Mobsters, Horses' Heads, and Cannoli: The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration

Michael: My father made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
Kay Adams: What was that?
Michael: Luca Brasi held a gun to his head, and my father assured him that either his brains or his signature would be on the contract.

When I was nine years old, my mom, older sister, and I saw Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather at the now-gone Tropicaire Drive-In in Miami. The now-classic adaptation of Mario Puzo's novel about an aging  New York Mafia don's efforts to hand over his empire of crime to his favored son was a top draw, and Mom and Vicky were  curious about it. I don't know why they took me; I'm assuming that they couldn't find a babysitter, or perhaps they didn't think that it had any objectionable content.

Because we had recently moved back to the States after living abroad for six years, I was still learning English, so I didn't understand any of the movie's plot, nuances, or the dialogue. I was, however, freaked out by the two scenes that stood out the most in my nine-year-old mind.

The first scene was the "horse's head in the bed" sequence in which movie producer Jack Woltz (John Marley) wakes up and finds the severed head of his prize stallion in his bed. (Woltz, you see, had refused a relayed request from Don Vito Corleone [Marlon Brando] to sign singer Johnny Fontaine [Al Martino] in his next movie. The indignant producer had shown the doomed horse off to Don Vito's consigiliere, Tom Hagen [Robert Duvall], then rudely told Hagen to tell the godfather where to stuff his request.)

The other scene that freaked me out was the bit at the movie's climax when a naked Moe Green (Alex Rocco) is shot in the eyes as he is enjoying a massage.  Although this bit was only part of a larger "Michael Corleone settles a mob turf war" sequence, it struck genuine terror in me and gave me nightmares that night, and for several nights after that.

As a result, I didn't want much to do with Coppola and Puzo's multi-generational saga of crime and Italian-American family drama for many years. I had never liked crime dramas much even when they were cut-and-dried "crime doesn't pay" tales a la the original Scarface, so it took me until very recently to warm up to a trilogy where most of the characters are either mobsters, relatives of mobsters, or their corrupt "allies" in law enforcement and government.


[to Rocco who has killed Paulie in the car]
Peter Clemenza: Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.

Now that I’m older and somewhat more open-minded about movies with morally ambiguous characters, I have overcome my Godfather phobia and purchased The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration.

Produced and released by Paramount Home Entertainment in 2008, this four-disc Blu-ray collection includes:

The Godfather (1972): In the late 1940s, the aging Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) struggles to keep his mob empire intact and grooms his favored son, Michael (Al Pacino) as his designated heir.

The Godfather: Part II (1974): Both a prequel and a sequel, this chapter of the Corleone saga shows how a young Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) became a Mafioso, then picks up Michael’s tale where the first film left off.

The Godfather: Part III (1990): In the early 1980s, an aging Michael thinks about retiring from the family business, but just when he think he’s getting out, something drags him back in.

Each of the films has a director’s commentary track by Francis Ford Coppola, in which the acclaimed filmmaker discusses various aspects of the Godfather saga.

The Godfather Restoration: Supplements (2001, 2008): This is a revealing behind-the-scenes disc which combines featurettes made from the earlier DVD box set and the newer high-definition BD collection. Like the bonus discs found in 2011’s Alien Anthology or Star Wars: The Complete Saga, this disc is a Blu-ray disc (BD) instead of the usual standard-definition DVD that stingy studios like to include in BD box sets.


Special Features (which include materials from the 2001 Coppola Restoration DVD set)

Featurette: “The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn’t”

Featurette: “Godfather World”

Featurette: “Emulsional Rescue: Revealing ‘The Godfather’”

Featurette: “….And When the Shooting Stopped”

The Family Tree/The Crime Organization

Montage: “’The Godfather’ on the Red Carpet”

Four Short Films on ‘The Godfather’

Audio Commentaries

Documentary: “The Godfather Family”

“Behind the Scenes” Featurettes

Storyboards

Additional Scenes/Historical Timeline

Kay: It made me think of what you once told me: "In five years the Corleone family will be completely legitimate." That was seven years ago.
Michael Corleone: I know. I'm trying, darling.

Packaging

Michael Corleone: Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in.

Paramount Home Entertainment’s packaging for The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration consists of a blue plastic multi-BD jewel case which features a stark black and red label with the famous The Godfatherpuppet-master logo in gold. The red element is a simulated bloodstain that, if you look at it closely, depicts some of the saga’s main characters. To the right of the pool-of-blood poster art, you’ll see a facsimile of Francis Ford Coppola’s signature.

The jewel box is protected by a cardboard slipcover with the same front cover art. Ensconced in the slipcover is a slim promotional brochure:

See this famously dark, staggeringly beautiful trilogy of films presented by the filmmaker as originally envisioned for the cinema. – From The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration brochure

Unlike, say, the booklet that comes with Columbia Pictures’ Dr. Strangelove two-DVD set, the one with The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration doesn’t include an essay by a film critic or any in-depth examination of the movies’ impact on Hollywood and American culture. Essentially, the booklet is a combination of contents’ guide and catalog of major awards and nominations. While I can live with this because the fourth BD is chock full of interesting behind-the-scenes stuff, it would have been nice if Paramount Home Entertainment could have coaxed Coppola to write at least a short essay for this collection.

My Take: Even though I’ve owned this set since April of this year (2013 for future reference). I’ve only had time to watch The Godfather, part of The Godfather: Part II, and most of the extras on the fourth disc. I think that Coppola’s 1972 masterpiece is worthy of all the critical praise it has received over the past 40 years, but I’m still surprised that a movie with very few “good” characters has such a wide appeal.

Maybe it’s because the screenplay by Mario Puzo and Coppola manages to add layers of human complexity to its major characters by showing the different facets of their personalities.

For instance, Brando’s Vito Corleone is a feared and respected Mafia don who can have a man killed with a softly whispered command, yet Coppola shows him as a doting father and grandfather who’s not above making funny faces at one of his grandkids.

And, of course, we have Pacino’s Michael Corleone, a decorated war hero who, like it or not, is destined to take his father’s place at the head of his family, both literally and in the context of La Cosa Nostra. After all,The Godfather trilogy is all about Michael’s seduction by the power wielded by organized criminals, and how he is corrupted by that power despite his intentions to go “legit.”

The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration looks sumptuous in this carefully remastered  high-definition edition. Each frame of all three movies has been meticulously cleaned and repaired; there’s no sign of dust, film stock degradation or scratched negatives. The films’ contrasting lights and darks now look as sharp and clearly defined as they were when they were released theatrically in 1972, 1974, and 1990.

In a similar fashion, the audio tracks – particularly the English 5.1 TrueHD Dolby one – capture every line of dialogue, every gunshot, and every note of the musical scores crisply and cleanly.

All in all, if you’re a long-time fan or a newcomer (like me) to the Godfather saga, The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration is the best way to see these landmark movies outside of a top notch movie theater.

© 2013-2014 Alex Diaz-Granados.  All Rights Reserved