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It’s been 50 years since The Godfather was first released, and from the very beginning, it has been considered one of the greatest movies ever made, and the best movie in the gangster genre. For the most part, the praise has been consistent throughout the past five decades with the film being ranked as the second greatest movie of all time by the American Film Institute in 2007 (behind Citizen Kane).

But, as with everything so widely acclaimed, there will inevitably be some backlash. Recently, I’ve spent some time on reddit.com, where some of the “Redditors” were making the case that The Godfather is probably the most overrated movie ever made. Here are some of the unpopular opinions:

Never liked this movie. It seemed boring and long the first time I saw it in the 80s and nothing has changed for the better.

The plot is slow, boring, and immensely predictable by today’s standards.

The Godfather is overrated. There. I said it.

It takes forever getting in. I’ve never even finished the movie.

Could never watch it really. Boring af.

And, of course, we can’t forget Family Guy’s classic:

It insists upon itself

Peter Griffin

Sorry, I just had to get that in there. LOL!

So, in this article, we are going to take a look at the movie’s strengths and weaknesses, we will learn why it is considered so great in the first place, and finally, we will see if it rightfully deserves its place as the best gangster movie of all time, or if the “haters” actually have a point. Let’s go!

Why is The Godfather Considered the Greatest Gangster Movie of All Time?

The movie is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Mario Puzo, who also co-wrote the screenplay. At the time of its release in 1972, the gangster genre had been in decline for some time, with almost no notable mafia movies released during the 60s.

Paramount’s previous mobster film, The Brotherhood (starring Kirk Douglas), was a box office failure and, at first, the studio was hesitant to finance another gangster flick. But, emboldened by the fact that Puzo’s novel eventually became a bestseller, they decided to take a chance and hired a then-relatively unknown filmmaker, Francis Ford Coppola, to direct the movie.

Before The Godfather, gangsters were almost always portrayed as one-dimensional villains whose sole purpose in the film was to get caught or killed by the heroes—the Eliot Nesses. The Godfather is the first movie that “invited” the audience into the world of the mafia and made us see things from their perspective.

It even made the mobsters somewhat relatable. For example, the movie begins with the undertaker Bonasera asking for a favor from Vito Corleone after being let down by the court system (how many of us have also been disappointed by the state institutions). It made us see the mobsters as complex and colorful characters rather than caricature-like villains.

Also, the movie had some of the most shocking (for the time) scenes like Woltz waking up with the horse’s head in his bead, Sonny getting ambushed by rival mobsters, and Apollonia (Michael’s first wife) getting blown away by a bomb that was meant for her husband. These scenes may seem tame by today’s standards, but back in 1972, they were incredibly shocking.

The movie also has some of the best acting in history with many critics considering Vito Corleone as one of the best-acted film characters ever. James Caan, Al Pacino, and Robert Duvall were also praised for their performances and were all nominated for Academy Awards.

The film was a box office success and was the highest-grossing film of the year. It revived the gangster genre and made the public hungry for more mobster movies. Suddenly, every studio wanted to make the next big mafia film.

The Godfather quickly became the most critically acclaimed gangster movie of all time and greatly influenced practically all mafia films that followed. It’s fair to say that without Godfather, we wouldn’t have epics like Goodfellas, Casino, Scarface, American Gangster, or The Irishman.

But, that said, let’s look at the “haters” arguments.

Criticism

If you look at the comments at the beginning of this article, you’ll see that the biggest issue the haters have with the movie is that they found it boring. Although I wouldn’t go so far as to call The Godfather boring, I would be lying if I say I didn’t know where these guys were coming from.

I found this to be an issue, not only with The Godfather but Coppola’s style of filmmaking in general. Coppola sure likes to take his time developing the story and this is also the case with his other known masterpieces like Apocalypse Now and especially The Conversation.

In The Godfather, for example, way too much time is spent on mobsters sitting in a room, talking about how are they about to do something, giving each other “dirty looks” and telling each other that it’s “nothing personal, just business.” Coppola prefers talking instead of action. I’m not saying that Coppola is “doing it wrong,” but his style is not for everyone. And if you prefer action and fast-paced films, it is quite possible that you might find The Godfather a bit tedious.

Another criticism I came across was Al Pacino’s performance in the movie, and I must say: I mostly agree with this one.

Now, don’t get me wrong! I think that Pacino is an excellent actor, but I don’t think that he deserved the Oscar nomination for playing Micahel in the first movie. This is not to say that Pacino didn’t do a solid job, but that he didn’t have an Academy Award-worthy role, to begin with.

In the first Godfather movie, Michael spends the entire film with just one facial expression, saying everything in a monotone voice and keeping his “poker face” 24/7. We almost never see him getting upset, angry, or emotional during the movie, and honestly, that’s not worthy of an Oscar nomination.

That said, his role in the Godfather II was much more demanding and this time we saw Michael getting angry (when he delivers his “In my home!” speech to Pentangeli); upset (when he discovers that it was Fredo who put him and his family in danger); sad (when he finds out that Kay had a miscarriage), and even angrier (when he Kay tells him that she actually aborted the baby). Playing Michael Corleone was much more demanding in the second Godfather movie, and here Pacino definitely deserved his Oscar nomination.

And finally, one could argue that some of the iconic “tough-guy” lines like “I’ll make him an offer he couldn’t refuse,” although impactful back in 1972, have lost some of their power since the release of the film, partly due to being endlessly parodied throughout the decades.

Realism

Although the murder scenes were immensely influential for their time, we can now see that some of them were very illogical and unrealistic.

Firstly, there is no way that an old man like Vito Corleone could get wounded five times and survive. Secondly, where did Sollozzo find such incompetent assassins? Considering how important it was for him to have Vito out of the picture, you would think that he would have sent his best men to do the job, but the guys he sends somehow manage to miss all of Vito’s vital organs. Real gangsters would have made sure to put at least one more bullet in Vito’s head.

Another murder scene that’s even more unrealistic is Carlo Rizzi’s death near the end of the film. In the scene, Carlo enters the car with Clemenza sitting behind him, and Clemenza garrotes him to death while Carlo breaks through the windshield with his legs, as the car drives off. Real mobsters would not even dream of killing someone like this.

Driving around town with a broken windshield with legs protruding through the crack is a sure way to get lots of unwanted attention. What if they were spotted by a police car? Real mafiosos would have finished the job while Carlo is still in the house with no witnesses around, and they would have made sure all the curtains are closed.

The ending is also very implausible. As we all know, The Godfather ends with Michael’s soldiers killing the bosses of all the Five Families and Moe Greene, and it appears that this somehow magically solves all of the Corleone family problems. As if the Five Families have all stopped existing after this.

In reality, what would actually happen, is that the murdered bosses would have been quickly replaced by their underbosses. Then, all of these new bosses would have declared war on the Corleone family—a war that Michael would not have had a chance of winning.

Now that we’ve looked at both the positives and the negatives, we can finally reach a verdict.

Conclusion

The Godfather is NOT overrated. Of course, as mentioned before, Coppola’s directing style it’s not for everyone, so it’s perfectly understandable that some people would end up scratching their heads, wondering what was all the hype about after seeing it for the first time.

But even if you don’t like the movie, you have to acknowledge that it is probably the most influential gangster film ever made, with only less than 100 movies about the mafia being made before 1972, but over 400 since then. So, chances are that your favorite mafia movie probably wouldn’t have been made if it wasn’t for The Godfather reviving the (then-dying) genre and inspiring countless film directors to make their own gangster flicks.

But, that said, is The Godfather the best gangster film ever made? Well, I don’t think so. Although its influence is undeniable, and it’s certainly one of the best in the genre, I think The Godfather has been surpassed in terms of artistic achievement. So, what is the greatest gangster movie ever made?

The Greatest Gangster Movie of All Time

In my humble opinion, when it comes to the most outstanding achievement in the mafia/gangster genre, it’s a tie between two films: Goodfellas, and Casino (both directed by Martin Scorsese).

Even though The Godfather was the first movie to portray the mafia from their perspective, it unintentionally misled the public to believe that this was how the mafia was in real life.

Years after the release of the film, ex-mobsters like Sammy “The Bull” would say that The Godfather was well received among real mobsters, but this is perhaps because the film portrayed the mafia how the mafia wanted to be portrayed, rather than for being accurate. After watching The Godfather, people thought that life in the mafia was all about honor, respect, and family, but nothing could be further from the truth.

The first movie that realistically portrayed the Italian-American mafia was Scorcese’s Goodfellas. Unlike The Godfather, which is based on a fictional novel, Goodfellas is based on actual events and it doesn’t romanticize life in the mafia.

And no! It’s not about family, respect, honor, or any of that stuff. It’s about greed, power, money, and lots of backstabbing. All in all, a bunch of sociopaths robbing people, dealing drugs, threatening and beating common citizens, and killing each other over shine boxes.

After watching The Godfather, guys wanted to be like Vito Corleone; after watching The Godfather Part II, guys wanted to be like Michael Corleone; but after watching Goodfellas, they were relieved for not being like any of the characters in the movie. You can put it like this: The Godfather is how the mafia wanted to be portrayed on film; Goodfellas is how they actually were.

Also, unlike The Godfather, which favors talking a bit too much, Goodfellas perfectly balances the action with the dialogue, creating a fast-paced masterpiece that is guaranteed to keep interested till the very end. Compared with Coppola, Scorcese’s storytelling techniques are superior on every level. I can understand how someone could find The Godfather a bit tedious, but I can’t say the same for Goodfellas. It’s perfectly fine to dislike Goodfellas, but I have yet to find a person who found it boring.

Five years after releasing Goodfellas, Scorsese would make another equally superb gangster masterpiece—Casino. Like Goodfellas, Casino is based on actual events and is a realistic portrayal of the mafia.

Initially, the film received somewhat mixed reception for being a bit too similar to Goodfellas, but its reputation has grown considerably over the years, and today, it enjoys equal status to its predecessor, with some critics even considering it a more mature work than Goodfellas.

Both movies are amazing and, honestly, I can’t choose a favorite. In my humble opinion, Goodfellas and Casino are the pinnacles of the gangster genre, and I don’t expect them to be dethroned any time soon.

So there you have it! What do you think about The Godfather? Do you think it’s overrated? Do you think it’s the greatest gangster movie of all time? Thank you for reading and have a nice day!