“It’s like epic poetry”: Martin Scorsese names his favourite ‘Godfather’ movie
Even if they weren’t long-time close friends, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola would still be mentioned in the same breath due to their shared heritage, fondness for crime stories, and status as two of American cinema’s greatest-ever directors.
The powerhouse Italian-Americans first met at a film festival in 1970 before either of them had caught their big break as filmmakers, and they’ve maintained a close bond ever since. Individually and collectively, they’ve become virtually synonymous with the gangster flick, intertwining them even further.
Ask anyone to name the best gangster films to ever emerge from Hollywood, and their opinion isn’t worth listening to if they don’t mention Coppola’s first two Godfather movies or Scorsese’s Goodfellas. They’ve made more than that, sure, but those are the cream of the crop.
It was a daunting task for Coppola to set about making a sequel to one of the finest features in Hollywood history, but he made it look easy when he emerged on the other side with another one of the finest features in Hollywood history. The less said about the disappointing threequel the better, but the wine magnate would be the first to admit his main reason for making it was money.
Even though they’re both dripping with excellence in every frame, run of cinema’s longest-running debates is whether The Godfather or The Godfather Part II is the superior of the pair, and it’s one that tends to split opinion straight down the middle. Would Scorsese take the moral high ground and refuse to pick sides when asked? As it turns out, he didn’t even think about it.
“Oh, sure,” he replied when asked by Gavin Smith if he had a favourite. “I prefer Godfather II to Godfather I. I’ve always said it’s like epic poetry, like Le Morte d’Arthur. My stuff is like some guy on the street corner talking.” Underselling his own contributions to the art form just a little bit, but not too precious to bow out of the never-ending debate.
It’s easy to see the point Scorsese is getting at, though, with The Godfather a sprawling and labyrinthine saga that luxuriates in its subtleties and intricacies, whereas his crime-centric output tends to be more briskly paced, kinetic and propulsive. Mean Streets, Goodfellas, and Casino do feature plenty of dialogue, but he’s doing himself a pretty hefty disservice by calling them movies about guys talking.
Ironically, for a trilogy, there are only two acceptable answers when it comes to naming the best of The Godfather triptych. The swansong does have its supporters, but even the most ardent defenders of the threequel would struggle to convince anyone it deserves to be put on the same pedestal as the first two.
