Money, murder, power, and loyalty, the epitome and basic essentials of any Mafia movie. Initially, when watching two of the most popular titles in this genre, Goodfellas and The Godfather, they may have similar themes, but in all truth, they are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum. While Goodfellas welcomes you to the family with a friendly smile and a voice-over, The Godfather makes you stand astray and watch in silence as an outsider.
Loyalty, the root of any mob family, something that Francis Coppola’s, The Godfather so strongly believes in, whereas Martin Scorsese’s, Goodfellas is more of a fend for yourself type of atmosphere. The Corleone family sets up loyalty as if it was a commandment. Whether it is staying loyal to one’s commitment or to the family.
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Goodfellas is a narrative, which enhances the viewer’s personal engagement and tends to draw the viewer into the movie, showing the viewer a sort of real, and uncensored life of an actual gangster, stripping away the sugarcoated mentality The Godfather portrays. The Godfather fails to bring you into the regal and almost fairy tale like family where they seem to romanticize being a gangster, although, the movies main story is about family itself and less about the Mafia. Through hearing Henry’s spoken words, the viewer watches each scene with Henry’s particular perspective. If there was no voice-over, the viewer would have to decide for themselves how to perceive to the images shown, which is what the viewer has to do while watching The Godfather. Although, the two films may fall under the same genre of crime and drama, The Godfather seems to aim for a more romanticized and epic gangster flick, where you watch from afar and have to observe every action of the main characters in silence. Goodfellas aims to show you the real sense of being a gangster in the later years of the century, as it portrays more gruesome and gory
1. Though the initial reviews were mixed, time has proven the firm’s popular appeal. More than twenty years after its release. Scarface continues to be a rental favorite, a standard campus feature, and a late-night TV standard. How can the notion of the general welfare be used to justify giving big bucks to the stars making the film: actor Al Pacino, director Brian De Palma, and writer Oliver Stone?
"The Godfather," shows a tremendous amount of family values throughout the film. I think the best line in the film is when Don says to Mike " A man who does not spend time with his family is not a man." A good example of the Corleone’s family value...
The Godfather franchise follows the Corleone family, particularly Michael Corleone and his rise to the patriarch of the family business. Initially, Michael had no interest in the business, but as his father—Vito Corleone, then-current Don of the family—was badly wounded following an assassination attempt by a rivaling mob, he felt the need to protect his father and represent his family. Though he took refuge in Sicily as the five most powerful of New York’s crime families—of which the Corleones were part—fought amongst each other, he became fully involved in the business upon his return to the U.S., planning with his father to avenge the death of his brother Sonny.
The gangster genre within films in America has accomplished numerous positive criticisms and constant willing audiences due to containing outstanding spectacles and mind-blowing action. The Godfather, being second on the IMDb Top 250 Movies, has set a new popular concept to life within the Mafia from their point of view. Doing so, creating a positive association. Yet within Italy, the same topic contains a complete different view. Movies such as I Cento Passi demonstrate unenthusiastic view by those whom are outside yet negatively affected by those members. Unlike American films, the gangsters are not as often viewed at the protagonist and are the main causes for the problematic events. But how different is Italian Mafia and American Mafia in cinema?
He didn’t go too much in detail, but I think he should have just so the reader can have a better understanding on how a gangster that is stereotype, but still manage to impact the viewers and become the “king of a city.” This gangster name Tony Montana was a cocaine trafficker from Cuba that came to the US trying to find a way to get financially stable. The movie started by showing him as a successful man, but no one knew how he was able to get that fame. That just made the watchers want to know how exactly he got to be that successful. They begin to understand that he was a cocaine trafficker, but that just made the viewer’s idolize him even more. That’s ironic because when it’s someone in a local city selling drugs, then they must be a bad person, or viewed as a wrongdoer. Come to find out, the beginning of the movie was really the ending. The scene they showed in the beginning was the same scene at the end of the movie. He had asked to be left alone and according to Robert, when left alone as a successful man in a gangster film you are about to be killed, but why? Is it just because he is a gangster? It’s not right that people think just because someone is a gangster and has money then he is destined to
The Godfather is most notably one of the most prolific films of its time. This "gangster" film displayed many transformations of permeating color to give the viewer observable cues in its mise en scene that drew one right into the movie. The dramatic acting set the tone of the film with a score that lifted the viewer right out of their seat in many scenes. The directing and cinematography made The Godfather ahead of its time. The nostalgic feel of family importance and the danger of revenge lets us into the life of the Mafia. Even though no other techniques would have given the viewer a feeling of inside the mob like the mise en scene of the power the godfather held, the characters are reinforced literally and figuratively because the story views the Mafia from the inside out, and the cinematography of the film gives it a dangerous and nostalgic feel.
Tommy gun shootouts, big cities full of crime, and a mob boss in a smoke filled room. These are all things that one might think of when referring to a gangster film. However, many fail to see the underlying traits that most of these “cold hearted killers” possess. Take the movie The Godfather for instance. Yes, the Corleone family do kill and cheat in their personal lives and operations, but beneath all that is a sense of loyalty, determination, and business sense. Now, that’s not to say that it justifies any of their lawless actions, but nobody can deny that they know how to get things done. Very rarely do we ever see a poor gangster, and that is for good reason. The classic “Gangster” as portrayed in movies is essentially the ultimate businessman who finds himself on the opposite side of the law.
The Godfather is the “dark-side of the American dream story” (Turan, pp2). The film follows the practices of a fictional Italian mafia family, the Corleone’s. Though most Americans do not condone the practices of the Italian mafia, they cannot deny that Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather is a cinematic masterpiece. This film gave insight to a mysterious way of life that the average person does not have knowledge of. As the audience is educated about the mafia they also are introduced to many stereotypes.
Scarface and Public Enemies are both brilliantly written gangster films. Both are based off the lives of real people; Public Enemies tells the final years of infamous gangster John Dillinger while Scarface is loosely based off of the Italian gangster, Al Capone. Since both movies are gangster genre films, they have a lot in common. While both contain guns, violence, and action they also differ in many ways as well. In Scarface, the violence is not shown as much. Viewers won’t see bullets hit a person, any blood or guts, or anyone with cuts or bruises. In Public Enemies, the amount of violence is much more gory and viewers always see people being shot with blood pouring out of them. Death is also more exaggerated in Public Enemies for example,
He is willing to help anybody who comes to ask for his help, especially if it is his own family (Copola 1972: 00:22 minutes). At the beginning during the wedding Corleone’s godson comes to see him, ask him for a favor, he wants to be a Hollywood star and the godfather is the one who can help because he had helped him become a singer (Copola 1972: 00:22 minutes). The godfather seems to care about his godson. In the introduction to Street Corner Society by William Whyte, he writes, “ties between families were cemented by the establishment of godparent-godchild relationships.” In other words, the relationship in Italian families between godparent and godchild is indeed solid, but before the godfather agreed to help his godson, he asked him “[if he] spends time with [his] family because a man who does not spend time with his family is not a real man.” The godfather truly emphasizes the importance of family to his godson, to the godfather his family is first corresponding to “[the] first-generation [of immigrants] that was primarily around the family and secondarily [around people from the same town]” (Whyte 1943: xvii). In Street Corner Society, Whyte writes the organization of Cornerville included a gift system, and that it was the leader’s responsibility to be generous with those lower than him, but that was not the case with the
As the movie opens, we immediately see a moral dilemma unfolding. We see behind the curtain the inner workings of Michael’s father meeting with guests granting favors on the day of his daughter’s wedding. A man named Bonasera is asking that the Don kill the men that violated his daughter. Vito Corleone, a well composed and excellent negotiator responds to Bonasera that to kill those men would not be an act of justice. That his daughter is still alive and to kill the men that violated her would be an immoral act. We learn immediately that although Vito’s organization is questionable both legally and morally, there is a code of ethical behavior that is required in order to maintain a successful and respectful operation.
The Italian Mafia in the United States was an organized crime group with Sicilian roots. The Mafia is naturally very secretive and violent. The mafia is also somewhat kin-oriented. Although the women of the family do not participate in Mafia business, but enjoy the luxuries provided by her husband’s money and status and willingly assist in hiding fugitives, and shelter Mafia assets from the power of the state. By the 1930’s the U.S. Mafia surpassed other organized crime organisations in firepower and discipline.
The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, is a family mafia story established through an analogy of the pre- and post- World War II gang scene, filled with organized crime in America. Set in 1940’s New York, The Godfather ultimately changed the viewpoint on American culture at the time, emphasizing the importance of tradition and respect, and how defying society’s expectations can pose a threat to those seeking the American Dream, a stark contrast from the revolutionary 70s.
It is the Godfather that demands the family stick with family and never side with any one out side of the family no matter the situation. Vito the Godfather would remind them family is family and no one will miss treat or use any member of the family. He proves this point when his godson comes to him about a problem with a director name Jack Woltz. Because Jonny Fontane is the godson the Godfather Corleone will send his step son who is consigliere to the family to California to advise the director to hand the part over to Fontane.