Frank Sinatra.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 6, 2021

Despite Brando's limited screen time, his presence overpowers the film. Yet it's Pacino's performance, as the idealistic war hero turned ruthless crime lord that takes on new meaning the second time around.

| Apr 6, 2021

Maybe the secret of Brando's power is that he, like maybe a handful of others, understands fully what stillness and repose and tentativeness mean in terms of impact on film.

| Mar 29, 2021

A three-hour film that thunders by like it was only 90 minutes. Truly, a milestone film.

| Mar 29, 2021

The Godfather becomes an instant classic among the superflicks.

| Mar 29, 2021

The effective mingling of innocence and corruption here raises this moving, adult film above the level of the ordinary gangland thriller. Its three hours of well-acted, well-written and fascinating drama constitute an original and intriguing film.

| Mar 29, 2021

Practically everything has been done right in this version of Mario Puzo's best-selling novel about the Mafia. The picture hews to a strong narrative line that keeps an audience looking forward eagerly to what will happen next.

| Mar 29, 2021

Even though in point of footage it is not the major role, Brando dominates the film and the shadow of his inflexible power pervades those many sections of the film when other characters are examined.

| Mar 29, 2021

The Godfather is an epic gangster movie adapted from the raw materials of Mario Puzo's best-seller about the Mafia and probably the best of its kind ever made.

| Mar 29, 2021

In sum, The Godfather is blessed with top production values, is certain to be a powerhouse boxoffice draw, spotlights a terrific performance by Pacino... and brings Brando back to his plateau of excellence.

| Mar 29, 2021

It's a bloody good story, or a good bloody story and you can't take that away from it. Puzo's book hasn't half its artifice and style.

| Mar 29, 2021