Why You Should See 'The Godfather' and 'Part II' If You're In Nashville

posted by Gareth Higgins

There are many reasons to see ‘The Godfather’ and its first sequel (I’m a somewhat defender of the third one, but let’s not get into an argument on a Monday).

1: They are terrific stories, of a family’s rise and downfall, a metaphor for the dehumanising effects of what we often call capitalism, and how to make meatball marinara.

2: They feature some of the most compelling – as in you don’t want to look away from the screen – performances in cinema history: Brando, Pacino, Caan, Cazale, Shire, Duvall, Vigoda, Gazzo, De Niro, Hayden, and pretty much everyone else.

3: The music.

4: Coppola and Puzo’s scripts, which manage to make one bloke doing bad things and not realising it seem as epic as the European and Hollywood sword-and-sandal pics they would have been raised on.

5: The more I watch, the more I realise that I’ve been taken for a ride all these years of watching and re-watching the Corleone Saga: these are people who deal in the currency of evil – yet they are funny, and endearing, and even somehow attractive (not to mention the fact that they really know how to throw a great party).  It’s the genius of the film that it takes a while to remember that these characters who have maintained our interest for about seven hours between the first two films, do terrible things, and would just as quickly kill me as ask for my opinion.  They are films that become more troubling over time.

And there are hundreds of other reasons too.  But the main reason you should see ‘The Godfather’ and ‘The Godfather Part II’ at the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville is that they are screening in newly restored versions.  Not just cleaned up – but restored – which means that both Coppola and his cinematographer Gordon Willis have gone back to the source, guided by the sometimes controversial restoration magician Robert Harris, and endorse the prints now available as the best possible viewing experience these films can have (see the screen capture of the Paramount logo above for a taste of what you’re in for – and check out the comparison at DVD Beaver for more.) I’ve seen them on Blu-Ray and it’s not an overstatement to say that there is a vast difference between the browns and the blacks and the yellows on display now and the musty colours I grew up watching every time these movies were on TV.

See them if you have the chance – at the Belcourt this week, and still touring.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 2nd, 2009 at 3:30 am. It is filed under Belcourt Theatre, Blockbusters, Blog, Gareth Higgins, Gareth Higgins Reviews, Nashville, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.