The Godfather - the most overrated film in history

Short and sweet, this one.

The Godfather. Good film, don't get me wrong. But a towering master piece as it's often described as? Worthy of topping so many polls of greatest films ever like it often does? Really the zenith of Pacino, Brando and Caan's careers as they often say it was?

Not for me. Too long-winded, not impressed with Pacino's performance, nowhere near as deep & meaningful as is often portrayed and largely overrated, for me.

This may well be controversial, but in my eyes Goodfellas eats it for breakfast. The Godfather falls in to the good rather than great category for me, despite me having seen it from start to finish three or four times.

Opinions?

Opinions, you’re wrong Chris, very wrong. Pacino is awesome in the film, he was in some run of form back then with this, Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico, far better than the hammy overacting he often lapses into now.

Struggle to see what is not to love about the Godfather, everything is in there, love, loyalty, family and the peerless John Cazales. If there is one criticism that could perhaps be leveled it is the film is perhaps not as good as the sequel which possesses slightly more morality than the first film.

In fact Chris will go further and say was it not for the fact you are a mod on boxing and rather good at it and one of the most knowledgable posters on our board I'd probably ban you for this.

Ha! I remember you've given me a dressing down for my opinions of The Godfather back on the old 606, Jeff!

There's stuff to applaud in the film, don't get me wrong. But when I first saw it as a fourteen year old after hearing about how amazing it was and how it touched so many people in so many different ways, I was so disappointed (naturally, I didn't tell any of my mates this, as the general trend amongst them all was that it was fantastic).

So I left it for a few years under the assumption that maybe I was too young and wet behind the ears to really appreciate the film's finer qualities. Have watched it another three times over since then, one of them as recently as last year, and again I just can't see how it's carved out such a place for itself in film history. Enjoyable yarn but not a great one, for me.

Appreciate that I'm in a seriously small minority for this, though!

Agree & disagree to an extent. I do think it falls into the Great category, as do Goodfellas & Miller's Crossing, but don't really see that it's one of the greatest films ever & I am surprised it tops so many polls.

Godfather 1...Very good film and a trailblazer........Beautifully crafted ........beautifully produced with engaging actors and a great score........good story well told....

However I'll agree that the second film is a little overrated.......bit drawn out and the too-ing and fro-ing wears a little thin like one of Rowley's rose tinted articles...Good film but considerd better than the original by critics which isn't so.

The Godfather is nothing more then romanticised crime. The mafia are a plague on any civilised nation but Italian mafiosi is seen as ''ok'' by the movie going public. No wonder the real mafia had a very heavy influence on this family movie.

Still great movie, well made and well acted.

That is much of the reason I prefer the second one onetwo, think it shows more the cost of the life of crime to Michael in him having to kill Fredo and lose his family as a consequence of his actions.

Chris is right tho. Goodfellas is a real portrail of criminal life. No sugarcoating rubbish about code and loyalty just in your face gangsta sh*t.

Has anyone seen Mean Streets? In the book Wise Guy which Goodfellas was based on Henry Hill mentions they dragged their boss (Paulie in the film) to the cinema to watch this film as it was pretty much their life on a day to day basis.

Has anyone read the book? I've only seen half of the film so can't really comment on that, but the book was very very good.

Yes, very overrated...but not as overrated as the Shawhank Redemption.

Wouldn't have been overrated If they'd combined the two..........

"I want to speak to the warden..there is a horse's head in my bed!!"

If we're talking over rated would have to say Schindlers List is pretty over rated, very sentimental and a bit over wraught for my taste.

Il Gialloblu wrote:Has anyone read the book? I've only seen half of the film so can't really comment on that, but the book was very very good.

I actually read the book first and was disappointed in the film & thought Brando was awful! Overrated? For me yes but the most overrated in history? No, not sure which film wins that award.

@chris
I think your age had a lot to do with it first time around & the recent times you watched it it probably seemed a bit dated. I remember watching the original Assault on Precinct 13 & thinking brilliant, I watched it about 10 years ago and was dissapointed, I found it boring & dated. Also I watched the original Cape Fear after hearing from my parents how it was much better, scary, not for me, remake much better. Scarface is another overrated film for me.

BLASPHEMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Chris - can't agree with you on this.

I consider The Godfather and - most unusually for a sequel - The Godfather II to be brilliant films. Incredibly high level of acting throughout both and not just from the big names. Several of the supporting players gave the performance of their lives.

Its his man love of Toney, Hopkins and sweet pea that has caused him to utter these words. Those three are dull as dishwater and can only be appreciated if you view their subtleties. Too much of this has led him unable to enjoy subtleties outside of boxing lest his brain explode.

It's one of those faustian pact things Shah, clearly knowing so much about boxing has meant he has to be completely clueless on every other subject.

Rowley wrote:It's one of those faustian pact things Shah, clearly knowing so much about boxing has meant he has to be completely clueless on every other subject.

I thought most of his work was plagiarism from Gordy but you live and learn

Just hoping he does not start on Die Hard shah, am a reasonable man but even I have limits.

Rowley wrote:Just hoping he does not start on Die Hard shah, am a reasonable man but even I have limits.

Agreed, although Rambo is more sacrosanct for me.

The Godfather is a good movie. But yes, it's kinda been completely ruined by the gross overrating of it. It seems to be the Beatles of the Movie world.

You have to say you love it, you have to say Pacino is the best, you have to talk non-stop about it and put it into every top ten list or you lose street cred amongst your peers.... who behind the scenes are probably saying privately to themselves that yeah, it's good but not exactly the greatest movie ever made.

It's become a habit to prop it up, an addiction. I personally find it formulaic, almost soapy in structure... some good scenes, some over-emoting, some theatrical brooding and I'm afraid the powerful performances were saved for Part 2

... and I mean two actors;
Michael V Gazzo as whiny weazel Pentangeli
... and the beautiully portrayed cold cool eye of believable evil, Lee Strasberg as Hyman Roth.

Oh, no, no, no.... hush now. Not overrated at all in my book. It, together with its sequel are among my favourite films. Intelligent, understated filmmaking that had the sense to stop and take a look around whilst telling its story. The 3rd is an atrocity.

Pacino hasn't been better than he was in the sequel and as Jeff mentions, it was during his golden period.

A film mentioned above that I think is overrated is, Scarface. Never been a huge fan of De Palma (Carlito's Way and the Untouchables aside) and Scarface is him at his overblown, superficial worst.

Ive enjoyed scarface less and less as I got older

Actually, given their place amongst critics and fans lists, I'd suggest that Citizen Cain and Vertigo are among the most overrated films of all times. Both fine films but neither represent their directors' best work.

superflyweight wrote:Oh, no, no, no.... hush now. Not overrated at all in my book. It, together with its sequel are among my favourite films. Intelligent, understated filmmaking that had the sense to stop and take a look around whilst telling its story. The 3rd is an atrocity.

Pacino hasn't been better than he was in the sequel and as Jeff mentions, it was during his golden period.

A film mentioned above that I think is overrated is, Scarface. Never been a huge fan of De Palma (Carlito's Way and the Untouchables aside) and Scarface is him at his overblown, superficial worst.

I never rated Scarface, first saw it when I was about 18 & have probably watched it with other people twice since and my opinion hasn't changed. I don't rate Al Pacino in it at all. Serpico & Donni Brasco are two films that spring to mind that I've really enjoyed him in & felt his performances were very good, more so Serpico.

Was it Al Pacino or De palma was at his overblown superficial worst? The film is probably them at their worst.

Not sure Pacino plumbs the same depths in Scarface that he later managed in Scent of a Woman (chips if she's from Glasgow by the way) and the Devil's Advocate. Still an over the top performance but I blame De Palma!

The film I always go back to when it comes to Pacino is probably one of his least known... Scarecrow, with Gene Hackman...which I knew quite a time before I knew about The Godfather for some strange reason... I'd probably seen it earler in the mid to late 70s.

And one of his more recent, though still old enough now, is The Insider.

When he's restrained and naturalistic he's very good. When he does his wild eyed histionic stuff and theatrical shouting flourishes... I kinda lose him completely.

Okay another controversal choice then for overrated film.

Wait for it, wait for it....... The Dark Knight.

Good... but I'm always suspicious of any Hero movie that gives the hero role to the guy who ain't the hero....

or in other words, Ledger owned the screen by directorial and script design, and the actual Dark Knight gets a very pale support role.

For once I'd like a director to have the courage to actually concentrate on that man called Batman rather than going off in cameo tangents and giving far too much screen time to the 'enemies.'

Keaton was a beautiful incarnation of the Batman and yet Burton just couldn't help himself indulge his big name stars. Nicholson had much too much to do and added garish colour to what should always be a shadow world of Batmoody complexity.

@ SecretFly - don't think that's being controversial, Dark Knight wins the Oscar for most overrated film ever & Heath Ledger for most overrated performance ever.

Galted wrote:@ SecretFly - don't think that's being controversial, Dark Knight wins the Oscar for most overrated film ever & Heath Ledger for most overrated performance ever.

Well, I do know many people who think his performance and the movie itself was the Second Coming. But glad to see there's two of us

I know, it boggles the mind.

Looks like it's kicked off since I last looked!

Knew I was going to be in the minority, especially if some of the boxing board regulars got hold of this one! Seriously though, if I was totally unaware of that The Godfather was and had no knowledge of how highly regarded it's always been, I'd still enjoy it as it is a good film, just can't get in to it the way others have.

Touching on some of the above, I don't think that Shawshank is overrated, more just overplayed. I've never seen Serpico as it goes, so it'll be interesting to see what I think having read some of the comments above.

There will be nary a bad word said about Die Hard, I promise Jeff.

@Chris

Serpico is a great film one of Pacino's best, if I had to recommend just one of his films to watch it would probably be that one. I've not seen it in a long time, track it down you won't be disappointed.

ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT EVERYONE SHUT UP!

Scarface is 1 of the greatest movies EVER made, Heath Ledger as the Joker was the single greatest performance in a drama/musical.

Gangs of New York is overly overrated.

Personally, I rate The Godfather to be in my top three, but then I can only go on what other films I've seen.

Godfather part 2 is always hailed as being one of the few sequels that is better than its predecessor but, for me, no chance. It's not a bad film but I just find it to be pretty boring and drawn out.

Godfather part 3, well, it's not really worth talking about, is it?

Godfather 3 suffers in comparison to 1 and 2. It is a good film in its own right, just not as good as the others.

Chris, you need to ban yourself.

The Godfather is an excellent film, as is the 2nd one. The 3rd one not so much but it is somewhat salvaged by Garcia's excellent portrayal of Vinnie Corleone.

88Chris05 wrote:Short and sweet, this one.

The Godfather. Good film, don't get me wrong. But a towering master piece as it's often described as? Worthy of topping so many polls of greatest films ever like it often does? Really the zenith of Pacino, Brando and Caan's careers as they often say it was?

Not for me. Too long-winded, not impressed with Pacino's performance, nowhere near as deep & meaningful as is often portrayed and largely overrated, for me.

This may well be controversial, but in my eyes Goodfellas eats it for breakfast. The Godfather falls in to the good rather than great category for me, despite me having seen it from start to finish three or four times.

Opinions?

I actually agree to an extent, I really do think The Godfather is a masterpiece, but I actually do prefer Goodfellas to it.

The last 30 minutes of Goddfellas lets it down. Mind you 148 mins is a bit long for me but the first 90 minutes is easily the strongest part of the film.
I feel the same about Once Upon a Time in America. Brilliant forst hour or so let down by the second half.

Wise guys always run out of their best lines as a movie goes on..and on.

"Hey, Mario!!!...I've run outtah lines here!!! What d'yeh want from me??? I'm just goin' to kill the guy straight this time, No fancy metaphors or nothin' - just whack him with a bullet this time instead of a cheesy anecdote about business bein' business."

Chris I'm with you 100% on this. Goodfellas is my all time favourite film (Casino comes close).

Diggers wrote:The last 30 minutes of Goddfellas lets it down. Mind you 148 mins is a bit long for me but the first 90 minutes is easily the strongest part of the film.
I feel the same about Once Upon a Time in America. Brilliant forst hour or so let down by the second half.

Now that is an epic film. But it is still a bit long. And I always got confused as to what happened to Woods' character before and after the attempted robbery.

mikey_philVIII wrote:

Diggers wrote:The last 30 minutes of Goddfellas lets it down. Mind you 148 mins is a bit long for me but the first 90 minutes is easily the strongest part of the film.
I feel the same about Once Upon a Time in America. Brilliant forst hour or so let down by the second half.

Now that is an epic film. But it is still a bit long. And I always got confused as to what happened to Woods' character before and after the attempted robbery.

Once Upon A Time In America is brilliant, apart from the last 45 minutes, which just drags and ruins the whole film. I couldn't wait for it to end by the end of it.