The Godfather Saga (Or Whatever You Want To Call It)

The Godfather: A Novel For Television (1977)

Runtime: 434 minutes (yes, you read that right)

Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola

Starring: This is obvious but I'll mention it anyway: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, James Caan, etc.

From: Paramount

Here's something I've been wanting to see for years but haven't been able to, for various reasons; whether it be under the name it's listed on IMDb, AMC using the alternate title of The Godfather Saga, or something else, here is the two Godfather movies re-edited into chronological order with additional scenes added. While I know most or all of those scenes were on the DVD box set release and surely on the Blu-Ray release, seeing them put into this massive undertaking was a thing I've been waiting a long time to see. I finally got a chance from the AMC network, which happens to be a network that I think is shit compared to their original days when they were like TCM (and I could give a good Goddamn about their highly regarded shows) but I still watched them for 10 hours in a row from 8 PM Eastern time all the way to 6 AM; how I made it I don't know but I did. Sure, it took some multitasking to make it the entire way... I still call it a success.

Back in February of '10 I saw the first movie and then the second one on Blu-Ray; you can go read those reviews to get my take on those movies. It also happens that late that month the first Godfather happened to be at AMC's Universal Studios location, and I was happy to see such a classic in that way.

As for my 10 hour experience, I'll have to echo the opinion that the original story was best the way it was told. The first movie is awesome as is and the added scenes-while interesting-don't add too much. The second movie should be how it is, which is the rist of Vito Corleone early in the 20^th century along with the downfall of Michael Corleone in the middle of the century. It just worked best the original way it was told. Still, I am quite happy I got to see the alternate version.

I'll be back Wednesday night with another review.