The Godfather (1972) Review: Why Coppola's Crime Epic Still Reigns Supreme

Is The Godfather worth watching?

Yes — The Godfather is not just worth watching, it is close to required viewing for anyone serious about film. Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 adaptation of Mario Puzo’s novel carries a 98% Critic Score, a 98% Audience Score, a rare perfect 100 Metascore, 4.5 stars on Letterboxd, and a 9.2 on IMDb — one of the most consistently acclaimed sets of numbers of any film in the Celluloid catalog. Those ratings have barely moved in five decades, which tells you something a single review cannot: this is a film that every new generation rediscovers and ranks at the top.

What is The Godfather about?

The Godfather follows the Corleone crime family across the years just after World War II as its aging patriarch reluctantly hands power to his youngest, most unlikely son. Marlon Brando plays Vito Corleone, the soft-spoken, iron-willed Don who built a New York empire on loyalty, favors, and violence. When Vito refuses to move his family into the narcotics trade and is nearly assassinated for it, the war-hero outsider of the family — Michael, played by Al Pacino — is pulled into the business he swore he would never join. What begins as a promise to protect his father becomes, scene by scene, Michael’s transformation into a colder and more ruthless Don than Vito ever was.

Adapted by Coppola and Puzo from Puzo’s 1969 bestseller, the story works on two levels at once: an intimate family drama about fathers and sons, and a sweeping parable about how American power actually operates behind its respectable face.

Why is The Godfather considered one of the greatest films ever made?

It fuses flawless craft with a theme that outgrows its genre — the mafia becomes a mirror for capitalism, immigration, and the price of the American dream. Three elements in particular lift it above ordinary crime cinema:

• Gordon Willis’s cinematography. Nicknamed “the Prince of Darkness” for this film, Willis lit the Corleone interiors in deep amber shadow, often hiding characters’ eyes, so that power and menace live in what you cannot quite see. It was radical in 1972 and it still looks like nothing else.
• Nino Rota’s score. The mournful trumpet theme and the “Love Theme” are among the most recognizable pieces of music in film history, giving the violence an operatic, tragic weight.
• The screenplay’s patience. The film trusts long, quiet scenes — a wedding, a hospital visit, a dinner-table conversation — to build dread, then detonates it in bursts of shocking violence. The famous restaurant killing and the baptism-massacre finale are studied in film schools precisely because the tension is earned, not manufactured.

Coppola turns a pulp bestseller into a study of loyalty, succession, and moral erosion. That is why it endures long after most crime thrillers are forgotten.

How are the performances in The Godfather?

The Godfather features one of the deepest ensembles ever assembled, anchored by Marlon Brando’s Vito and Al Pacino’s career-defining arc as Michael. Brando’s Don — jowls stuffed with cotton, voice a raspy whisper — became instantly iconic and won him the Best Actor Oscar (which he famously declined). But the film truly belongs to Pacino, whose Michael barely raises his voice and yet travels the whole moral distance from decorated Marine to murderer. Around them, James Caan brings hot-tempered menace as Sonny, Robert Duvall grounds the family as consigliere Tom Hagen, John Cazale haunts the edges as the weak brother Fredo, and Diane Keaton plays Kay, the outsider who watches Michael’s soul close like a door in the film’s unforgettable final shot.

What awards did The Godfather win?

The Godfather won three Academy Awards — Best Picture, Best Actor for Brando, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Coppola and Puzo — from 11 nominations. It was nominated for Best Director and earned three separate Best Supporting Actor nods (Pacino, Caan, and Duvall). Beyond the Oscars, the American Film Institute has repeatedly ranked it among the two or three greatest American films ever made, and it was among the first titles selected for preservation in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry. Its sequel, The Godfather Part II (1974), went on to win Best Picture as well — the only time an original and its sequel have both taken the top prize.

Is The Godfather good for first-time viewers today?

Yes — despite its 175-minute runtime, The Godfather remains remarkably accessible to modern audiences. It is slower and quieter than a contemporary crime thriller, but it is never dull; the deliberate pacing is what makes its explosions of violence land. New viewers are often surprised by how much of the film’s language they already know — “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse,” the horse’s head, “Leave the gun, take the cannoli” — because it has been quoted, parodied, and referenced for generations. Watching it for the first time feels less like homework and more like finally seeing the original behind a thousand imitations.

How does The Godfather compare to The Godfather Part II?

The two films are routinely ranked side by side as the greatest crime saga in cinema, with the original favored for its emotional clarity and the sequel for its structural ambition. Part II deepens the story by cross-cutting between young Vito’s rise in early-20th-century New York and Michael’s cold consolidation of power in the 1950s. Many critics consider the sequel the more sophisticated film, but the 1972 original is the more perfect one — tighter, warmer, and the essential starting point. Watch this first; the sequel rewards you afterward.

Where can I watch The Godfather?

The Godfather is a catalog staple that rotates across major streaming and digital-rental platforms, and it frequently returns to cinemas for anniversary revivals. Availability varies by region, so check the streaming services and digital storefronts in your country, or look out for restored 4K theatrical screenings, which are the ideal way to experience Gordon Willis’s photography on a big screen. The film is indexed on IMDb (tt0068646), and its full cast, runtime, trailer, and five-source Celluloid Score breakdown are available here on NewMoviesReviews.com. If you love it, continue with The Godfather Part II and explore more of the best crime films in our catalog.