>>You never know how lucky you might get flipping channels out of boredom. I turned on the TV an hour ago and stumbled across "The Godfather" on AMC as part of their #MobWeek, whatever prompted that. The DVR is faithfully watching it downstairs. It is a movie I have watched probably half a dozen times, but not in a while. It is coming through with full power. Marlon Brando is amazing. His portrayal of Vito Corleone is a cultural icon, often imitated but never exceeded. (Loraine Newman in an encounter group skit on Saturday Night Live many years ago: "Vito, you're blocking!") I am not qualified to judge actors and actresses, or the relative importance of their roles, but I feel pretty confident saying this one is in the pantheon. Well worth rewatching.
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>Mike, yes. This one is on most Top Ten film lists.
>For some, it has replaced Citizen Kane as #1.
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>I'd put it at #2 behind Casablanca.
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>Coppola - a nut job but a bona fide genius - had a hand in 3 movies that are top 10 contenders- The Godfather, Apocalypse Now and Patton, where he wrote the screenplay.
>Another of his movies - The Black Stallion - has some flaws but it's still one of my favorite DVD's.
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>It took me a few viewings to "get" Apocalypse Now, but it was worth the effort. It's a masterpiece.
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>Coppola and Mario Puzo wrote the screenplay for The Godfather and it's one of those rare instances where the movie is actually better than the book, which for me was the best US novel written during the 60's.
>For some extra fun, pick up the novel. I recently finished my umpteenth re-reading.
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>A few years ago my kids gave me a boxed DVD set of all 3 Godfather movies, and I'm continually chasing them to get them back.
>My teen grandsons love that movie.
>When we visit my daughter in Long Island, we try to get to the Jones Beach toll booths, where they nailed Sonny.

I mostly agree with you up and down the line. The exception is the book version of The Godfather. IMO it was what I would charitably call entertaining trash. My favorite moment, which made a big impression on a 15 or 16 year old, which was how old I was when I read it: Sonny's girlfriend saying he had turned her insides into macaroni that had been boiled for an hour. His death scene was violent but beautiful.

The Luca Brasi character made it into the movie intact. "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes."