1972: The Godfather

Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone; Note the ever present puppet strings in the logo

“I never wanted this for you. I work my whole life, I don’t apologize, to take care of my family. And I refused to be a fool dancing on the strings held by all of those big shots. That’s my life, I don’t apologize for that. But I always thought when it was your time, that you would be the one to hold the strings.” – Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), The Godfather (also explaining The Godfather’s ever present and otherwise random logo with the marionette strings)

What really needs to be said about The Godfather?

1972’s Best Picture is one of the most celebrated and famous movies of all time. It’s a complex and nuanced movie that weaves together family drama and crime thriller, all while offering social commentary on the American dream and 20^th century society. It’s filled with magnificent performances, led by the often imitated Marlon Brando as the mumble-mouthed Mafioso don who deep down is a family man trying to provide a better life for his children.

Don Vito Corleone (Second from left) and his three sons, Sonny (James Caan), Michael (Al Pacino) and Fredo (John Cazale)

The Godfather begins in 1945. Don Vito Corleone (Brando) is the head of a powerful crime family. He has four children, including oldest, quick tempered Sonny (James Caan), and youngest, Michael (Al Pacino), plus surrogate son and family lawyer Tom (Robert Duvall). Michael is a returning war hero who is disdainful of his family’s illegal and violent life. When Vito resists urges from other crime families to begin running drugs, an attempt is made on his life and the rest of the family (both personal and professional) are put in jeopardy. Michael, angered by his father’s shooting, retaliates by killing the mastermind behind attempt, The Turk, plus the Turk’s bodyguard cop. Michael must flee to Italy to escape prosecution. Vito, recovered but badly weakened, gives control of the family to Sonny, who in turn is killed. Vito manages to broker a peace between the families so Michael can return to the US. Michael reunites with his girlfriend Kay (Diane Keaton), lying to her that the family is going legitimate, all while taking over his father’s operations and plotting revenge.

Don Corleone is finally shown respect from someone asking for a “favor” in the Godfather’s opening scene

The Godfather is filled with incredible, iconic moments. Much like Casablanca 30 years earlier, the movie opens with a very long set piece (in this case Vito’s daughter’s wedding), that establishes all the principal characters, their relationships to each other and their motivations. The movie opens with a long, single take of an Undertaker, disingenuously asking Vito for help in taking revenge against two men who had attacked the former’s daughter. The Godfather is insulted by the request, since the Undertaker has continuously shown little respect for Vito or his lofty position, until now, when he needs a “dirty deed” taken care of. Vito finally agrees to do so in exchange for a favor. We understand the Godfather’s place as a highly-feared outsider who we still count on to fulfill our darkest desires, and Vito’s own desire to belong to the society that shuns him.

The Godfather is probably most famous for Brando’s performance. What’s surprising when watching the film is that Vito is probably in only half the movie.  Aside from a few standout scenes, Vito is recovering from gunshot wounds for a long period of time. But he’s such a strong presence when he’s in the film that he is what stands out most. He is always impeccably polite, almost a kindly grandfather with some peculiar verbal ticks, but he still radiates an air of danger when scolding his children for showing disrespect. The scene where he calmly negotiates peace between the families, while still subtly promising to reign down holy hell if something should happen to Michael is a personal favorite.

One of the few scenes between Pacino and Brando

More than Vito, the movie is about Michael’s descent into the corrupt and dark world of the family business. At the movie’s start, he is openly scornful of his family, telling Kay how much their actions disgust him (he’s even late to his own sister’s wedding!). By the end of the movie, he’s shut Kay out of his world after having all his enemies brutally killed (in the film’s famous closing show, the door is literally closed on a distraught Kay as she realizes Michael is the Godfather now). I really enjoyed the few scenes between Vito and Michael, both because they come from two tremendous actors, but also on the themes they convey: the relationship between a father and son and two businessmen immersed in their trade.

I of course would be remiss in not mentioning the (in)famous horse’s head sequence

It is hard to realize now just how much The Godfather has influenced crime movies that have come since. We all have a short-hand understanding of organized crime’s inner workings, hierarchy and codes of honor, thanks in large part to the Godfather’s influence. The French Connection created the template for police procedurals and The Godfather created a similar template for crime movies. Whereas The French Connection put the spotlight on the chaos of maintaining law and order, so does The Godfather show the rules behind organized crime.

Trivia: One of my favorite pieces of Oscar trivia revolves around The Godfather. When Marlon Brando won the Best Actor award, he declined it, citing Hollywood’s racist depiction of Native Americans, as well as an ongoing conflict between Native Americans and the US government over the former’s treatment. To accept the award, he sent Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather, dressed in traditional Apache garb.

Yep.

Other Oscars: Best Actor (Marlon Brando); Best Adapted Screenplay

Box Office: $133.7 Million (First for the year)

Other notable films of 1972: Cabaret*; Deliverance*; The Emigrants*; Sounder*; The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Notable to Mr. Robot fans, at least); The Poseidon Adventure; What’s Up Doc? ; Conquest of the Planet of the Apes; Play It Again, Sam; Blacula; 1776; Behind the Green Door

*Best Picture Nominee

1954: On the Waterfront

“I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it,” – Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando), On the Waterfront.

Holy poop – what a poster! It looks like a dime pulp novel from the 30s and Johnny Friendly is an eyeless demon.

If Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet is considered the pinnacle of Classic Hollywood/stage acting, the emergence of Marlon Brando and the “Method” actors blew everything people considered “good” acting away just a few short years later. This new style of more naturalistic, less histrionic acting is epitomized in 1954’s Best Picture On the Waterfront. Although this movie has garnered some controversy in later years, taken at face value On the Waterfront is a fantastic movie with a tour de force performance by Marlon Brando that includes one of the single most quoted scenes in movie history (at least from a scene that’s not in Casablanca).

The taxicab scene between Charley (left) and Terry is one of the most famous in film history.

Terry Malloy (Brando) is a dim-bulb dockworker and former boxer on the titular waterfront. Terry is a gentle soul (he raises pigeons, just like Mike Tyson, another former boxer!), but his brother, Charley (Rod Steiger) is the right hand man to corrupt union president Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb). Johnny terrorizes the dockworkers, stealing from their paychecks and withholding work if they go against him. As the movie opens, Charley and Johnny use an unwitting Terry to lure Joey, another dockworker, to his death because Joey was going to testify against Johnny. Terry feels guilty about his minor role in Joey’s death, especially after meeting Joey’s sister Edie (Eva Marie Saint), who he falls in love with.

Terry is subpoenaed by investigators regarding Joey’s death and Friendly’s corrupt activities in general. Father Barry (Karl Malden) a good-heartened, one-of-the-boys’ priests, tries to convince Terry that testifying is the right thing to do. Charley tries to convince Terry to keep quiet, but fails, leading to Charley’s own murder. Terry finally testifies against Friendly. At first, the dockworkers turn their backs on Terry, but when he refuses to back down, even after a vicious beating from Friendly’s thugs, the men gain respect for him.

Lee J. Cobb as Johnny Friendly. He may be an SOB, but he’s a pretty smooth operator in his own right.

I loved pretty much everything about this movie. It’s a simple but effective story (man struggles with conscience) filled with rich characters. Sweet, simple Terry is a great character, a tough guy with a heart of gold who finally learns to respect himself enough to do the right thing, even if nobody else does. Even though we mostly think of Marlon Brando as a mushy-mouthed weirdo today, he was rightfully considered a great actor (and sex symbol!) in the 1950s who changed acting with his more natural, nuanced and semi-improvised performances.

The movie starts out rather slowly – much of the first house sets up Terry’s conflict and establishes his budding romance with Edie. But this part is devoted to character-work so that we understand everyone’s motivation and grow to care about Terry, who could come off as an unlikeable dunce without the establishment of his softer personality. The movie becomes not just about a man wrestling with his conscience, but about Terry’s struggles to earn and deserve Edie’s love.

And then there is the taxi cab scene. A scene so great that the On the Waterfront DVD includes a 25 minute documentary about it (five times longer than the actual scene itself). In the scene, Charley confronts Terry about his subpoena and basically attempts to strong-arm him into not testifying. But Terry, instead of reacting with rage, is hurt by the betrayal and lets spill a torrent of pent-up disgust and blame at his brother for convincing him to throw his boxing matches and give up a chance at a better life beyond the waterfront (hence this essay’s opening quote). The two men give an amazing, tear-jerking performance as brothers torn apart by greed.

 

Another famous scene among Method acting scholars (Methodists?) is this one where Brando inexplicably tries on Eva Marie Saint’s dropped glove. It does not have the emotional impact of the taxi scene.

In a vacuum, On the Waterfront is a great movie, period. However, over the years, it has gained something of a negative reputation. Its director, Elia Kazan testified against men in Hollywood who had belonged to the Communist Party, basically getting those he named blackballed from the industry (the infamous Blacklist). Although Kazan denied it, many see this movie as his answer to those who criticized his testimony, since the moral quandary that sets the movie in motion is whether or not Terry should testify. Some also claim the movie is anti-union, since the dockworkers union is blatantly corrupt, but that’s not really the case. Many times, the men state they want to be a “legit, up-and-up” union and Father Barry says that no other union in the country would stand for such practices. In this regard, the movie is not anti-union, but more anti-mafia, a pretty commonly held sentiment (at least until 1972, when we’ll see Mr. Brando again).

Whatever the personal motivations of the filmmakers, I cannot help but hold On the Waterfront in the highest regard. I was surprised at how much is really moved and entertained me. This is definitely a high point in the history of the Best Picture award.

Trivia: On the Waterfront won 8 Oscars, tying the record (at the time) with Gone With the Wind and the previous year’s From Here to Eternity (Starting a movie with a preposition is a good way to win Oscars, apparently). Cobb, Malden and Steiger were all nominated for Best Supporting Actor – and none of the three won!

Other Oscars: Elia Kazan, Best Director; Marlon Brando, Best Actor; Best Story and Screenplay; Eva Marie Saint, Best Supporting Actress; Best Art Direction/Set Direction (Black and White); Best Cinematography (Black and White); Best Film Editing

Box Office: $4.5 Million (Tied for 14^th place)

Other Notable Films of 1954: White Christmas$; The Caine Mutiny*; The Country Girl*; Seven Brides for Seven Brothers* ; Three Coins in the Fountain*; 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; Rear Window; Dial M For Murder; The Barefoot Contessa; A Star is Born; Sabrina;

$: Top Grossing Picture of the Year ($30 Million)

*Best Picture Nominee