This was the criticism that FOTOGRAMAS published in 1972

On the occasion of the special that FOTOGRAMAS is celebrating for the 50th anniversary of the theatrical release of ‘The Godfather’, We go back five decades and 886 covers in time to rescue the criticism that our magazine published on November 3, 1972. 50 years ago, in the middle of those protesting numbers uncovered, when this house was called NUEVO FOTOGRAMAS and enjoyed a weekly print run, the reviews published by FOTOGRAMAS were far from the rating method that we can see today in our pages. The reviews were based on two parameters: the “artistic qualification”, whose rating could range from “Masterpiece” (five stars), through “Very important” (four stars), “Interesting” (three stars), “Mediocre” (two stars), to “Poor” (one star). ); and on the other hand, we found the “commercial qualification”, where the film was judged on “High Interest” (three stars), “Interesting” (two stars), and “Low Interest” (one star). The first analyzed purely cinematographic elements and the second considered the social impact of the feature film at the box office and in theaters at that time.

artistic rating

Business Qualification

Mario Puzo has written a text, ‘The Godfather’, which introduces us with plausible verisimilitude to the psychology of the mobster. The Mafia is known to be an ancient Sicilian secret society that transplanted its activities to the United States and thrives on crime. The curious thing about the mafia is that it represents a practically unscathed survival of feudalism. Its organization is not structured according to a rigid verticality, but resembles that of the medieval states in which men of proven strength and audacity ruled over conquered territories generally through banditry. Such gentlemen freely submitted their differences to the arbitration of the imprecise power of a monarch, whose decisions they often failed to abide by, but strictly respected a code of honor that constituted the safeguard of their privileges and whose rules they did not dare to infringe, under penalty of of exposing themselves to being disowned by the community of noble predators and, therefore, eliminated from the bosom of the aristocracy, while the accumulated patrimony and booty were preyed upon by their former peers.

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The “families” that make up the mafia, led by tough and unscrupulous men, divide up territories and businesses. Their fights are, more often than not, merciless and without quarter. But something intangible always remains: that secret and terrible code that shackles some men and that prolongs in them their submission to the superstitious practices they call religion.

For all these reasons, the mobster is far from being a modern and scientific bandit, we would say. Instead, he is the blind servant of a tradition, the lover of customs, the slave of behavior. Not only the clan he calls “family” but what the Western world knows as such, since before the laws of Rome took care of it, represent something endearing for the mafia man. The mobster is a jealous husband, loving father, guardian brother. His blood ties are sacred to her. And although he does not hesitate to spill that of others, blood – his own and that of others – has for him the value of a supreme symbol. The most important thing is sealed with it. And only blood washes blood.

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Francis Ford Coppola has derived an important film from Puzo’s ‘The Godfather’. It is because he translates the content of the book in a transcendent way. It is because it is an exciting story. It is because of its difficult but successful condition as a show. And it is because the incarnation of some characters in charge of excellent actors gives a remarkable force to the matter. Francis Ford Coppola has the good thing that he knows how to arouse in his film characters a palpitation that makes them tremendously real. This is what happens with those he drives in ‘The Godfather’. Not to mention that the choice of a Marlon Brando is never a bad choice for a director. And the same or similar success has presided over that of the rest of the interpreters, among which Al Pacino stands out.

But there is something that is also very clear in the film. Something that Francis Ford Coppola has not escaped. And this is that the mobster is never a man to be pitied. That his affections, his dedication to the family, his fidelity to a code, do not redeem him from his monstrosity. Of what we would call in common terms its evil. The mobster steals and kills. And he mocks and lies. What is admirable about him? Absolutely nothing.

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