I watched it recently for the first time, and I really don’t get why it’s so loved. IMDB rates it as the second-best movie of all time, but it seems far worse than that to me. I like most old movies and see their hype, but The Godfather didn’t do it for me. What am I missing?
Honestly, I think time hurts the movie. Coppola is excellent at his craft. It’s cinematically pretty (though aged) Pacino and Brando nailed it, but the content is no longer relevant. The movie is over 50 years old, it’s not paced for the appetite of this decade. It’s a big, complicated, dark, slow burning movie as a lot of the stuff from the 70’s and 80’s was. At the time the subject matter was fresh-ish, There was still a lot of interest in the Mafia and almost nothing of quality on the topic had been published since the 30’s. If was absolutely the best, for it’s time.
You’re not alone in your feelings on the flick. As some have said, Part II was better, but if you really didn’t care much for Part I, you shouldn’t expect to love part II.