Top Ten Greatest Films of All Time: #1

This is it! After thorough planning and deliberation, I bring my list of the Greatest Films Ever to a close. I am confident that my number one movie is one you can’t refuse.

The Godfather was released in 1972 and was adapted from Mario Puzo’s novel of the same name. The now legendary director Francis Ford Coppola took on this task and created a motion picture unlike any other. It won Best Picture that year along with two more Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay and best Actor for the immortal Marlon Brando.

Al Pacino, Robert Duvall and James Caan were all nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Coppola earned a nomination for Best Director. It’s three wins and eleven nominations are not even close to the most ever but if I went off accolades movies as insufferable as Titanic and Gone With the Wind would top this list.

However, the nominations it received for acting were spot on. Never before have I seen a cast of actors challenge one another and gel together to carry the story along. The nearly three hour film goes without a dull moment because of the charisma of Al Pacino who should have received his first win from the Academy. Brando gives a great performance as usual and was deserving of the award, but it’s Pacino who steals the show.

The Godfather was the first movie to tackle the issues of organized crime families. The story line depicts the lives of individual members of the Corleone family and how various members either reject or accept the families distinction as the largest crime syndicate on the East Coast.

Coppola’s magnum opus is similar to a Greek tragedy. The story of resisting destiny and ultimately succumbing to fate is popular throughout literature and film and no movie does it better than The Godfather. 

Using silence instead of filling scenes with uneven dialogue and not sparing any of the gruesome details from the audience only enhance the film. The Godfather has everything a movie goer could ask for: suspense, mystery, violence, romance, revenge and deceit paint a picture that everyone can enjoy.

Don’t let the long run time and dated premise dissuade you from experiencing the tales of the Corleone family. With all that considered, The Godfather truly is the Greatest Film of All Time.