Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (1972) marked a transition in American film-making, and its success – as a work of art, as a creative 'property' exploited by its studio, Paramount Pictures; and as a model for aspiring auteurist film-makers – changed Hollywood forever.
Jon Lewis's study of The Godfather begins with a close look at the film's audacious visual style (the long, theatrical set pieces; the chiaroscuro lighting, the climactic montage paralleling a family baptism with a series of brutal murders). The analysis of visual style is paired with a discussion of the movie's principal themes: Vito and Michael's attempt to balance the obligations of business and family, their struggle with assimilation, the temptations and pitfalls of capitalist accumulation, and the larger drama of succession from father to son, from one generation to the next.
The textual analysis precedes a production history that views The Godfather as a singularly important film in Hollywood's dramatic box-office turnaround in the early 1970s. And then, finally, the book takes a long hard look at the gangster himself both on screen and off. Hollywood publicity attending the gangster film from its inception in the silent era to the present has endeavoured to dull the distinction between the real and movie gangster, insisting that each film has been culled from the day's sordid headlines. Looking at the drama on screen and the production history behind the scenes, Lewis uncovers a series of real gangster backstories, revealing, finally, how millions of dollars of mob money may well have funded the film in the first place, and how, as things played out, The Godfather saved Paramount Studios and the rest of Hollywood as well.
Arvustused
Combining narrative analysis and production history, this slender book reminds us why Francis Ford Coppola's first episode in The Godfather trilogy has been accorded the top spot in numerous polls of the greatest film of all time. -- The Independent ...the book most definitely provides readers with a wealth of detail and range of approaches which is surely what the BFI Film Classics series invariably does best. -- Scope This is a book for all who share the authors obvious love for the film, written as it is by someone whose deep knowledge of and insights into Coppolas masterpiece half a century on bring this classic film into sharper perspective. -- Media Education Journal * Liz Roberts * This book is a must-read for an efficient account of the entire films production. Jon Lewis wrote this book as a love letter to one of the most influential films of all time. He examines every aspect of its release, from pre-production and casting all the way through to post-production and release, creating a deeper understanding of The Godfather and offering anecdotes about its creation that readers cannot refuse. -- Dason Fuller * Film Matters *
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A study of Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 gangster epic The Godfather in the BFI Film Classics series
Acknowledgements
Foreword to the 2022 edition
1. Believe in America
2. I Believe in Hollywood
3. I Believe in the Mafia
Notes
Credits.
Jon Lewis is Professor in the Department of English at Oregon State University, USA. He is the author of a number of books, including American Film: A History (2008), Hollywood v. Hard-Core: How the Struggle Over Censorship Created the Modern Film Industry (2000) and Whom God Wishes to Destroy ... Francis Coppola and the New Hollywood (1995) and a study of The Godfather Part II in the BFI Film Classics series (forthcoming, BFI, 2022).
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