Synopses & Reviews
In six essays written especially for this volume, The Godfather trilogy is reexamined from a variety of perspectives. Providing original analyses on the form and significance of Coppola's achievement, they demonstrate how the filmmaker revised the conventions of the American crime film in the Vietnam era, his treatment of the capitalism of the criminal underworld and its inherent violence, the power struggles within Hollywood over the film, and the contribution of opera to the epic force and cinematic style of Coppola's vision of an American criminal dynasty.
Review
"Part of the impressive Cambridge Film Handbooks series..." The Intelligencer Record &The Burlington County Times
Synopsis
Among the most elaborate examples of crime film, the films in The Godfather trilogy provide a complex look at a whole segment of American life and culture spanning almost the whole century. In six essays, written especially for this volume, The Godfather trilogy is reexamined from a variety of perspectives.
Table of Contents
Introduction Nick Browne; 1. If history has taught us anything ... Francis Coppola, Paramount Studios and The Godfather, Parts I, II, and III John Lewis; 2. The Godfather and the mythology of the Mafia Alessandro Camon; 3. The representation of ethnicity in The Godfather Vera Dika; 4. Ideology in the Godfather films Glenn Mann; 5. Family ceremonies: or, opera in the Godfather trilogy Naomi Greene.