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1、1教父 The Godfather review by ROGER EBERTWeknow from Gay Taleses book Honor Thy Father that being a professional mobster isnt all sunshine and roses.More often, its the boredom of stuffy rooms and a bad diet of carry-out food, punctuated by brief, terrible bursts of violence. This is exactly the feel

2、of The Godfather, which brushes aside the flashy glamour ofthe traditional gangster picture and gives us whats left: fierce tribal loyalties, deadly little neighborhood quarrels in Brooklyn, and a formof vengeance to match every affront.The remarkable thing about Mario Puzos novel was the way it see

3、med to be told from the inside out; he didnt give us a world of international intrigue, but a private club as constricted as the seventh grade.Everybody knew everybody else and had a pretty shrewd hunch what they were up to.The movie (based on a script labored over for some time by Puzo and thenfina

4、llygiven form,I suspect,by directorFrancisFord Coppola) gets thesame feel. We tendto identifywith Don Corleones family notbecause wedig gang wars, but because we have been with them from the beginning,watching them wait for battlewhile sittingat the kitchentableand eatingchow mein out of paper carto

5、ns.The Godfather himself is not even the central character in the drama. That position goes to the youngest, brightest son, Michael, who understands the nature of his fathers position while revising his old-fashioned ways. The Godfathers role in the family enterprise is described by his name; he sta

6、nds outside the next generation which will carry on and, hopefully, angle the family into legitimate enterprises.Those who have read the novel maybe surprised to find Michael at the center of the movie, instead of Don Corleone. In fact, this is simply an economical way for Coppola to get at the hear

7、t of the Puzo story, which dealt with the transfer of power within the family. Marlon Brando, who plays the Godfather as a shrewd, unbreakable old man, actually has the character lead in the movie; Al Pacino, with a brilliantly developed performance as Michael, is the lead.But Brandos performance is

8、 a skillful throwaway, even though it earned him an Academy Award for best actor. His voice is wheezy and whispery, and his physical movementsdeliberately lack precision; the effectis ofa man so accustomed to power that he no longer needs to remind others. Brando does look the part of old Don Corleo

9、ne, mostly because of acting and partly because of the makeup, although he seems to have stuffed a little too much cotton into his jowls, making his lower face immobile.The restof the actorssupplyone example afteranotherof inspiredcasting.Although The Godfatherisa long,minutelydetailedmovie ofsome t

10、hreehours, there naturally isnt time to go into the backgrounds andidentities of such characters as Clemenza, the family lieutenant; JackWoltz, the movie czar; Luca Brasi, the loyal professional killer;McCluskey, the crooked cop; and the rest. Coppola and producer Al Ruddyskirt this problem with und

11、erstated typecasting. As the Irish cop, forexample, they simply slide in Sterling Hayden and let the character goabout his business. Richard Castellano is an unshakable Clemenza. JohnMarleymakesa perfectlyhatefulHollywood mogul (and,yes,he stillwakesup to find hell have to cancel his day at the race

12、s).The success of The Godfather as a novel was largely due to a series ofunforgettablescenes.Puzo is a good storyteller,butno greatshakes asa writer. The movie gives almost everything in the novel except thegynecologicalrepairjob.Itdoesntmiss a singlekilling;itopens withthe wedding of Don Corleonesd

13、aughter (and attendant upstairsactivity);and there are the right number of auto bombs, double crosses, andgarrotings.Coppola has founda styleand a visuallookforallthismaterialso TheGodfather becomes something of a rarity: a really good movie squeezedfrom a bestseller.The decisiontoshoot everythingin

14、perioddecor(themiddleand late1940s) was crucial;iftheydtriedtosave moneyas theyoriginally planned, by bringing everything up-to-date, the movie simplywouldnt have worked. But its uncannily successful as a period piece,filled with sleek, bulging limousines and postwar fedoras. Coppola andhis cinemato

15、grapher,Gordon Willis,also do some interestingthingswiththe color photography. The earlier scenes have a reddish-brown tint,slightlyoverexposedand feelinglikenothingso much as a 1946 newspaperrotogravure supplement.Although the movie is three hours long, it absorbs us so effectively itnever has to h

16、urry. There is something in the measured passage of timeas Don Corleonehands over his reinsofpower that would have madea shorter,faster moving film unseemly. Even at this length, there are charactersin relationshipsyou cant quiteunderstandunlessyouve read thenovel.Or perhaps you can, just by the way

17、 the characters look at each other.2教父 The GodfatherTwenty-fiveyears hindsightwasntnecessary toprove thebrillianceandauthority of The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppolas classic epic ofa Mafia family in America.It was clear,even when themovie opened in1972, thatCoppola had createda landmark in American

18、 cinema. It remains the high point of his career.What we couldntsee thenwas how wide thefilmsinfluencewould spread.Theres barely a gangster movie, a family epic or a movie about ItalianAmericans that doesnt inevitably use The Godfather as a frame ofreference. Its more than a standard-bearer for crit

19、ics and filmmakers- its a monument.Today, as the Castro Theatre launches a two-week revival of TheGodfather in a new 35mm print with a digitally enhanced stereosoundtrack,itsfascinatingto considerthe directions that Coppola andhis actors have taken inthe quarter-century sincethey made themovie,which

20、 was based on Mario Puzos best-seller.TOUGH TO MATCHFor Coppola, the struggle to match The Godfathers achievement hasrendered mixed results. He was only 31 when he was signed to direct The Godfather, and had only a handful of features to his credit: thecoming-of-age comedy Youre a Big Boy Now, the m

21、usical Finians Rainbow, the bleak character study The Rain People.Based on that work, no one could have anticipated the confidence and depth he would bring to The Godfather, or to its first sequel two years later, Godfather II. (Does anyone remember that Coppola invented the use of Roman numerals in

22、 movie sequels?)Trying to equal that success and find new projects as large as his imagination and ego would bring Coppola repeatedly to near-disaster. Apocalypse Now became a 16-month location shoot from hell and nearly killed him, One From the Heart wiped him out financially and TheCotton Club was

23、 as empty as it was flashy.To recover, Coppola became a hired gun and delivered The Outsiders, Rumble Fish and Peggy Sue Got Married. He made the conventional Tucker: The Manand His Dream, the overblown Bram Stokers Dracula and most recently the embarrassing Jack. But even as he lost hismomentum and

24、 self-assurance, it was impossible to dismiss him - or to stop hoping he would recapture The Godfather magic.For his actors The Godfather was also a benchmark. Marlon Brando revived a slumbering career with his masterful, Oscar-winning icon Don Vito Corleone - but thereafter become lazy and disdainful of his profession.CHALLENGE FOR PA