CHAPTER 16: THE HOME MEDIA EXPERIENCE
Ron Dassa (owner, Laser Blazer): The Godfather was always a huge seller on LaserDisc. There sure was a lot complaining every time a new version came out! My guess is they probably waited for the third movie to come out before they finally put the film in its proper aspect ratio. At least every time it came out there was a slight upgrade with picture and sound… from CX encoding to digital audio to ultimately AC-3 audio.
Harlan Lebo: I own them all—VHS, Beta, LaserDisc, three different versions on DVD (or is it four?), and [by the time you are reading this I will have bought the 4K version]. I needed to see the early versions for writing the original version of my book in 1996, bought some of the others while working on my revised edition, and received others as gifts. And of course, I couldn't resist the most recent versions! [That said,] I think all films originally made for the screen are better when viewed in a movie theater. The Godfather is especially good in the theater because you can better see the eyes of the characters, which is critical to trying to interpret what they are thinking. Especially Michael; Pacino’s eyes in the first two films are a master class in film acting.
Chris Chiarella: We had a stretch in my family when we would watch at least a chunk of I and II every damned day on rented VHS, and some days we would watch all of I and II in a single day. One of my favorite memories from all of the 80s was when a bunch of my New Jersey crew got together at a friend’s house on a Sunday afternoon, ordered some pizzas and watched the Godfather Epic boxed set (three VHS cassettes). Pre-streaming binge!
Lee Pfeiffer: One thing I would stress to anyone who has only seen it on TV and that is they haven’t seen it at all. I’m always amazed at how many people will benignly sit through a commercial TV telecast of a classic movie and not be bothered by the fact that it’s interrupted for ads and butchered for content. AMC is the worst. They manipulate the end credits and squeeze them into a tiny box so you can see ads. When they show The Godfather, this desecration begins the minute the door closes in Kay’s face in the final scene. It’s then supposed to go to the powerful musical score as the end credits roll. In its uncut format, it’s an enormously emotional experience but on AMC, it’s a shameless presentation of the movie to the most undemanding viewers imaginable. So, to reiterate, if you’ve only seen the film on TV, do yourself a favor and spring for streaming or, better yet, a video set that includes all those great extras about how the movie was made.
Bill Hunt (founder/editor-in-chief, The Digital Bits): One of the most extraordinary things about The Godfather—especially for those whose first exposure was on analog VHS or Laserdisc—is that the film gets better every time you see it. No matter how many viewings you’ve experienced, each new restoration and release—on DVD, then Blu-ray, and finally 4K Ultra HD—is like seeing the film for the very first time again. There are details you notice as if with fresh eyes, and moments that draw you in more deeply than ever before. Very few films have that kind of enduring power.
CHAPTER 17: THE RESTORATION
Robert A. Harris (restoration producer, The Godfather [2007 restoration], Lawrence of Arabia, My Fair Lady): I believed that the initial intent of the studio was to follow everything that we had done to create the 2007 restorations. To simply take the new scans and reproduce the color, densities, black and white levels—and original grain structure as intended by Gordon Willis. I contributed my cooperation, research, notes, et al. In the final analysis, what was created and approved, is a re-imagining, and the studio has every right to do that. Regardless of everything, looking at either of the restorations, the incomparable quality of Mr. Coppola’s film shines through it all.
Alison Martino: [Earlier this year] The Godfather screened at the Academy Museum in honor of the 50th anniversary [and which included a Q&A with Francis Ford Coppola and Talia Shire]. This was my first time in the David Geffen Theater and I was completely knocked out by this new restored 4K master. I can’t even begin to understand how they made it look that way! I noticed things I had never seen before. The details were so vibrant I could see Moe Greene’s suit was actually made of corduroy and I could see the fibers on Dad’s powder blue linen suit. Their faces were so clear it felt like they were standing directly in front of us. Even Michael’s black eye never looked so painful.
Larry Karaszewski: No one can talk about film like Francis Ford Coppola. The crowd at the Academy Museum [anniversary screening] could have listened to another three hours of Godfather lore! And the new digital restoration is stunning—I’ve never seen it look this good.
Chris Chiarella: I was fortunate enough to catch the new 4K restoration up on the big screen during its recent one-week return engagement, at my local Dolby Cinema. (I loved every second of it!!!) One of the things that really strikes me is the evolving love affair with Gordon Willis' cinematography; they manage to make it look better and better with each new format.
CHAPTER 18: THE SEQUELS
Jon Lewis: The Godfather Part II is more complex and sophisticated; in some ways a better film. The Godfather Part III is not as good as I and II but it is still a really good gangster film.
Harlan Lebo: The Godfather Part II is a film masterpiece, a superbly-told story and work of art. But it is also hugely tragic and difficult to watch; the Part I is much more interesting to view. Part III is a fine film (in a vacuum), but is frustrating to watch, knowing that Coppola could have had any terms he wanted, yet he chose to make some disastrous creative decisions that haunted him for years. The revised Part III is better, but still not up to the quality of the first two films.
Lee Pfeiffer: I believe The Godfather Part II is even more impressive. Coppola could have done a crappy, for-the-bucks quickie follow-up. But this isn’t the equivalent of an ill-conceived Jaws sequel. Part II is brilliantly scripted and seems to have inspired Coppola even more than the first film. Given the fact that Brando backed out of appearing in it at the last minute, Coppola had to cope with plenty of other logistical problems. But it’s as close to a perfect movie as you can find. As for The Godfather Part III, as a critic said at the time, “One of them had to be third-best.” That’s the way I refer to the movie—not as the worst, but as the third best because there’s plenty of admirable aspects to it and Coppola has improved it further with his recent recut of the movie.
Robert Casillo: Rather than being imaginatively exhausted by his work on The Godfather Coppola was inspired to work again with Puzo on Godfather II, which was released two years later. This film achieves a much vaster historical and geographical scope in contrasting ironically the criminal careers of Don Vito Corleone and his son Michael while at the same time encompassing in its total narrative the migration of the Mafia (and Italian Americans) from Sicily to New York and ultimately Las Vegas. Although the film has mainly to do with the Mafia rather than with Italian Americans generally, it is if only indirectly a comment on the economic and social progress of Italian Americans since the period of immigration and their increasing acquisition of political influence and even power. To the extent that Godfather II brilliantly succeeds in tackling a broader and more demanding subject than its predecessor, it may be regarded as the greater film, although its greatness hinges very much on what precedes. But as for Godfather III, released sixteen years later, by this point Coppola and Puzo had ceased to be inspired by the Corleones, coming up with a lackluster finale to the trilogy, and Coppola had lost his way as an artist. Why? Godfather III was a major disappointment, and, since the Godfather series finally took the form of a trilogy, that is, a unitary work in three parts, its presence can only weaken the ensemble. I prefer to treat the first two installments together and separately from the unspeakable third.
Sergio Angelini: The Godfather Part II is an exceptional work, brilliantly structured as a dialectical rumination on the previous film’s themes and characters as well as a dark but clear-headed reaction to its huge popularity. Coppola here creates a work that is just as seductive as the first while at the same time forcing audiences to face up to the way the first film romanticized the Mafia. To me the first two films are truly indivisible, enhancing and commenting on each other—a near-perfect 370-minute cinema experience. The latest iteration of the third part is now, it seems to me, rightly defined by Coppola as a coda to the previous two. It is a fine but lesser work overall, though the focus on Michael and his daughter and its tragic finale do add genuine substance to the entire saga.
Raymond Benson: I feel The Godfather Part II is an even better movie than The Godfather. It goes deeper into the characters and history of the Mafia, and its bigger budget allowed for more attention to detail in the settings and scope of the film. Its back-and-forth cross-cutting from the late 1950s back to the turn of the century in Little Italy, comparing young Vito’s rise to power with Michael’s downfall, is brilliant. Robert De Niro is also absolutely stunning as young Vito. I could wax poetic about all the other performances in Part II, too, including Pacino’s, but that’s another essay!
Daniel Waters (screenwriter, Heathers, Batman Returns): I’m here to tell you…don’t do it. I succumbed to the temptation years after resisting the temptation and the world, if possible, is a little worse…though clawing through my tears of shame and horror, I cried to the sky “Maybe I can help others…give them strength…” Do not re-watch Godfather III. It’s so much more awful than you even remember. No, even Andy Garcia is terrible. “Now Dan, the first two Godfathers are probably the best movies ever made, we shouldn’t be so hard on the third one for not being up to—“ Shut up! Stop thinking like that! Walk away!
Raymond Benson: I feel Part III is unfairly maligned. After all, it was good enough to be nominated for the Best Picture and Director Oscars. It isn’t the masterpiece that the first two are, but I do think it’s a compelling movie. Poor Sofia Coppola also gets a bad rap, mostly from people who don’t know what they’re talking about when it comes to acting. She delivers a very honest, believable, and realistic performance. I think she’s just fine. It was made even better with Coppola’s recent re-editing to create it as Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone.
Daniel Waters: The Coda recut is a weeeee better. It still takes Eli Wallach an entire fucking opera to eat that poisoned cannoli!
Harlan Lebo: Long ago, I had hoped that Part III would have been the story of Vito Corleone from 1921, when the De Niro segments end in Part II, up to 1945, when Part I begins. in 1990, De Niro would have been the perfect age for it. Oh well.
