Marlon vs. De Niro

[Il Buono]

Because I am a troublemaker, I post questions like these on the board...

Personally, I do prefer The Godfather series.  I like OUTIA very much, but I think it's very painful and intense at moments, while the Godfather has that traditional Sicilian atmosphere...
Whatyathink?

[aaronson]

 Interesting question! In fact De Niro also plays in the Godafther ( part 2 as young Vito Corleone). The choice is perhaps between an Italian-American Director (Coppola) and an Italian (Leone) one.
 I think that Coppola is better and more trustable when he shows US Italian community than Leone showing AN IMITATION of Jewish community at the beginning of the century coming from russia and poland  

[Il Buono]

You have a point there, but I was more referring to the fact that OUTIA sometimes leaves me with an awkward feeling.

One: I find the rape sequences very disturbing.  Ok, they are rape sequences, but especially the second one goes on for too long I think.

Two: I don't like the actress who plays De Niro's girlfriend.  She isn't even goodlooking in my opinion.

Three: De Niro's character isn't always easy to sympathize with (cf. one)

But don't get me wrong, I like OUTIA very much and I agree that it is a true piece of filmmaking art.

[TBPJMR]

If the question would be open to all movies I'd vote for The Goodfellas, for it's a crime movie. If not, I must vote The Godfather because I do not consider OUTIA just a crime movie. I mean, not only. It's a many faces movie: a friendship movie, a gangster movie, a movie about nostalgia... and on. There's a lot more.

[Il Buono]

I mean:  ::)What do you consider the best movie of the two...

[shorty larsen]

EY Buono, you really are a trouble maker, posting these kind of questions and making us losing some of our faith in our god Leone!!!!

I tell you this because I also think that Godfather is a great movie.

But we're taking about two completely different movies, in its style, in its script, in its sensibility.

[Il Buono]

Yeah, I know man, but it's very calm on the board lately, maybe this kind of troublemaking is what we need!
And trust me, Leone is a god for me too...

Maybe it's interesting to oppose these films against each other, because they handle both about the rising and handling of a mafia-imperium but they do it completely different.  The Godfather does it more in an objective way, while OUTIA does it in a very deepemotional, subjective way.

[Jon]

I assume we mean all three Godfather films together!

Now I think The Godfather trilogy is superb film-making.The performances,the plotting,the performances,the music-itall comes together.I think for once the Academy were right in voting film 1 and 2 for best Picture of the Year.Both films are superb-I think 2 is better but possibly less entertaining than 1.Part 3 is generally regarded as being inferior-it shows signs of a rushed production but the last 45 mins.are brilliant and the final scene is SO moving!

However.I still think OUATIA outclasses it.Why?Both films have great acting[De Niro.Pacino,Brando ,Woods],photography.music,even direction-I think Coppola is also a great director but very erratic.I prefer Morricone's music to Nino Rota's although I love both scores.The attention to detail is flawless in both.

No,where I think Leone's film is better is 2 reasons

A    i think it is a more HONEST film.Although Coppola does show the violence of the Mafia he always seems at pains to show them also as nice people who love family.good food etc.In short,it still glamourises them.Now Leone does not do this,he never glamourises his gangsters.We see Noodles do some horrible things,yet at the end we still feel just a little bit of sympathy for him,without seeing him specifically be 'nice'.


B   Leone's film is more daring and original in its scructure.Godfather 2 also had a flashback scructure,but it was more as story counterpoint.Leone scructures his film so it is open to all manner of interpretations.Godfather 2 still worked OK when the Godfather TV series re-edited it to be in chronological order-not as well,but it still worked].Although I have not seen the shortened ,re-cut-into-chronologicel-order version of OUATIA,the general opinion is that it was awful.

In the end,both films are great,but I think OUATIA is still superior.I wonder what Godfather would have been like if Leone directed it[he was asked]?

[TBPJMR]

I mean:  What do you consider the best movie of the two...

Once Upon A Time In America, no doubt

[Simon]

Yeah! This one's back in town!!
Once Upon A Time In America gets my vote. Best movie ever!!!, but having said that, Brando's performance in The Godfather was far better than De Niro's in OUATIA.
And that's from a mega De Niro fan.

[amc]

I have to say I prefer the Godfather series.  I think the main reason is in the GF's, you genuinely like Michael Corleone and Vito Corleone (Brando and DeNiro both) and you get the sense that even though they are criminals, they still have some morals.

 With Noodles, he really has no morals. (Obviously due to his environment) but I still find myself not really liking him because of the rape thing....

In fact I find myself liking Max more than Noodles.

[BDR529]

You have a point there, but I was more referring to the fact that OUTIA sometimes leaves me with an awkward feeling.

One: I find the rape sequences very disturbing.  Ok, they are rape sequences, but especially the second one goes on for too long I think.

Two: I don't like the actress who plays De Niro's girlfriend.  She isn't even goodlooking in my opinion.

Three: De Niro's character isn't always easy to sympathize with (cf. one)

But don't get me wrong, I like OUTIA very much and I agree that it is a true piece of filmmaking art.

1:  I think Leone did a superb job with the rape scenes, which are horrifying but absolutely necessary for the integrity of the film and the characters.  They're extremely disturbing and hard to watch, and leave a bad taste in your mouth after you see the film, but they SHOULD.  As you said, they are rape sequences.  And the second one does seem to last forever, but again, I think it's better that way--the only reason for it to be short would be to go easy on the audience.

2.  I don't like Elizabeth McGovern either (and it's especially awkward now that Jennifer Connely is grown up and still an actress, and McGovern of course looks nothing like her) but why should she be good looking?  It's not like any of the male characters are exactly stunning.

3.  I think it's a mark of a great filmmaker when he can bring truly unsympathetic characters to the screen and still engage the audience.  Noodles is hard to sympathize with, but he's believable.  If he was a hero I think it would hurt the film's integrity.