Bella's Film History: May 2013

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

The Godfather

1)             Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening.

            Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather”, is one of the best films of all time. The Godfather was directed by Francis Ford Cappola in 1972. Francis Cappola first hit was the Godfather. He came from a very talented family who also happens to own a Vineyard in Napa Valley, California. He is known for the Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, and The Godfather trilogy. The Godfather was nominated for eleven awards and won three for best picture, best actor, and best adapted screenplay. The Godfather II was nominated for eleven awards and won six of them. The main actors were Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, and Talia Shine. This family shows very close family values making one of the themes’ family oriented. Their family values were weddings, baptism, and food. The film had about 50 scenes with food in it. The Godfather made us believe that the criminals and murderers in this film were heroic and the good guy, disregarding everything we originally believed about people like this. There were a total of about 23 murders on scene, this filmed revised the entire Gangster Genre, and actually had an influence on every mob story, like “Good Fellas”, and “Sopranos” etc. This film was one of the highest grossing films of all time in 1972 they totals around $82 million, and in total $244 worldwide. Two most famous lines were “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse”, and “you are taking this very personal it is not personal, it is business”.

2)             Find a related article and summarize the content.

The Godfather is known as one of the best American films ever made, and is also one of the most widely imitated, and quoted films of all time. Marlon Brando and Al Pacino starred as Vito and Corleone. The setting of this film took place in the late 1940’s in New York. Corleone was the head of a mafia family making him the “DON’ or the “Godfather”, causing him to participate in organized crime. After rejecting the family business no one ever expected Michael, Corleon’s youngest son to be the one exact revenge on the men responsible. Michael had enlisted in the Marines to fight in World War II, and when he returned someone attempted to murder his father. After murdering a corrupt police captain, and drug trafficker Michael had no chase but to escape to Sicily to hideout while a gang war erupted in New York. His wife that he married was murdered by family enemies who were attempting to get him t. The sister Connie Husband betrayed Sonny causing him to lose his life. When Michael returned home he convinced his main girlfriend Kay to marry him. The original DON recovered from his injuries, and made peace with rivals. Once Michael was crowned the new DON he led the family to a new era of prosperity. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/20076/The-Godfather/overview

3)             Apply the article to the film screened in class.

            The article touched based on mostly everything that we went over in class except the history of Francis Ford Cappola. The film was basically about the original DON preparing to step down and past his torch to his son Michael who had went to war and showed he was brave and focused enough to take on the job. The article did not change any of my perception of the film.

4)             Write a critical analysis of the film

            In conclusion I think this was a very good move and story. Growing up around crime I can understand many of the stories although I have never experienced the murders and crime in the same way. I did realize all of my favorite movies like New Jack City, Blue Hill Avenue, and Paid in Full all touched base of the Godfather so without this film there would not have been any of my favorite movies in the first place. This rich and enthralling film is characterized by superb acting and choreography authentic recreation of the period and a bittersweet romantic subplot. The Godfather keeps you engaged, and answers all questions you may have had. This is a classical movie that everyone must see at some point in his life.

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM
1) ( x ) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class.

2) ( x ) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper.

3) ( x ) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text.

4) ( x ) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper.

5) ( x ) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read.

6) ( x ) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography.

7) ( x ) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality.

8) ( x ) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper.

Name: _Nabilah Smith__ Date: __5/7/2013___

The Graduate

1) Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening.

The Graduate was directed by Mike Nichol in 1967, He was one of the only twelve people who won all of the major American entertainment awards. Mike Nichols has also directed other movies such as Catch 22, Birdcage, and Closer Angels in America. The graduate was written by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham and grossed $40 million at the Box Office. This film was one of the first true youth rebellion movies that came in between the generation gap. The main character Benjamin was trying figure out what to do after graduation. They were able to experiment with camera shots and cutting, and showed awareness of film as intrusive art. The cuts and camera movement were often obvious to the viewer. The director of this film Mike Nichol was very innovative. They were able to connect one scene to another with the use of sound and dialogue. They also showed overlapping action by starting in one scene and ending in another. In the running scene at the end they used long lens which compressed space. They displayed rapid cutting/editing and rolling focus to change the perception. The tight framing is symbolic of uptight Benjamin by showing constrained vocal response, track star, doesn’t smoke, nervous, alienated, people were crowding him and telling him what to do; he was confused about his future.

2) Find a related article and summarize the content.

The Graduate is considered one of the key ground breaking films of the late 1960s. The Graduate paved the way for the future of film making by helping to create a new era of film making. This film was about a college graduate who films himself lost, and alienated after graduating and entering the “real world”. He began to question the values of society and his social and sexual beliefs began to change. This film also expressed the changes taking place in Hollywood. There were new younger directors like Mike Nichols who had only directed one previous film. Mike Nichols had instantly become a major new talent in America Film after winning an academy award for Best Director. This film portrayed the mood for America’s youth of the 1960s during the escalation of Vietnam War. The film was adapted first for the stage at London’s Gielgud Theaters, and then premiered on Broadway in early April of 2002. http://www.filmsite.org/grad.html

3) Apply the article to the film screened in class.

The article that I read on http://www.filmsite.org/grad.html was very brief. It discussed everything we went over in class, and it told the story line of the film. This article made it clear that The Graduate helps to set in motion a new era of film making. At that time the main character Benjamin Braddock was not the only college graduate who felt alienated and a drift in the shifting, social, and sexual morals of the 1960s, who were questioning the values of society. This film had the opportunity to premiere on Broadway in early April 20002 with Kathleen Turner as Mrs. Robinson. The things that Benjamin went through displayed a boy who was always put in awkward and ethical situations that you too would have understood why he acted the way that he did. Over all the film was great.

4) Write a critical analysis of the film

I believed The Graduate was an amazing film with a very interesting, humorous storyline. The Graduate gave Dustin Hoffman who starred as Benjamin, the spotlight and buzz that he needed to help him grow to become one of the greatest actors of his time. Not only was this film entertaining it was also nominated for 8 Oscar awards. Mike Nichols did an amazing job directing The Graduate and that is why he won Best Director at the Oscars. The Graduate charted number 7 on the A.F.I.'s Top 100 Best Films of all time. This film gave us the idea of how the sixties were full of rebellious youth similar to the graduate who went against the norm and felt misunderstood. This film displayed drama, comedy, romance, as well as suspense. The Seductive and manipulative older woman gave the film the witty and intriguing characteristic. I can relate to The Graduate because as I am soon to become a college graduate, I often wonder what is next. I believe this film should have won more awards than it did because it was a really good movie.