A great pulp drama co-authored for the screen by Coppola and novelist Mario Puzo (…) We think we’re watching a Mafia crime story but we’re actually watching one of the great American family melodramas. The casting is nothing to sneeze at either with Marlon Brando delivering one of the signature performances of his career and the very young Al Pacino seizing his screen destiny. So many great roles and characters in this movie and then there’s that eternally haunting Nino Rota score. As for the storytellng, The Godfather is an intricately constructed gem that simultaneously kicks ass. — Marjorie Baumgarten