Anyone tired of Godfather being #1?
 

So on every single list that I read judging the “greatest” movies, The Godfather alway has to be on the top spot no matter what list. The sam goes for lists like gangster and Best Picture Winners. I loved that movie too, but I liked On The Waterfront just as much.
I also kind of wish that Cabaret won Best Picture in 1972, because of all the hype, but at least it took home Best Director and more awards than Godfather.
It is not all about Godfather, other films have cinematic qualities that are different from Godfather and something else should be number one sometime.

Re: Anyone tired of Godfather being #1?
 

It's hard to understand why a movie which glorifies murderous thugs would be at the top of any list.

Sorry to say, but I'm a Coppola nut, and The Godfather is indeed my number 1. But I can name a couple movie rating aggregation sites that say otherwise.

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/dave/list/off...feature-films/
RYM: https://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/film/all-time/
Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/chart/top/

1) It doesnt glorify them


2) Art isn't here to reflect morality back to us. It is to speak about the human condition, of which there are immoral elements


3) The quality of a film is based on the quality of the filmmaking, not that we align ourselves with the actions of its characters.

4) This isn't hard to understand

I wouldn't even place the movie on my top 100. Maybe not even 200. But I also couldn't care less that it tops so many lists, or is always present. Because it's pretty clearly a great movie on any level one can consider it. Even as a critic of it I don't know what I would criticize if I was to bother.

I would say that on film lists that I read, there's a pretty predictable rotation between Citizen Kane, 2001, and The Godfather being number one and . . . eh.

More and more, I don't get much out of "best of" lists. They're just lists of movies I've already seen, and generally speaking it's pretty clear that what makes a movie great to me isn't what the broader consensus is.

It's kind of like if someone made a best foods list and pizza was always at the top, you know? Like, I already know what pizza is. I already know how I feel about pizza. But it's also a waste of my time and energy being too worked up about other people liking pizza so much.

Anyone tired of Godfather being #1?
YES

Does it bother me?
NO

Re: Anyone tired of Godfather being #1?
 

And I say Goodfellas is still the better mob movie (just as far as entertainment factor, pacing, etc.) ;)

What is more annoying than the Godfather always being number one, is the constant rejection of the most obvious point that the sequel is better.

The third one is definitely dogshit though

It doesn't. Not even in the film itself, but definitely not when you consider the trilogy as a whole.

To be clear, I'm not saying this is my opinion. I'm saying it's just right there in the film(s), unmistakeably.

Re: Anyone tired of Godfather being #1?
 

Anyway, the point of those lists is not to be interesting (or, at least, it shouldn't be, even if in practice that's precisely the point of them), so no, I don't mind a truly great film routinely being called the greatest, though I think in practice it's more just in the mix. If you asked me to pick one film that everyone just kind of says is the greatest by default it would've been Citizen Kane (not that I disagree with that choice, either).

Yeah, I can't say that I've seen any lists that have TG as number 1.

It seems that usually either Citizen Kane or Vertigo in fairly recent times have captured the GOAT spot. These opinions change of course from generation to generation. Still, the films themselves haven't.

It takes some imagination to elect greats of all time in part because of the changes in style, subject matter, and production. A discerning mind is necessary to look at films of an earlier era and not detract from them the advances that have come along since then. IMO it helps to imagine the impact that films of an earlier era had during their times.

Re: Anyone tired of Godfather being #1?
 

Yeah, I definitely try to consider influence. Obviously a lot of us come to classics well after the things in them have faded and dispersed into cliché, even if they were revolutionary at the time, so in some sense the degree to which something seems trite is actually the degree to which it should be given credit, because it's a measure of how far and wide its influence was on everything that's come since.

That's how I usually approach watching classic films, I try to 'see them' for the time that they were made for. It's easy for me because the majority of movies I watch are old, really old...It's like my movie mindset is set to the mid 20th century....And yet I don't get the love for Vertigo (even though I did rate it a 4/5) and I've never been in the Godfather camp.

Re: Anyone tired of Godfather being #1?
 

Don't understand why it would bother anyone. It's a list. It has no bearing on your tastes or your preferences. It's just... a list :shrug:

Well, yes and no. I think it's clear Michael isn't an admirable person and he's ruined his family, but also the movie does portray Vito Corleone as a legitimate alternative to a legal system that is corrupt and prejudiced. In a lot of ways, it embraces the Robin Hood fantasy that the mafia loves.





But to the main point, of course people love to see a good villain on stage, that is as old as drama itself.

It's not embracing it. It's presenting it as a historical reality "of the times".

Re: Anyone tired of Godfather being #1?
 

Saying Godfather is the best movie is like saying Stairway to Heaven is the best Zeppelin song. It's a boring, pedestrian take, but I can't find an argument against it. It's a solid movie.

Re: Anyone tired of Godfather being #1?
 

I definitely don't understand being bothered. No movie lists are intended to be definitive or objective. They're all just a collection of opinions and are just as worthless as yours, mine, and everyone else's opinion. If you don't like a particular GOAT list, just ignore it and go to a different one for recommendations.

The Godfather, Citizen Kane, The Rules of the Game, The Empire Strikes Back, The Shawshank Redemption - I like them, but they are nowhere near the top of my list, despite topping most others. As far as Citizen Kane and The Rules of the Game is concerned, it's been 80 or so years so if they continue to top lists I keep thinking, "Nothing better has been made in the 80 subsequent years? Really?"

My personal list-toppers are mostly pretty standard. Raiders of the Lost Ark has never been bettered for me, but there are Coen Bros films, and some pretty great spooky and/or gory horror films that belong at the top of mine. Can't forget Picnic at Hanging Rock either. It doesn't annoy me that The Godfather often comes up #1, but I love surprises so it doesn't please me either.