I had seen this seminal classic in bits and pieces before, but I think this was the first time that I watched it completely in one sitting. I enjoyed it as a masterful story told with great pacing. You don’t see pacing like this in movies nowadays, where the main character are just wandering the wilderness without really advancing the plot. The main characters played by Brando, Pacino, Duvall were great but the other characters seemed like caricatures. In fact, I would argue that the plot isn’t very compelling but you watch the movie just to see those actors play their characters. I guess another reason would be to get a glimpse of how the top levels of the mafia work – but who knows if that is accurate or not.

I’m going to give the Godfather a 3 out of 5 star rating because while I was never bored while watching it, I just didn’t connect with it such that I would be fascinated about their world, or have a desire to watch the sequels.