Sunday, December 31, 2006

Leave the Cannoli, Take the DVD

Last night I watched THE GODFATHER on DVD. I've seen the movie before, on cable TV, and in bits and pieces; and frankly, when I first saw it, I was too young to understand it much beyond the sex and violence. This time, I got to see a nice quality print, in widescreen, on a big TV, so it was a rough analogue to watching it on the big screen.

I was struck by how much of a sea change it was in cinema. I can't imagine a movie like this being made in any decade before the seventies; and the look and feeling of it is mirrored in many subsequent films and TV series. An important aspect of the movie is that Coppola and his crew made everything look so damn good. That's probably why mass audiences were willing to put up with the ugliness, in regard to both violence and human nature. That, and America's everlasting love of its monsters.

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