The Godfather Opening Sequence

The Godfather is a film based on a successful book by Mario Puzo. The film chronicles the life of an Italian-American mafia family who are forced to confront multiple issues revolving around the criminal world. The notion of sophistication is prominent throughout the whole film franchise of The Godfather and is a typical feature in films which are based on crime drama.

This notion of sophistication can be seen throughout this opening sequence including the fact that all the men are wearing very smart suits and combined with the very sophisticated and intriguing music which plays at the start of the sequence and makes the sequence seem very urbane and erudite. When the film was made Marlon Brando was one of the biggest names in cinematic history and is thus one of the primary reasons many original people saw this film when it was released.

The use of very dark colours can be seen throughout the sequence which highlights a dark but equally sophisticated atmosphere and thus reflects the dark but intriguing characters which are shown throughout the films.

As the scene opens the audience can see a black screen whilst the infamous ‘Godfather theme’ plays. The music entices the audience and helps create a very dark and intriguing atmosphere.

0:11 is the first time dialogue can be heard, at first it is a voiceover however the camera gradually fades in so that a man’s face can be seen at 0:14 within a close-up which gradually zooms out so that at around 0:50 the shot is more of a mid-shot. The accent the man speaks with is a very strong Italian accent however his first sentence is “I believe in America”. This is a typical representation of foreign people following an ‘American dream’ type outlook on society. Also the use of the black screen whilst this first line is being said creates a generic feel that all Italians (or possibly all people) ‘believe in America’.

The man starts discussing how he allowed his daughter to go out one night with her boyfriend and her boyfriend’s friends only to find that she had been physically attacked and is thus in a great deal of pain, much to the man’s obvious dismay. There are also two very distinctive lights which appear opposite each other at around 0:40 and could resemble sinister eyes watching the man in the background. The ‘eyes’ become much clearer as the shot continues to zoom out, so much so that by 1:05 the ‘eyes’ are now a very clear and prominent aspect in the shot. The ‘eyes’ could be shown in the shot in order to emphasize that something sinister and dark I watching the man which could create a haunting atmosphere.

This, combined with the very chilling story about his daughter being brutally attacked creates a very dark atmosphere, the lighting of the shot emphasizes this further as the ‘eyes’ and the man are the only objects shown in the shot, this creates the sense that the man is alone, since the audience so far have not seen anyone else it anticipates them into thinking who the man is talking to and why exactly is he telling them this information and what he expects him to do when

Since the camera continues to zoom out the shot at 1:38, the shot now shows a mid-shot of the man who was originally talking and also a red desk (possibly indicating that danger is in front of the man or that the man in front is a royalty figure), and a hand of an unidentified man resting it on his face. The man begins weeping before he can fully finish his story; once this happens the hand suddenly moves and indicates to another man to bring the weeping man some tissues. This shows how he is fully in charge of the situation, the fact that the man does not need to use dialogue to indicate another man to deliver something highlights that he is in charge.

The fact that the weeping man is essentially pleading for the man opposite to help him and how the man does not show any emotion any distinct emotion could show that the weeping man is in a kind of aura state around the man opposite. The man proceeds to say that the men who attacked his daughter were set free thus causing him to visit Don Corleone (the man opposite). This indicates that Don Corleone is a criminal however the way the man talks about him such as ending his final sentence with the Don Corleone, this is similar to when people address royalty just instead of saying sir/madam he says Don Corleone, this (combined with the royalty-type furniture) highlights that Don Corleone is considered a royalty-type figure and clearly has a vast amount of respect around him. This is typical of many crime films with the head of the Mafia being seen in a very dark but respectable way, this resembles their character as although they are very dark and sinister they are greatly respected and have a vast amount of supporters. Don Corleone then asks what the man specifically wants from him, the man then walks up to Don Corleone until there is then a two shot at 2:57, the audience can hear the man’s heavy breathing at this point however they cannot hear any dialogue, this ‘secret talk’ is a very famous cliché of film (see Cinemassacre’s top 10 worst movie cliché’s link below) and is done to make the audience ponder exactly what has been said.

So far there has been no editing whatsoever in the sequence and thus means there is a very slow but equally intriguing atmosphere as the audience ponders who the men is talking to and at the same time are anticipating to see Marlon Brando in the film.

At 3:01 the first edit is made thus signifying the ‘reveal’ of Marlon Brando as Don Corleone, the camera stays on Marlon for roughly 12 seconds, the majority of this time Marlon does not say any dialogue, this could be due to the films of the time as not many edits were made with the technology of the time, very often there would be very long takes of each shot, a prime example would be Alfred Hitchcock film Rope which uses minimal edits. The long take of Marlon Brando simply looking on the floor could be done to highlight to the audience the ‘reveal’ of Marlon Brando as the head of the Italian mafia. There are then shot/reverse shots on both the men as they exchange dialogue.

The audience can see clearly at 3:19 in a mid-shot that Don Corleone is stroking a cat on his lap. Cats are very often used as pets for criminals; a prime example would be Blowfelt in the James Bond franchise who frequently strokes a cat. The use of the cat therefore signifies an evil but sophisticated character as cats are very small, delicate creatures and are often considered sophisticate due to the worship from Ancient Egypt.

From the shot at 3:50 it is clear that Don Corleone has a vast amount of light behind him whilst the man does not have much and is left in the dark, this shows how the Don is more heroic and has a vast amount of respect behind him whilst the man is unsupported. The Don the continues to say he will not help the man as he does not believe the man deserves it from him considering the man only visits him when he wants help. The man says he wants Don Corleone to help him with “justice” by killing the men who attacked his daughter however The Don says “that is not justice, your daughter is still alive”, this indicates that The Don has a kind of “eye for an eye” attitude which is typical of the people who are involved in the criminal world and also highlights a brutal realty towards the his views. Don Corleone implies that he is irritated by the fact that the man does not call him “Godfather”, this will later have an interesting effect as the sequence continues.

At 4:36 the man then says that he would be thankful if he made them “suffer” instead, once he says this he then starts to question how much he should pay Don Corleone, the Don then raises his head as if the man has suddenly caught his attention, there is then a long shot which establishes the room and is the first time other people are shown to be in the room, they are all wearing smart, black suits, this  again resembles their dark but equally sophisticated and respectable characters. As Don Corleone stand up there is another man at the forefront who also stands up, this could resemble how the man is becoming surrounded as though Don Corleone is circling him like a predator. Don Corleone then states he feels he is treating him with disrespect by offering him money to commit crime. This could indicate to the audience that The Don does have morals and sticks with them firmly, money is often thought of as an indicator of selfishness and evil and since Don Corleone refuses to commit crime for money highlights that he is the protagonist of the film and also makes him more likeable to the audience as they can see he is not selfish.

He then starts to say that he will now make the men suffer but on the condition that the man will have a call from him in the future asking him to do ‘a job’ for him and he must accept. At 5:36 the man finally calls the Don Corleone “Godfather” whilst slightly bowing his head, this indicates how he has listened to Don Corleone and how Don Corleone has asserted his authority onto the man. The use of the man slightly bowing his head indicates that he considers Don Corleone royalty. This shows how the mafia had so much power in their prime and the respect people had for them despite the horrific, dark effects they had on society. I think this would be very good to include in our project involving some sort of character development by highlighting the vulnerability of one character and the authority of another by simply having the vulnerable man change the name he calls the man with authority, instead of "Gadfather" this could easily be changed to "sir" or "madam" and will both create the same or at least a similar effect.

Here is a shot taken from 1:19, if you look very closely there are two orange dots on the left side of the image which could resemble eyes, i discussed the impact and use of this earlier in the blog.

Here is an image taken from 3:02 just after the 'reveal' of Marlon Brando in the role of Don Corleone 

Here is an image taken from 3:13, as you can see half the room is very dark highlighting the sinister characters whilst the furniture in the other half of the shot are more sophisticated and respectable with a 'royalty' red used across the carpets indicating the sophistication of the family. Very rich, old-fashioned furniture indicates again the sophistication but also the old-fashioned views of the family, the old-fashioned views will link to the "eye for an eye" type belief of Don Corleone which I referred to in the blog.