# What makes "The Godfather" a great film? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 10, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-the-godfather-a-great-film/542707 "2010-06-10T21:38:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-the-godfather-a-great-film/542707/61 "2010-06-12T23:03:57Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I don’t understand **Evil Captor’s** rather simplistic (and factually incorrect) denouncing of this film. _Hamlet_ is about a guy who is a murderer. _Oedipus_ is a guy who kills his dad and sleeps with his mom. _Paradise Lost_ is about Satan. All of these characters, just like the Corleones, get what’s coming to them. > > I mean… so what that the film is about bad people? We know that going in. It’s like complaining that the film _Downfall_ is about Nazis. :rolleyes: > > The fact that EC repeatedly calls the films a hagiography shows that s/he completely missed the point. Or it shows that EC has a different viewpoint than you do. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-the-godfather-a-great-film/542707/62 "2010-06-12T23:28:36Z")
OK… but none of us are denying that the film is about gangsters, or that they are morally reprehensible. However, that’s all you’re bringing to this discussion. Like I said - it’s simplistic, especially when repeated. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-the-godfather-a-great-film/542707/63 "2010-06-13T00:03:38Z")
It’s also a film about immigrants and the story of immigrants in America. It’s one of the few really popular films about an ethnic family. The Sopranos also featured and ethnic main character, but Tony wasn’t an immigrant. Here is the opening dialog of the movie. Notice the opening line: > [@](#): > > Bonasera: I believe in America. America has made my fortune. And I raised my daughter in the American fashion. I gave her freedom but I taught her never to dishonor her family. She found a “boy friend,” not an Italian. She went to the movies with him. She stayed out late. I didn’t protest. Two months ago he took her for a drive, with another boy friend. They made her drink whiskey and then they tried to take advantage of her. She resisted. She kept her honor. So they beat her. Like an animal. When I went to the hospital her nose was broken. Her jaw was shattered, held together by wire. She couldn’t even weep because of the pain. But I wept. Why did I weep? She was the light of my life. A beautiful girl. Now she will never be beautiful again. > > [He breaks down at this point, and the Don gestures to his son to get him a drink] > > Bonasera: Sorry… > > [He regains his composure and carries on] > > Bonasera: I went to the police, like a good American. These two boys were brought to trial. The judge sentenced them to three years in prison, and suspended the sentence. Suspended sentence! They went free that very day! I stood in the courtroom like a fool, and those two bastards, they smiled at me. Then I said to my wife, “For justice, we must go to Don Corleone.” ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-the-godfather-a-great-film/542707/64 "2010-06-13T00:13:08Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Do you think that it insists upon itself? I saw the OP, spent 5 minutes looking for that clip, gave up, and saw that you made the joke in the third damn post. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-the-godfather-a-great-film/542707/65 "2010-06-13T15:44:58Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > I saw the OP, spent 5 minutes looking for that clip, gave up, and saw that you made the joke in the third damn post. [Here it is.](http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a141/chrisflorio1989/Movies/?action=view¤t=Peter-godfather.flv&sort=ascending) Possibly the greatest thing Family Guy has ever done. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-the-godfather-a-great-film/542707.md?page=3)