Director Study Post #1: The Godfather

We decided to do an in-depth study of the renowned director Francis Ford Coppola. The movies we have chosen to study include all three Godfather movies and Apocalypse Now.
Anyways, on with the analysis or something. I'll start with an analysis of the opening chunk. This scene expertly defines the main characters in a very clear-cut manner. The movie opens on the day of Vito Corleone’s daughter’s wedding; It’s Sicilian tradition for the father of the bride to agree to any and all favors to anybody who asks… as long as they kiss up to him in the process. The opening minute or so deals with a specific problem from a man named Bonasera, and the only way the Godfather is even willing to offer his support, he makes Bonasera kiss his hand and beg for his assistance. This clearly defines the main leader already – a rigid, egocentric, powerful man with apparent attitude. As the party goes on, the Don goes on granting several more requests, until he reaches the last one – Famous actor Johnny Fontane. Johnny wants to have the lead role in an upcoming movie, but the director of the movie (Mr. Woltz) refuses to give it to him.
Vito Corleone turns to Tom Hagen, a pro, standing in another part of the room and asks him to take care of the problem that night. When Tom arrives to Mr. Woltz’s studio, he attempts to smooth-talk Woltz into promoting Johnny to the lead role, and even threatens Woltz with possible bad outcomes if he didn’t cooperate. Eventually, Woltz is informed that Tom works for Mistuh Corleone, and invites Tom to his elegant estate, showing him his over 9000 prized horses before wondering what’s for dinner, and apologetically explain that Johnny is basically a failure. Tom immediately excuses himself from the table, claiming that the Don likes to hear bad news immediately, and somehow severs the prized horse’s head and sneaks it into Woltz’s bed without awakening the grumpy old man. Woltz awakens confused and screaming, and it made me lol.



Basically, Coppola develops the characters relatively quickly and does a very nice job. He makes it clear-cut that the Godfather is not somebody to mess around with, much less refuse to cooperate with. It’s also very clear that he’s got cronies that are willing to do anything to maintain the Don’s excellent reputation.

Director Study Thing

I am werkin' wid' Will Roach, Peter Robinson, and Jared Wong or something


I dunno what else I'm supposed to put here, so I'll just list our top three directors:
1. John Carpentor
2. Akira Kurosawa...Which we apparently can't do.
3. <Insert Director Here> AKA, That One Guy Who Directed Apocalypse Now