The Godfather Trilogy (The Coppola Remastered Edition) DVD Review

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 10.02.2008

Clichéd line or not, it really is an offer you can't refuse.

Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Written by: Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola

Starring:
Al Pacino - Michael Corleone
Diane Keaton - Kay Adams
Robert Duvall - Tom Hagen
Marlon Brando - Vito Corleone
Robert De Niro - Young Vito Corleone
Talia Shire - Constanzia "Connie" Corleone
James Caan - Santino "Sonny" Corleone
John Cazale - Fredo Corleone
Andy García - Vincent Mancini
Bridget Fonda - Grace Hamilton
Sofia Coppola - Mary Corleone
Joe Mantegna - Joey Zasa
Richard S. Castellano - Peter "Pete" Clemenza
Abe Vigoda - Salvatore "Sal" Tessio
Al Lettieri - Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo
Gianni Russo - Carlo Rizzi
Sterling Hayden - Captain McCluskey
Lenny Montana - Luca Brasi
Morgana King - Carmella Corleone
Richard Bright - Al Neri
Tom Rosqui - Rocco Lampone
Lee Strasberg - Hyman Roth
Michael V. Gazzo - Frankie Pentangeli
Al Martino - Johnny Fontane
G.D. Spradlin - Senator Pat Geary
Dominic Chianese - Johnny Ola
Bruno Kirby - Young Peter Clemenza
Eli Wallach - Don Altobello
George Hamilton - B.J. Harrison

Domestic Gross: $258,786,940 (combined)
Worldwide Gross: $392,320,529 (combined)

DVD Release Date: 9/23/2008
Running Time: 9 hours, 4 minutes (combined)



Rated R (All Three Films)

When discussing great cinema, it is, almost literally, impossible not to mention the Godfather trilogy. Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpieces, the first two films of the three—The Godfather, The Godfather Part II and The Godfather Part III—are commonly considered to be among the greatest stories ever committed to film. Whether you’re talking fan reaction (the films are rated #2 and # 4, respectively, on IMDB.com’s Top 250 Films), critic reaction (both films are among the best-reviewed films of all-time) or awards, there is almost no criteria in which the films cannot be considered to stand highest among the best Hollywood has ever offered. The Godfathercurrently holds spots on four of AFI’s top lists—for Thrills, Film Scores, Top Movies, Gangster Movies and Best Line with “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.” Part II similarly holds four spots, in Top Movies, Gangster Movies, Movie Quotes (“Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer”) and Villains (for Michael Corleone). If that weren’t enough, it is an icon of pop culture, integrated fully into the public consciousness. It altered the landscape of Hollywood, allowing studios to take more risks on projects and make films that were less black and white good-evil, more morally gray. And, of course, it made household names of out Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Diane Keaton, Andy Garcia, Joe Mantegna, Robert Duvall and the director himself, Francis Ford Coppola.

For years, audiences were without a DVD release, until finally in 2001, Paramount released The Godfather DVD Collection, a set considered by many to be essential parts of any DVD collection. It presented the films in as capable a glory as was possible at the time, along with a host of special features. Now, finally technology has allowed the studio to make further improvements, and they’ve released The Godfather Trilogy – The Coppola Restoration on DVD. Featured newly remastered audio and video as well as an entire new disc of Special Features, it’s available for those completists who need the best possible Godfather trilogy they can get, or for those who have never picked up the set before.

The Movies

For rating the films, I’ll be breaking this down by each film in mini-reviews, and also giving an overall rating.

The Godfather

The first film, set in 1945 just after the second World War has ended, begins with a wedding within the powerful Corleone family of New York. The patriarch of the Mafia family, Vito Corleone (Brando) is an adept leader and honorable man who is committed to the old ways of the family. His sons Sonny (Caan) and Fredo (Cazale) work in the family, with the hot-tempered Sonny the obvious choice to take over when Vito retires. His consigliore (or advisor) is Tom Hagen (Duvall), a man adopted by the family at a young age and handles the family’s legal issues. When the youngest son Michael (Pacino) returns home from the war, it’s a happy event—Michael doesn’t approve of his family’s crime syndicate, but he loves them nonetheless. He’s brought a young girl home, Kay Adams (Keaton), who he assures that he’s different from his family. Unfortunately, events force that to change. An assassination attempt on Vito by a rival family leaves the patriarch weakened, and as violence escalates, Michael finds himself sucked into the darker underworld. After participating in an act that would be unthinkable among the Mafia families he’s sent to Italy for a while, to be called back only when things have reached a bloody peak.

The Godfather is a truly classic film that beautifully details the descent of a good man into the darkest elements of organized crime. Puzo and Coppola’s script is masterful at taking a subject matter that many directors didn’t want to touch at the time—and a family that should be villains, not heroes—and treating it intelligently. The dynamics of Corleone family and the close family bond, even among those who aren’t blood like Clemenza and Tom Hagen, are given as much focus as the escalating crime war that drives the plot of the film forward. This allows the viewer to sympathize with them even as they perform villainous acts throughout. They also treat the characters themselves with intelligence and respect, deftly weaving in several elements to make Michael’s journey to the dark side believable and enrapturing.

The acting in the film, it should almost go without saying, is incredible. While the story is Michael’s story at the end of the day, it’s Marlon Brando that usually ends up on all the promotional material, and there is a very good reason for that. Brando gives the performance of a much storied career here as Vito Corleone, sinking himself bodily into the aging patriarch in a way that is truly mesmerizing. Brando won the Best Actor award for what is essentially a supporting role here, something that is a testament to his portrayal. He is such an unforgettable persona here that he actually seems more present then he truly is. The true lead of the film, Al Pacino, is equally impressive and perhaps even more so. Michael Corleone is one of the most complex characters in cinematic history, and Pacino handles him in such a deft way that, for an unknown actor at the time, was a break-out like has never been seen since. Pacino starts the character out in this film as an innocent, even naïve man who is very likable and empathic. By the time the film ends, he’s completely detached and almost unemotional. The progression is completely believable because Pacino makes it believable. Few other actors in the history of films would have pulled it off appropriately, and Pacino nails it to perfection. The rest of the considerable cast is equally impressive; there are no missteps in this movie when it comes to acting, and that’s incredible. Caan is great as the hot-headed Sonny; Duvall is the perfect balance of noble and corrupt to play the legal man of the family. Richard Castellano and Abe Vigoda are unforgettable as right-hand men Clemenza and Tessio. Diane Keaton and Talia Shire have difficult roles in playing the two main women, but they carry it off very nicely.

Aside from Pacino, the true star of the film is Coppola. His vision was uncompromising, and helped by great work from cinematographer Gordon Willis, production designer Dean Tavoularis, and a score from the legendary Nino Rota, creates an incredible, immersive world that draws you in and won’t let you go. Using tactics that were incredibly innovative in 1971, he creates what is very close to the perfect film here. Many people consider the second film to be the better one, and in an objective critical standpoint it is. But The Godfather is the story that holds you in a more visceral way, refusing to let you go until the credits roll.

Rating: 10.0

The Godfather Part II

The second film takes two stories and weaves them together into one. The first continues the tale of Michael in 1958, now the head of the family, as he attempts to expand the family’s influence to Las Vegas and Cuba while keeping the family together and dealing with an assassination attempt on his life. Many within the family are unsure if he’s up to the task the way his father was, and there are forces conspiring to take matters into their own hands. Meanwhile, Connie hates Michael for the events that ended the first film, and Kay is finding herself increasingly isolated from her husband and is becoming disenchanted with what her life is turning into.

Amidst this is the childhood and adolescence of the original Godfather, Vito Corleone (DeNiro). Vito’s tale begins as that of a young man from Italy who is forced to flee to American to escape the wrath of a Don in his hometown. Vito becomes close friends with a man named Genco Abbandando (Sivero) and marries his love Carmella (de Sapio). He quickly finds himself, following a friendship with Peter Clemenza (Kirby), dealing with the neighborhood’s local Don. The story chronicles Vito’s rise to power, contrasted with the beginnings of its slow descent in Michael’s time.

While The Godfather is a film that I slightly enjoy more, Part II is, by any critical criteria, the better film. Coppola created a stronger and more complex structure by combining the two time eras to tell one story, the rise and fall of a powerful crime family. While it lacks some of the more powerful characters of the first film—Hyman Roth and Don Fanucci, while great characters, are not as indelible as Sonny, the elder Vito, Sollozzo or Moe Green—it’s a more deftly told story, brilliantly mirroring the tale of a father and son and showing how one parallels the other. To use an analogy to a more modern set of films, The Godfather is to Part II as the first volume of Kill Bill is to the second volume. While the first is the cooler and more iconic film, filled with lots of big moments, the second is the better story. The more solemn and less flashy tone is complimentary to the movie and creates what is one of the great storytelling experiences of all time. There’s truly not a flaw to be found in the storytelling technique.

The acting performances are, again, not as flashy as the first. However, that makes them no less skilled. Pacino’s performance is, if anything, better then the first. While the first film portrays his descent in a more larger-then-life way, the actor’s growth is evident from the first to the second as he moves smoothly through the film toward the inevitable conclusion. While the contrast from beginning to end are not as startling as the first film, he definitely changes…just in more subtle ways. Pacino’s failure to earn an Academy Award here was a crime, as he truly threw himself into the forefront of the top actors of his generation with the performance here.

In the mirror story, Robert DeNiro’s career can be said to have truly began with the portrayal of Vito, for which he won an Oscar. He had done well in minor roles before this; as Vito, he takes over onto the screen and gives a performance that is, somehow, as mesmerizing and breath-taking as Brando’s from the first film. DeNiro showed immediately that he was a great actor, making the Don a fuller and more realized character by his portrayal of the early years. His chemistry with Bruno Kirby as Clemenza and Francesca de Sapio as Carmella are great, and really build the foundation that strengthens the first film retroactively. The other performances are also top-notch; Keaton, Duvall, Shire and Cazale maintain the quality from their performances in the first film, while the introduction of Lee Strasberg and Michael Gazzo as Hyman Roth and Frankie Pentangeli bolster the film. There is nothing that manages to take anything away from the lofty standards set for the film, and it stands the test of time as one of the greatest films ever made.

Rating: 10.0

The Godfather Part III

The third film of the trilogy, made sixteen years after The Godfather, Part II, takes place in 1979. Michael, now approaching his sixties, is a man riddled with guilt over the way he’s conducted his life. He’s disgustingly wealthy, but is also now a shell of his former self. He’s attempting to bring the Corleone family to legitimacy the way he promised Kay in the first film, but he’s completely alone, divorced and bereft of most of his family and friends who have either died or left him. An honor received from the Catholic Church for charity work brings the family back together and re-introduces us to his children; Anthony (D’Ambrosio), who wants nothing to do with the family business or his father, and Mary (Sofia Coppola), who still thinks the world of her dad. We also meet new characters Vincent Mancini (Garcia) who is Sonny’s illegitimate son and Joey Zasa (Mantegna), who runs what’s left of the Corleone criminal empire. Vincent is desperate to get in on the family business, and his feud with Zasa drives the movie forward as Michael tries to redeem himself. Unfortunately, he finds that “legitimate” interests are just as corrupt as the Mafia, and as he’s drawn back into the underworld, he finds that redemption may be hard to come by, and his family may be forced to pay the price again.

The final film of the trilogy is reviled by many, who saw it as an unnecessary film which unlike the first two is unable to stand on its own. Coppola and Puzo’s script admittedly relies heavily on continuity, and it is difficult to understand the film without knowing the first two. Certainly, it isn’t as strong of a film as the previous entries in the series. However, when viewed properly in the context of the previous two films it does hold its own. Coppola and Puzo did an excellent job transplanting the characters twenty years ahead, and create a story that, if a bit too convoluted, is still quite enjoyable. While it has a lot of the feel of the previous films, there is a major change in many of the characters. Michael is, while undoubtedly the same character, a different man altogether. He’s been beat down by the side effects of his rise to power, and wants something different. Connie is now a member of Michael’s inner circle, pulling strings and promoting her favorites, such as Vincent. Everyone has evolved, rarely for the better, but certainly in interesting ways.

One of the nicest twists Part III has is interlacing in real world events, including the death of the pope. Pope John Paul I died in 1978, and this is written into the plot in an interesting way. While dates were changed, it’s a nitpick to call this out, and it did a nice job in rooting the film in reality some. Some of the other twists seem a bit much, and some plot elements seem too forced, but it is still a very decent film that suffered by being part of this great series.

The biggest and most famous criticisms is leveled at the acting, particularly Sofia Coppola’s terrible miscasting as Mary Corleone. A lot of the criticism was unnecessarily harsh; Coppola is clearly out of her depth, and it is by no means a great performance. However, calling it the worst acting job of all time is quite unfair, and for a woman who had little acting experience and was cast in last-second desperation, she gives a performance that at least doesn’t ruin the film as has been implied before. She certainly doesn’t stand alone in the iffy acting category in this film; Joe Mantegna’s performance as Joey Zasa is over-the-top and the more glaring error. On the flip side, Pacino, Keaton and Shire are all as solid as they were in the first film; Shire in particular is incredible in portraying Connie. Andy Garcia, much like Pacino and DeNiro before him in the first and second films, gives a tour de force performance in his star-making role.

Ultimately The Godfather Part III, much like the younger characters within it, is a victim of its parents. It may well have has a chance to be great on its own, but it is caught within the Corleone trap and suffers greatly as a result.

Rating: 7.5

Overall Film Rating: 9.5

The Video

The trilogy set is called “The Coppola Restoration” edition, and it’s for a very good reason. While the original boxed DVD set was a vast improvement on previous releases, the amount of damage the film had taken over the course of many years was difficult to restore. With new technology in their grasp, Paramount has managed to do some great work bringing the three films into a new level of video transfer. While the first film still sports a fair amount of grain—this is inevitable, as there is still only so much one can do—the films look as close as can be done to what the filmmakers envisioned. All three films are presented in a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen format. The films are an enormous leap from what any previous versions did, and it’s a credit to the restorers that the films look as good as they do. There are still flaws in the form of some scratches and blotches, but the color palette is nice and rich. Obviously, the majority of improvement came in the first two, but all the films show noticeable improvement over the 2001 DVD set. The result is impressive, though not flawless.

Video Rating: 8.5

The Audio

Each of the films has a Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio track, and much like the video, it’s an enormous leap from the 2001 DVD’s. While the speakers don’t necessarily get a work-out, this isn’t that kind of a film and the clarity of the ambient sounds, dialogue and iconic score are crisp. Leveling is very nice, and there’s some very good definition to the sounds. It’s as good as you can hope for films this old, and I was quite impressed. Subtitles are available in English, Spanish and French.

Audio Rating: 9.5

Special Features

One immediate thing to point out, and it is really the only flaw to be found in the special features: There are two discs worth, one with the original 2001 special features and one with a full set of new features. These discs, on my set at least, were switched in the labeling. It’s a minor but slightly embarrassing gaffe for such a prestigious set.

Each film comes with a commentary track from Coppola, who talks at length throughout each one. There are blank spots, but this is to be expected; the films are enormously long, and the guy’s got to get a break at some point. He’s very frank about discussing the problems that took place in the filming of the first film, and covers the second and third films just as eloquently. Coppola is an engaging talker and provides a lot of interesting detail and insight without ever taking the film to the self-congratulatory trap that some directors do. He does get a bit defensive when discussing Part III and the criticisms leveled at it and Sofia Coppola, but even then, he’s fascinating to listen to, and these may well be the best commentary tracks I’ve ever listened to.

Disc Four: 2001 Special Features

The first disc of special features, which were included in the 2001 DVD collection, is a treasure trove for Godfather fans all on its own. It’s separated into five categories: Behind the Scenes, Filmmakers, Galleries, Family Tree, and Additional Scenes. The Behind the Scenes has the majority of the features, as detailed below:

An Inside Look: (73:20) This long, extensive and detailed documentary on the making of the trilogy features Coppola, Caan, Pacino, DeNiro, and many other cast and crew members talking about their experiences with making the films. It includes clips from the movie as well as a lot of anecdotal information regarding the film’s storied production. There is less information on Part III then the other two, largely because this was made while it was being filmed, but the documentary provides far more information then you see in most Behind the Scenes shorts, which can sometimes end up very sanitized and amounting to little more then promotional material. Lots of behind the scenes footage abound, including Brando’s makeup test, Pacino’s audition, and DeNiro’s audition for the role of Sonny. It’s incredibly well-done and a joy to watch.

On Location: (6:55) This short follows production designer David Tavoularis around a tour of the original set locations. It’s quite enjoyable seeing the original sets as they look now, and Tavoularis provides some interesting information about the changes they had to make for filming so that the Lower East Side of the 1970’s would look like Little Italy of the forties.

Francis Coppola’s Notebook: (10:10) Yet another fascinating short, this features Coppola talking about how he went about took Puzo’s novel and creating a movie around it. Coppola spends the short flipping through his notebook, where he made a lot of footnotes while reading the book, and talking about the comments that he made. We learn a lot about the Sollozzo shooting, as well as the Old World violence scenes, and Coppola is more then engaging enough to make it an easy watch.

Music of The Godfather: (8:45) This is two separate pieces, namely an audio interview with Nino Rota from a tape recording that Coppola made while meeting with him in 1972 as well as a short of Carmine Coppola, who scored Part III. Both pieces are nice for those who are interested finding out more about the trilogy’s iconic score, and there are some nice demos of the earlier themes in the Rota bit.

Coppola and Puzo on Screenwriting: (8:05) There’s a lot of information here from the director and novelist about adapting the books into films, and is a must-see for any aspiring screenwriter. Both men provide additional insight on the challenges of making the script and the concerns that came out of it. We get a nice look at the meetings that took place between the two, as well as Puzo’s thoughts on the Godfather Part IV that never happened but would cover the early life of Sonny and Michael.

Storyboards of The Godfather Part II: This is a collection of stills showing several of the storyboards from the development stage of the second film. It’s beautiful work, and it’s always interesting to see how the shots were conceptualized compared to how they actually went.

Storyboards of The Godfather Part III: (4:25) More in-depth then the Part II storyboards, these are more like non-computerized animatics that feature a narrator describing things while others provide the voices. They cover the break-in at Vincent’s apartment, Vincent taking out Grace’s abductors and a particular meeting.

The Godfather Behind the Scenes 1971: (8:55) This is a far more promotional-esque behind the scenes feature, filmed at the time of Part I in order to sell the film. Caan, Pacino, Castellano and others are interviewed, and while this is more fluff and less substance, it’s still fun to see.

Additional Scenes: (39:20) Many of the deleted scenes included are, unlike most deleted material for films, both good work and stuff that wasn’t just fluff to be cut away. Instead, we have plot elements throughout the thirty-four scenes that while not necessary, provide a lot of insight into things. They largely span the first two films, as well as an alternate opening for the third, and are interestingly organized in a chronological fashion, separated into eras. The 1901-1917 era has five scenes that range from an attack on Fanucci to a special piece that Coppola included to relate it to his own family, featuring a flute player who’s the son of a gunsmith (Carmine Coppola was a flutist and Coppola’s grandfather was a gunsmith). The 1917-1927 era has another four scenes, largely extraneous but still create work, and includes the first chronological reference to “Don Vito Corleone.” 1945 has a hefty ten scenes, including the death of Vito’s first consigliore, more Connie-Carlo fights, Sonny’s reaction to Vito’s shooting, and extended footage involving Paulie’s execution. From there we go to four scenes for 1947, the best of which is Michael coldly asking his Italian caretaker to find Fabrizio for revenge. The scenes from the first film close with three 1948-1955, the best of which is a scene where Michael talks to Vito about revenge for Sonny and Appolonia. 1958, the first set of the later-era Part II footage, features three short clips of various things and one extended one that shows Michael giving his blessing to Sonny’s daughter to get married. The last set is 1958-1978, which shows the alternate Part III opening as well as some scenes from Part II. There’s more good material in these excised scenes then most movies today have in their entirety.

Photo Gallery: This set of stills covers production and promotional photos from all three films. There are some great shots in here, including one of Pacino and DeNiro together as Michael and young Vito, a piece which while obviously not anything in the film, shows two young actors who would become icons. There are some clowning shots and other nice pictures in here as well.

Rogue’s Gallery: A little less meaty then the other gallery, this just features promo shots of ten of the bad guys of the series. It’s more superfluous then most of the stuff on this disc, but innocuously so.

Trailers: I love seeing trailers on DVD sets, especially when the trailers are for older films. It’s fascinating to watch old trailers and see the difference between how films were promoted then and how they are now. We get a trailer for each of the films, which is in itself a revelation of the difference through the years.

Awards and Reception: (7:07) This area features the Academy Award reception from the Best Director and Best Picture wins for the first two films, plus the first’s Best Adapted Screenplay win. It’s actually quite funny to watch the old Oscar ceremonies and how chinzy they looked compared to the slick, prestigious show they put on now. We also get a still showing all three films’ nominations and wins. There’s also a short introduction that Coppola provided for the 1974 network television showing of the first film.

Family Tree: This interactive menu goes through the Corleone family tree and provides stills when most characters are clicked about them. It’s a nice little feature that’s rendered quite stylistically and with some great aesthetics.

Disc Five: 2008 Special Features

Godfather World: (11:21) This featurette covers the trilogy’s influence and cultural impact. They discuss how often it’s been referenced and/or spoofed in movies and television, including The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, SCTV, You’ve Got Mail, Analyze This and more. The cast and crew, along with other Hollywood heavyweights, talk about the many quotable moments and how often they’re referenced, such as the infamous line “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.” Special detail is given to The Sopranos of course, with David Chase, the HBO show’s creator, talking about how he wanted it to be about the first generation of mobsters to have grown up on the trilogy. It’s a pretty interesting look at how ingrained Coppola’s films have become in our consciousness.

The Masterpiece that Almost Wasn’t: (29:46) The story of how close The Godfather came to being an utter disaster of a film—or even not becoming a film at all—is pretty legendary, and this featurette covers that story in remarkable detail. Featuring interviews with Coppola, George Lucas, and many others, the half-hour short covers the bases from the environment it was developed in while the studio system was collapsing in the sixties. There’s some great talk about where Coppola was at the time, starting out as a filmmaker with Lucas and Walter Much in a San Francisco-based company called Zoetrope, and his initial reluctance to do the film. Paramount’s many attempts to meddle are discussed, and it emphasizes how clearly the film could have failed if they’d gotten their way. It’s startling to see, with a movie as important as The Godfather, how Paramount didn’t want to make it, and how the film was almost a modern, non-period piece with Robert Redford as Michael. The constant fights over how the powers-that-be hated the dailies are covered, and how Coppola nearly got fired before the scene featuring the killing of Sollozzo and McClusky saved his job. It then moves onto the release, and the amazing success it had. One amusing interview is Steven Spielberg, who mentions that after he saw The Godfather he wanted to quit directing, thinking he’d never hit that level of skill. Joe Mantegna talks about the films realism and how it didn’t feel like a gangster film as much as an Italian family drama. A lot of actors speak quite candidly about how perfectly the film relates to them. They then talk about the film’s impact on cinema and how it made Italians more realistic then the stereotypes of the 1930’s and 40’s, as well as making the moral palette in films more ambiguous. All in all, it’s a fascinating look at the story behind the movie and well worth checking out.

…When the Shooting Stopped: (14:19) This is the new behind-the-scenes on the post-production work that went into the movies. There are stories form editors, sound mixers, and other post-prod people about the work they went in creating the masterpiece. Coppola talks about how he was told he wasn’t allowed to have a film over two hours and ten minutes until they saw his shorter cut and didn’t like it, letting him put the half-hour back in. They discuss how the studio absolutely hated the score—ironic, considering how legendary it is now—and how there were some last-minute changes made to it. Spielberg shows up again, talking about the deleted scenes and Coppola’s skillful use of time cuts. They move onto the second and third films, and how Coppola did Part II primarily because he wanted to make an art film showing the parallels between a father and son’s live. It’s discussed how Part II initially had bad reviews until people grew to like (and then love) it. The discussion of Part III is mostly limited to the sound editing, particularly the final scene. It’s all more good information that gives the viewer good background on how the classics were made.

Emulsional Rescue: Revealing The Godfather: (19:07) This is a fascinating short revealing the pain-staking process of restoring the trilogy from the original negatives, and provides a lot of insight into how involved and delicate of a process it is. It opens with the original director of photography, Gordon Willis, talking about the amount of flack they got for the films dark look. It moves onto Spielberg talking about how, once DreamWorks became a subsidiary of Paramount, Coppola came to him to ask if they could restore the negatives. It covers the process of getting a “hero print” from cobbling pieces between collectors, Paramount’s vault, and other places to get the best master they could to go off of. “There’s only one way to print The Godfather, and that is dark,” says one of the people featured. They take us through the process of restoring the film via various processes. It’s all described in a way that’s quite easy for a layperson to understand, and you really get a sense of how much respect the techs have for the works they’re restoring.

The Godfather on the Red Carpet: (4:05) This fairly superfluous short features many current up-and-coming actors at film premieres talking about The Godfather, including much of the Cloverfield cast, John Cho of Harold and Kumar fame, the cast of the upcoming Star Trek reboot, Natasha Henstridge and more. They all have an obvious love of the trilogy—Cho even gives Part III some love—but the piece is quite extraneous and wasn’t particularly necessary.

Four Short Films on The Godfather: (7:45) The key word here is “short,” as these pieces are more just short clips about various aspects. There’s The Godfather vs. The Godfather, Part II, where various personalities talk about the difference between the two films and the qualities they liked of each. Cannoli features Coppola talking about how he loved cannoli growing up and it influenced the inclusion of the “leave the gun, keep the cannoli” scene which was improvised. Riffing on the Riffing features Richard Belzer and another actor going back and forth enacting lines from the films from memory and is fairly cute. The last, Clemenza, has Coppola recounting how actor Richard Castellano’s demands for coming back as the capo regime simply became too outrageous, despite Coppola trying desperately to get him back. Finally, when Castellano demanded that his girlfriend be allowed to write all his lines, Coppola balked and changed the script so Clemenza had died. There’s some interesting tidbits in here, but it’s really more icing on the cake of the other excellent features.

Special Features Rating: 10.0

The 411: There is nothing to be said about the merits of the Godfather trilogy that hasn’t already been said. Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpieces are truly amazing films and some of the greatest things ever to come out of Hollywood. While The Godfather Part III doesn’t manage to stand up to the previous two entries, that is not to say it’s a bad movie, and even this worst film of the three is miles above most films to come out anymore. The stories are intricately plotted and epic in scale, and for the most part the acting is top-notch. The new Coppola Restoration Edition represents a huge leap in video and audio quality, and the extra disc worth of special features adds to an already impressive list to create something truly amazing. For those who want the extra features and new remastering it’s well worth it; for those who don’t have it and are a fan of cinema, it’s a must-own.

Final Score:  10.0   [ Virtually Perfect ]