BackThe Godfather
(book in English)
by Jon Lewis
- Type
- Studies
- Subject
- One Film > The Godfather
- Francis Ford Coppola, Mafia, 1970s
- Publishing Date
- 2022
- Publisher
- BFI Publishing
- Collection
- BFI Film Classics
- Language
- English
Dimensions
- Physical desc.
- Paperback • 104 pages • 15 €
5.25 x 7.5 inches (13.5 x 19 cm) - ISBN
- 978-1-8390-2458-0
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Book Presentation:
Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (1972) marked a transition in American film-making, and its success – as a work of art, as a creative 'property' exploited by its studio, Paramount Pictures; and as a model for aspiring auteurist film-makers – changed Hollywood forever.
Jon Lewis's study of The Godfather begins with a close look at the film's audacious visual style (the long, theatrical set pieces; the chiaroscuro lighting, the climactic montage paralleling a family baptism with a series of brutal murders). The analysis of visual style is paired with a discussion of the movie's principal themes: Vito and Michael's attempt to balance the obligations of business and family, their struggle with assimilation, the temptations and pitfalls of capitalist accumulation, and the larger drama of succession from father to son, from one generation to the next.
The textual analysis precedes a production history that views The Godfather as a singularly important film in Hollywood's dramatic box-office turnaround in the early 1970s. And then, finally, the book takes a long hard look at the gangster himself both on screen and off. Hollywood publicity attending the gangster film from its inception in the silent era to the present has endeavoured to dull the distinction between the real and movie gangster, insisting that each film has been culled from the day's sordid headlines. Looking at the drama on screen and the production history behind the scenes, Lewis uncovers a series of real gangster backstories, revealing, finally, how millions of dollars of mob money may well have funded the film in the first place, and how, as things played out, The Godfather saved Paramount Studios and the rest of Hollywood as well.
See the publisher website: BFI Publishing
Previous edition
Previous edition
The Godfather (2009)
by Jon Lewis
Publisher: BFI Publishing
(old edition)(in English)
Subject: One Film > The Godfather
> From the same author:
> Books with the same or similar title:
> On a related topic:
La Mafia à Hollywood (2004)
Les heures de gloire de la Mafia dans la filmographie américaine 1972 - 1999
by Anne Spinali
Subject: Genre > Detective movie
Le Nouvel Hollywood (2008)
Coppola, Lucas, Scorsese, Spielberg... la révolution d'une génération
Subject: Countries > United States
Le Parrain, l'album de famille (2020)
by Paul Duncan and Steve Schapiro
Subject: One Film > The Godfather
Laisse le flingue, prends les cannolis (2023)
Le Parrain, l'épopée du chef-d'œuvre de Francis Ford Coppola
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