An Offer I Couldn't Refuse

I watched The Godfather, parts 1 & 2 this past weekend. I'd never seen them before. So many jokes I've heard make sense now :) I was talking to my sister about them - she also had just recently seen them for the first time and loved them - but we both remarked on how unrecognizable Al Pacino is at least in the first one. I mean, this is coming from someone (me) who pretty much only knew that Marlon Brando was The Godfather, he made offers people couldn't refuse, and something about a horse head in a bed. I had no idea Diane Keaton or James Caan or even that DeNiro was in the second one.

Yes I'm that ignorant about them. I'm not really into the mafia genre much tho I admit to loving The Sopranos. Even that was not something I sought out to watch though. Glad I did, but if Mike hadn't recommended it and lent me his DVDs, I wouldn't have watched it.

But I got to thinking about the marked change in Pacino as his role progressed. At the start of the first Godfather, he is unrecognizable to me because he's basically playing against type (or his future type anyway, he was still a newbie at this point.) He's young, of course, but because he was sort of shielded from the hard aspects of his family he was fairly innocent. And so because the Pacino I grew up with and know usually plays hardened, scary types for the most part (yes there are exceptions but come on, admit that Pacino's more known for his badass stuff) I didn't realize that Michael Corleone was Pacino. I didn't recognize Duvall either until he lost more hair by the second film :)

This is what I couldn't recognize in the film:


And this is what I know and love:


So you can see why I didn't recognize him.

Anyway, I thought the films were very good - deserving of their "classic" status. Well-made, beautiful cinematography, haunting music, chilling scenes - brutal, chilling scenes. Man.

The thing is, I'm glad I've seen them now and I can stop looking abashed whenever a Godfather discussion comes up and people look at me like I've got "I live under a rock" taped to my chest. But I don't think I loved them enough to make sure I have them in my collection. Maybe if I see them a couple more times and have them grow on my I'll appreciate them more for what they are, but at this moment, I'm just fine with having seen them.