The Godfather Write Up

Justin Noddle

Period 6

Godfather Write-Up

The Godfather is a 175 minute long movie that was made in 1972. It is a mob-film directed by Francis Ford Coppola based on the novel, The Godfather. This movie had a budget of $6.5 million and was made in both English and Italian. Two sequels follows this movie. The Godfather received Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

1.     Why does the opening scene of the movie have such a strong impact for the film?

The movie opens with music playing and as it slowly fades out, a voice begins to speak. At this point the screen is still black. This creates a sense of curiosity and anxiety for the viewer. Slowly, the blackness fades out and the camera is shooting an extreme close-up on the man. The camera slowly fades out as this man tells his story. However, he is not looking at this camera. This lets the audience know that he is not speaking to the viewer, but he is speaking to someone else. He is very upset because he is telling his child’s story. As the scene continues to zoom out, the godfather appears and it becomes apparent that the man is telling the story to the godfather and asking for a favor. This was a bold introduction to this movie.

2.     What are some of the ironic hints that the director uses?

The man asks for “justice.” When the man says justice, he really means revenge. The term justice in this case is used as murder. Murder is quite the opposite from just. “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.”  This is what the Godfather responds with. This sounds like something an advertiser would pitch, but we all know that is means a murder threat. As they say, murderers mean business. In this film, the murderers and all of the criminals would always meet up with each other wearing suits. They were very proper. Even when discussing murder and killing people, they all seemed so happy as if it was completely harmless.