The Outsiders (1983)

Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Writers:  Kathleen Rowell, S.E. Hinton
Cast:       C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Tom Cruise

A town is split between the wealthy South Zone gang called 'The Socials' and the poor North Zone gang called 'The Greasers'. When two poor greasers are attacked by the socs, one of them kills ones of the attackers setting out the chain of events depicted in the film.

This was Coppola's second film after the big budget 'Apocalypse Now' which made him almost bankrupt. It was made back to back with 'Rumble Fish' which also featured many of the actors and was shot in the same locations. It is an odd little film with a very different atmosphere to it. It is not gritty as one would think considering the background of its characters but that might be due to the fact that the main two characters that we follow are teenagers. Essential message of the film is for the Ponyboy kid to Stay Gold and move up the social classes by pursuing his studies. In some sense these two teenagers are much more mature than their older gang members. Stevie Wonder did the 'Stay Gold' song and much of the soundtrack consists of Elvis Presley tracks. 'Out of Limits' by 'The Marketts' is used in an important scene and I had a dejavu moment when it came up being very familiar with it form 'Pulp Fiction'. That scene with blood spreading all over the screen would remind you of the Grindhouse also. 

In places like India where people take religion, caste etc to divide and gang up, in developed world the social class is the differentiator. With so much talk about gentrification and inequality in recent times, the film might find resonance for many. It is not a perfect film but is among the better ones I have seen dealing with teenage angst. Haven't seen 'Rebel without a cause' mind.

Rating: 3.5/5

 

The Godfather: Part III (1990)

Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Writers:  Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola
Cast:      Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Andy Garcia, Sofia Coppola, Eli Wallach

The film is set in 1979, where Micheal Corleone is a respected figure in the community as he almost completely moves away from the illegitimate businesses through which he had accumulated his wealth. Andy Garcia plays the role of his nephew from Sonny's mistress, who gradually moves up from the role of Micheal's muscle to become the next don.

The story establish a link between Micheal Corleone with the Vatican banking scandal and the short reign of pope John Paul One. It was inevitable for the film to be compared with its two predecessors and the bar is just too high for it to match. I found it to be an alright film when I saw it for the first time around five years back. On second watch I realize it is just not good enough on a standalone basis even. Whilst the first two were all about subtlety and about characters, this one is plot driven. And the plot is not very interesting and the operatic climax is just tedious. I think they tried to make the film stand on its own so that people who haven't watched the first two could also watch it. So you have got plenty of exposition which the first two films didn't do at all. There is just far too much dialog.

Godfather is all about the character Micheal Corleone  and in the third part, he is not recognizable from the character he had become by the end of part two. It can be explained that he changed again with age but the thing is he is not that interesting in the third film. The film got made because Coppola was again in financial trouble and the studio rushed the film to have a Christmas release instead of an Easter one. I really don't think it would have made too much difference to it as it was just a money making exercise. It is better not to watch it and stop after the part two.

Rating: 2.5/5

The Godfather: Part II (1974)

Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Writers:  Francis Ford Coppola, Mario Puzo
Cast:      Al Pacino, John Cazale, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Lee Strasberg

The film's sequel part starts off in 1958 following Micheal Corleone as godfather who has his business settled in Nevada and as he consolidates his business he loses his family. The prequel part follows Robert De Niro playing the role of an young Vito Corleone charting his rise to the don and godfather.

The film was essentially made because Coppola didn't make much money from the first one and he didn't even want to direct it as he approached Martin Scorsese for it. Coppola was given a larger budget for it and they used the unused part from the book for the prequel part. Scorsese recommended Robert De Niro for the young Vito Corleone role and he portrayed it the way an young Marlon Brando would do. He won the academy award for the best supporting role.

I rate Godfather part 2, as a better film than the first one. The film is not at all cinematic and that is the beauty of it. You are not presented with any twists and we as an audience know what is coming all the way. The fact that Fredo Corleone was the traitor is revealed to the audience immediately whereas Michael is in the dark about it till the scene in Havana. It is just a character study on Michael Corleone  who wants to emulate his father as the protector of his family but ends up destroying it for his low tolerance  for disloyalty and paranoia.

Rating: 5/5 

The Godfather (1972)

Director: Frances Ford Coppola
Writers:  Mario Puzo, Frances Ford Coppola
Cast:       Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, James Caan, John Cazale

The film Godfather depicts the transfer of power in an Italian mafia family from its aging patriarch, Don Vito Corleone, to his reluctant son Michael Corleone. The story spans across a time period of ten years and is set in New York post the second world war.

This was I think my fourth time watching The Godfather. The thing with it is that it feels odd watching as some scenes and themes that have been ripped off numerous times subsequently in various films. You have the bastardized version of the opening scene in Sarkar, the entire plot-line kind of getting ripped off in the clusterfuck that is Rajneeti and the cliched story of ultimately good mob boss who don't want to enter the drug business (malayalam film 'Irupatham Nootandu') which sets off all sorts of problems for his business. It is sad that you get reminded of these films when you watch the godfather and your experience is kind of tainted by it.

The film was initially offered to Sergio Leone, who didn't want to make it as he was himself trying to get 'Once Upon a time in America' made. It is amazing to think that the project was entrusted up on Frances Ford Coppola who at that time was by all means an unknown quantity when it comes to directing a big film. He had many conflicts with the studio Paramount during the making with the casting decisions of Marlon Brando and Al Pacino being contentious. He was on the verge of getting sacked almost the whole way through the making. Finally when the film was released it was a blockbuster critically as well as commercially. Stanley Kubrick considers it to be one of the best films of all times and the best cast as well.

To call Godfather a mafia film would be like calling Apocalypse Now a war film. It is much more than that. It is about the family and Micheal's transition from a young man who didn't want anything to do with his family's business to be the godfather himself. The final scene in which the door is closed on Kay's face as the underlings kisses the new godfather, Micheal's hands sums up the whole film. It is funny that he got nominated for academy awards only in the supporting category,due to which he boycotted the ceremony.

The film is well contained and one would think there was no need for a sequel/prequel to it but Coppola  followed it up with the part two which is my favorite out of the two. It is much darker and it also helps that nobody dared to steal scenes and plots from that film due to which it always feel fresher. Bewildering to think that Coppola manged to squeeze in the excellent 'The Conversation' between the godfather films over a period of three years.

Rating: 5/5

The Conversation (1974)

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Writer:    Francis Ford Coppola

Cast:      Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield

A paranoid and personally-secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that a couple he is spying on will be murdered.

Saw it again the other day. Sandwiched between Godfather 1 and 2, Conversation is a film that gets overlooked by many. It is almost as good as the other two and it is sad that Coppola petered out after Apocalypse Now. The film came out before Nixon resigned because of the Watergate Scandal but the film's creation was not influenced by the scandal. Coppola had cited Antonioni's 'Blow Up' as an inspiration for this film and it is one I want to get my hands on.

Rating: 5/5