The Observer's review of The Godfather in 1972

MakeEmLaugh

Picked up a slim, novelty book about film that was given away with The Observer in a charity shop. Despite being quite insubstantial, it had many interesting reviews of films published at the time of their release. Among the most interesting was Tom Milne's review of The Godfather, which, though not damning, was hardly glowing either. Here's the review:

The first words you hear in The Godfather ring like an oath of allegiance to Uncle Sam. 'I believe in America,' declares a dapper little Italian, paterfamilias to the tips of his starched collar and mournful moustache, 'America has made my fortune.' But the all-American boys who beat up his daughter have got off scot-free: will Don Corleone, the Godfather, please take steps to grant him the justice he has been denied? ...

[Mario] Puzo's whole paradoxical point is compromised by the mishandling of the opening sequence. When the suppliant offers to pay whatever justice will cost, Don Corleone (a striking performance by Brando, though he seemed in imminent danger of spitting out the cottonwood padding from his cheeks) haughtily demands respect rather than money, and purrs approvingly the moment his hand is kissed. At which point... the audience at the Press show quite rightly giggled. They should have been awed by a man able to command respect by his mere presence.

The film therefore operates on a much more simple level than the novel, and is at its best when it functions simply as a gangster movie, at its worst when it belatedly tries to capitalise on those Puzo ironies. Fortunately such stylistic lapses are rare, and for the most part The Godfather lumbers forward as serenely and impressively as a steamroller, not only tempering its violence with frequent intrudes of celebration and ceremonial, but carefully orchestrating that violence to a pitch where the final, horrific holocaust seems like an inevitable flashpoint.

Coppola has fashioned a fine, glossily packaged piece of computerised entertainment, never lesss than smooth and occasionally... almost brilliant.

Tom Milne, 27 August 1972

What do people think? Do you have a favourite piece of film criticism published upon a film's release?

e_e

Many of the Siskel & Ebert reviews.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uehfL60EA4

Siskel gave thumbs down to Taxi Driver too, but came around a few years later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD2RhWCJkWk