Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.
Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.

Once every week or so, I look to the classics. Specifically, I look at the classics from the angle of the visual.

When I set out to do these posts, I’ll skim through the film and earmark interesting shots. Sometimes these shots are iconic, but more often than not they are more fleeting moments. On several occasions, these moments might not immediately identify what film they are from. However, as I look at these films in this way, I’m struck by many thoughts. While these thoughts begin with the story unfolding on-screen, they soon drift into our reality and our history – which is the power of film. It has the ability to take us out of cinemas and living rooms and out into the bigger collective, and sometimes it can do this with something as simple as one great shot.

Today marks the fiftieth image in the series, and in honour of the half-century mark, I decided to keep it simple: I’ve gone with my favorite shot from my favorite classic. There are dozens of other iconic shots from THE GODFATHER that I could have chosen, but for me, so much about America is said in this one frame.

All around it is the untamed natural environment it came from. Front and centre is one of the game-changing inventions that made it great. Inside of said invention, we have a glimpse of the violence that has defined it for more than 200 years. In the background, the promise of what it could be, what it wants to be, and what so many want to deny it being.

I could write volumes on what else this shot makes me think about in relation to America, and that’s without even getting to the classic line that punctuates this scene. But if you’ll permit me, I’ll just leave this shot to speak for itself.

This isn’t my most popular series of posts on this site, so if you’ve ever dropped by and read my thoughts on these slivers of classic film I’m deeply thankful.

 

In lieu of the usual “three more”, here are the previous forty-nine for the road. Click any one of them to jump to its original post and read my thoughts…

 

M*A*S*H
Cabaret
Cabaret
To Kill a Mockingbird
AN600
Apocalypse Now
The Red Shoes
Night of The Hunter
American Grafitti
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
The Day The Earth Stood Still
9 to 5
The Third Man
Ninotchka
The Graduate
The Producers
Alien
Sleeping Beauty
A Hard Day’s Night
Fame
Vertigo
The Sting
Singin’ In The Rain
Bonnie and Clyde
Mean Streets
Some Like it Hot
Miracle on 34th Street
The Shop Around The Corner
Rosemary’s Baby
The Blues Brothers
The Tingler
Amadeus
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Lawrence of Arabia
Goldfinger
On The Waterfront
Days of Heaven
West Side Story
The Godfather 2
The Sweet Smell of Success
The Conversation
The Terminator
Double Indemnity
Chinatown
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Rebel Without a Cause
The Natural
The Manchurian Candidate
Brief Encounter
3 Women

This collection of fifty images is inspired by the “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” series at The Film Experience. Do check out all of the awesome entires in their series so far

2 Replies to “The 50th Freeze Frame: THE GODFATHER

  1. What a cornucopia of wonderful shots! I know you’re disappointed with the views this series gets, but even when I don’t have time to comment, I always enjoy seeing them.

    1. Thanks Jandy – in keeping with today’s podcast tidbit I will try to remain positive even if the traffic for this series is low-ish.

      Hopefully next week I can get to work on the next fifty shots!

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