The Godfather

1) The Godfather was an classic American film, released in 1972. It was directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The Godfather was his 7th film and was nominated for 11 awards, however it only won three; Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando) and Best adapted screenplay. It grossed 244 million dollars, worldwide, making it one of the top grossing films of all time. The Movie starred; Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, and Talia Shire. The Godfather depicts many family values and focuses on the “anti-heros,” which means we root for the bad guys. Although the Corleone family can be killers throughout parts of the film, all of their actions were made with the thought of the family in mind. That is the reason the audience can maintain their respect for these “bad guys,” because they obviously aren’t so bad after all.

2) http://www.bhagwad.com/blog/2011/personal/michael-vs-vito-corleone-who-was-a-better-don-in-the-godfather.html/

This article I found, was a compare and contrast of Don Vito Corleone and his son ,and heir to the family business, Don Michael Corleone. This was a brief summary that analyzed both films; The Godfather and The Godfather part II. The article opened with the general thought that everyone who has seen the film thinks Michael was a better Don than his father because he established power and made a lot of money. However the article stressed the importance of the respect and friendship that Don Vito got from everyone, along with the opposite attitude that Michael had.

3) To relate this article to the screening, it shows how Michael’s thought process changed throughout the course of the movie as well as the movies after this one. In the beginning of the film, at the wedding, it was clear that Michael did not want any part of what his family business dealt with. He had just returned from the war and came off as a young innocent character among his family members who were all about putting in work for the family. As time went on, Michael seemed to buy into the family lifestyle as more things happened, such as his fathers shooting and the death of his brother Sonny. It was almost as if instinct took over, the way he took over and stepped in as the decision maker. Because of all this, we all see Michael’s transformation in to everything he wasn’t, in the beginning of the movie; which is Don Michael Corleone.

4) The only thing I can say about the Godfather is; Wow. Great movie, great story line, great trilogy. The acting, story line, themes, and underlaying messages, were really superb. Al Pacino, is one of my favorite actors. This film defines American history and was the backbone to numerous mafia related story lines, in today’s television and motion pictures. Coppola does a great job in his foreshadowing in transition, in order to keep the audience yearning for more. This, as well as the sequel, will always be two of my favorite movies of all time. Truly an American classic.

The Graduate

The Graduate was a 1967 film, starring Dustin Hoffman. It was directed by Mike Nichols. Nichols is one of twelve people to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and a Tony Award. The Graduate was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, but only  won for best director. The story line was originally written by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham. It was one of the first true youth rebellion movies, and depicted the actions of college graduates. The values of society were shown through examples of social satire throughout the movie. The rapid cutting, editing, and use of sound to connect scenes are some of the respected techniques used in the Graduate. 

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19671226/REVIEWS/712260301/1023

This Article by renown movie critic, Roger Ebert. He describes story line on how Benjamin was trapped into an affair with Mrs. Robinson, who was the wife of his father's business partner. After the affair ends, he then falls in love with her daughter, Elaine. He, also briefly focused on the actions of Benjamin in the movie and how his attitude progresses from start to finish. 

This can be related to the movie because this was a youth rebellion movie. The progression of Benjamin's attitude was reflected through his actions. In the very beginning of the movie he was very stand-offish, naive and shy, for a 21 year old. However that reflected the way children were in society at the time. Then, towards the end of the movie, Benjamin was rebelling the advice and orders of his elders and thinking much more independently. This all reflected different changes going on in society.

The way the Graduate represented a new age of cinema was through the content of the movie. It was much more vulgar with appropriate adult content, with a lot of the brilliant filming and editing techniques used in film prior to it. So clearly in this transition there were similarities along with the differences. Despite the sexuality and the affair, the underlying love story was very classy, and makes you think more of Benjamin s a character. The Graduate was a great film, and was the beginning of how we view our modern films today.

Casablanca

Casablanca was a film released in 1942. It was Directed by Michael Curtiz. The film was starred by; Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. The film won numerous awards. It won best picture, best screenplay, as well as best director. Most of all, Casablanca is ranked as one of the top three films, on the AFI top 100 list. Humphrey Bogart is the #1 male actor on the AFI male actor list, and Ingrid Bergman is the number three female actor on AFI’s list, in the female category. Casablanca is a story of love, known for its romantic theme during a time of war. Casablanca was based on an unproduced play called; Everybody Comes to Rick’s by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison. The film takes place in Casablanca during the early 1940’s while the war is going on, where two of the characters are try to obtain visas to go to America to get away from the Nazis. An affair that went on created a conflict in the story making it quite a thrill in the movies outcome. This truly was one of the best movies of all time.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1003707-casablanca/

This article was found on the movie review website, Rotten tomatoes. This was the highest approval rating I have ever seen on this website. It is a 97% professional and a 94% audience. The movie definitely deserved its outstanding reviews. The reviews I payed a lot of attention to was the ones written by members of the audience. There were many posts, I reviewed them all and there wasn’t one singe negative one.

Reading this article helped me appreciate the importance of this movie. The famous quotes such as Here’s looking at you kid, Round up the usual suspects, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship,We’ll always have Paris, Of all the gin joints,  in all the towns, in all the world, and she walks into mine are just a few of a long list of quotes that are heavily influenced on todays films.

While I was watching Casablanca, I couldn't help but appreciate the story line. Movies now-a-days, put too much effort into romantic dramas. This was not the case in this movie, the acting was phenomenal and seemed effortless. I am so glad this film got the recognition it truly deserved. It most definitely deserves to be one of the top three movies of all time.

Citizen Kane

1) The film Citizen Kane was released in 1941 and was both starred and directed by a 24 year old man named Orson Welles. Before its release in 1941, the film was almost never released by RKO, because it was a commercial failure. In fact, RKO almost burned the negative. Luckily it was a blessing it was released because, Citizen Kane became the number one, all-time, rated film in 1998 by the American Film Institute. Im sure that since Citizen Kane was Welles’ first movie, that he made, he was not expecting such a great result. In the year 1942, Citizen Kane was nominated for nine academy awards, however it only won for best writing, and original screenplay.  After the Oscars were all said and done, RKO put the film into a vault and Welles wasn’t allowed to have full control in filmmaking anymore, since he had no previous movie-making experience. Welles was known for his radio dramas, and mainly for “War of the Worlds.” The film was based on the life of,wealthy, William Randolph Hearst. Charles Foster Kane, who is the main character, depicts the life of Hearst who wasn’t amused by the film,very much. The newspaper business was the main theme of this movie, as well as the flashbacks, in an attempt to try and figure out what Kane’s last world “Rosebud,” meant. 

(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kane2/)

2) This article in regards to the film Citizen Kane, this article from PBS goes into some detail about the synopsis of the film. It mainly covered the comparison to William Randolph Hearst. It describes how Hearst tried his hardest to prevent the release of the film. Welles was very dead-on with his depiction of the wealthy newspaper tycoon and because of it, he was determined to not be embarrassed. Although he was almost successful he clearly ended up failing, and Citizen Kane became the best film of all time.

3) In relation to the film, it shows how the depiction of Hearst was very accurate. For his first ever film it was astonishing, that he struck such a nerve with the 76 year old newspaper tycoon. If not for its release it wouldn’t have topped the list of most notable movies in American history.

4) Citizen Kane is the number one film in history for a reason. It pioneered in its different lighting scenes for many films in the future. Seen throughout the film in numerous scenes was the motif of the snow globe, which reminds Kane of his mother and his childhood. Overall, I am pretty upset that this is considered to be the greatest movie of all time. The content was interesting but it was clearly the quality of how it was made, won people over in the end.

Gone With The Wind

1) The movie, Gone with the Wind, was originally a novel written in 1936, by Margaret Mitchell. Her novel took a total of ten years for her, to write. She eventually sold the rights of her novel for a total of $50,000. The owner of the rights, and the producer of Gone with the Wind, was David O. Selznick. It was on of the first films that were shot in technicolor. The budget of the motion picture was an astounding 3.9 million dollars, which ended up being, well worth it. It was Americas top grossed film, up until 1966 at $500,000,000 world-wide. It was also the longest film ever made until 1939. Its length clocked in at 3 hours and 44 minutes. The international success resulted in numerous Academy awards for Gone with the wind, in nine different categories.

2)                                             (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gone_with_the_wind/)

This article I found on the movie critic website “Rotten Tomatoes,” Summarizes the story line and the cast of the American classical movie, Gone with the Wind. The cast consisted of legendary actors and actresses such as; Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, Hattie McDaniel,  and Butterfly McQueen, just to name a few. It stresses how the story became a very beloved movie in the history of American films. Also as a quick synopsis; The story opens up in 1861 in the south and involves a young southern belle named Scarlet O’hara, who is a hopeless romantic. She throws herself, on numerous occasions, at Ashley Wilkes who is marrying on of her close peers Melanie. A wealthy man named Rhett Butler, tries to woe Scarlet throughout the movie and recieved mixed reactions on many different occasions. But, despite all of these romance conflicts the biggest conflict is the civil war that is going on against the North, which are better known as the Yankees. These American themes went hand-in-hand to put together a very beloved movie that reflects our patriotic tradition.

3) In regards to the screening, this article has graded it as a very high rating. It is a 95% professional rating and a 91% audience rating. I personally know how hard the critics are on Rotten Tomatoes are. They are very reliable in rating movies. A movie must be great if it has a high approval rating. It is no secret that Gone with the Wind’s cinematography is praised and the movie’s story line and history plays a large role as the foundation to the movies we see today.

4) I am very grateful to be given the opportunity to finally see, what is said to be one of the most influential movies in our country’s history. The story line was very good and kept my attention the entire time. The roles were played with exceptional quality and the  way it was filmed in brilliant color, which was very respectable, and had to change the way people thought about movies from that point on. I enjoyed Gone with the Wind and it should be seen by every American, so they can finally be exposed to a rare style if film that can be imitated but never duplicated.

Stagecoach

1) Stagecoach was an American, John Ford, film released in 1939. It was released during a time, where it is said to be the greatest period in American Movie making. Ford, won four “best director” awards for films in his illustrious career. He was mainly known for his array of westerns, Military films, and his social dramas. Although Ford was told that westerns held a high risk on ruining his career, he was persistent and it turned out to work well in his favor, and it showed. He combined action, drama, and humor, in Stagecoach. Along with the genres he incorporated, the main story line consisted of a set of symbolic characters in a stagecoach set to leave Tonto, New Mexico for a settlement far away in Lordsburg, with a diverse set of passengers along with it such as an alcoholic doctor, two women, and a bank manager who has taken off with his client's money. Little do they know, along the way Geronimo becomes an obstacle and attacks, making the trip a tad more interesting. 

2) “Relegated to B-movie status by the mid-1930s, the western was regenerated most prominently by John_Ford's Stagecoach in 1939. Ford and screenwriter Dudley_Nichols artfully balanced the genre's standard action with the character studies and quality production values of prestigious 1930s films. In the microcosm of the stagecoach, the confrontation between "civilization" and "savagery," Western future and Eastern past, is played out among characters journeying through hostile Apache territory, with honor-bound outlaw Ringo fighting valiantly for a society that shuns him. Though not the top-billed player, and then a B-movie actor, John_Wayne as Ringo became the star hero from the moment that Ford introduces him with a rare kinetic flourish. Ford here introduced his signature Western setting of Monument Valley, lending Stagecoach a realism that set it apart from studio-bound films; and his deep focus interiors preceded Citizen_Kane by two years. A critical and commercial hit, Stagecoach helped spearhead the revival of the Western as a viable A-feature, and it turned Wayne into an A-list star. When he made Citizen_Kane, Orson_Welles claimed that he learned everything about directing movies from watching Stagecoach more than 40 times. Lucia Bozzola, Rovi” (http://www.starpulse.com/Movies/Stagecoach/Review/)

3) This article covers the main aspects of the film, on as well as off of the screen. Ford, took an average film and made one of the greatest films in AMerican history. It reinforces Ford’s use of social satire, in his beloved western style. He compared the civilized beings to Geronimo’s barbarians, and depicted the “good guys” winning. The off screen aspects of the film, include the brilliant cinematography, for the era of the films release, as well as the emergence of John Wayne, in his first major role in a film. 

4) In my opinion, I have to give respect to one of the great movies in our country’s history, however I thought this movie was painful. I can appreciate the social messages that the plot consisted of, as well as the status of the different individual characters. So, clearly the content of the message was good, in my eyes. Overall, I am not a huge fan of western films, and the fact that it was in black and white, was very painful to watch. If not for the scene where Geronimo and his men attacked, I might have fallen asleep. However, people should see his movie, since it is such an iconic film in our history. 

The Gold Rush

The Gold Rush, is a silent film released in 1925, and was taken at 24 frames per second. It was starred, as well as directed by Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin was said to be one of the greatest filmmakers of his time. I would have to agree with that. It was a silent film, but the acting was worth a thousand words, in regards of impacting the audience. This film was the first one of its time to be over an hour long. Also, it had a $923,000 budget. 

The plot of the story started out in the Yukon area of Alaska with a numerous amount of individuals partaking in the Klondike Gold Rush. The Tramp, who is Chaplin’s famous persona, was one of those individuals, who was labeled as “The Lone Prospector.” A snowstorm leads The Tramp to a cabin, that was located in the middle of nowhere to a man named Big Jim McKay, played by Mack Swain, and a fugitive named Black Larsen, who was played by Tom Murray. Through many different comic antics for means of survival, the fugitive falls off of a cliff and dies. The Tramp ultimately gives prospecting up, when he leaves and finds a gold rush town. He took a job looking after a cabin and falls in love with a girl at a local bar scene. Her name was Georgia, played by Georgia Hale. Georgia leads him on and his love for her grows. They set up a date on new years eve but she is a “no show.” Because of a note he believes Georgia has fallen in love with him. Little did he know, the Tramp’s letter was not meant for him. Later on, The Tramp and Big Jim strike fortune and became multi millionaires. He runs into Georgia and the film ends with her and the Tramp sharing a kiss, reflecting their new found relationship.

“The Gold Rush (1925) is the quintessential Chaplin/Little Tramp film, with a balance of slapstick comedy and pantomime, social satire, and emotional and dramatic moments of tenderness. It was Chaplin's own personal favorite film, that showcases the classic Tramp character (referred to as "The Little Fellow" in the re-release version) as a romantic idealist and lone gold prospector at the turn of the century, with his cane, derby, distinctive walk, tight shabby suit, and mustache.

Classic scenes include the starvation scene of two cabin-marooned prospectors boiling and fastidiously eating a stewed shoe, the Tramp's cabin-mate deliriously imagining his companion as a large chicken, the teetering cabin on the edge of a cliff, and Chaplin's lonely fantasized New Year's Eve party (with the dancing dinner rolls routine) when he waqits for a girl who never comes.

Early working titles for the film included Lucky Strike and The Northern Story. The film, inspired in part by the gruesome Donner Party story, was shot (over a period of 15 months from spring 1924-summer 1925) both on a Hollywood studio back lot and in Truckee, California/Nevada, and premiered in New York at the Strand Theatre in mid-August, 1925. Chaplin's film was re-released in 1942 with added sound narration and music, both spoken and composed/arranged by Chaplin.”(http://www.filmsite.org/gold.html) This article is, very much so, correct. The balance of comic relief and brilliant sentimental emotion, did wonders  for audiences of numerous demographics. The conflict of the Tramp’s love for Georgia, expressed the social problem of respect for people based on their economic status. Acts of irony were extremely funny throughout the entire length of the film

Analysis

Personally, this was a very good movie for me. Going into it, I thought that not being able to relate to sound was going to be harder to understand. However it was quite the contrary. It was interesting to be introduced to the type of humor of the 1920’s. The absence of sound made my sense of sight greater, and required me to put in extra effort to pay attention to the actions taking place. I loved the irony and wholesome anecdotes. This film deserves to be known as the foundation to film as we know it today, and I recommend everyone to see it at some point, as soon as possible.