Thus most of the action is in the New York area, preventing the story from sprawling, or from losing its momentum. The novel has been trimmed with care the Las Vegas parts have been largely cut away, the Hollywood scene abrupt and telling. It is an almost imperceptible touch, but an indication of how resourcefully this three-hour-long production is staged. He is old when the picture begins, and after being shot and a long convalescence, when he appears along with the mafia chieftains, his hair has been slightly dyed in order to look younger. His chin is an alien feature to Brando’s face, and exactly right for that of the aging Don. He uses a quiet, rasping voice, pitched rather high the slow near-shuffle of an elderly man, and a magically made-up face, the top half of which is extremely flexible because of the extraordinary muscular control he has of his eyebrows, the lower half with its twisted mouth almost immobile. Brando has never been uninteresting on the screen, although he’s been in many second rate pictures, but here he’s continually superlative. Holding it all together, and crowning it with distinction as well, is Marlon Brando in the title role. The San Francisco Chronicle's review of "The Godfather" ran on March 22, 1972. The combination is unquestionably the best gangster film ever produced.īased on the best-seller by Mario Puzo, it is directed with both a flair and a keen eye for detail by Francis Ford Coppola, who joined Puzo in writing the script.
“The Godfather,” opening today at the Coronet, is an intelligent labor of love, a masterful action picture, a shrewd look at American values, and an artful period piece. Here’s his 1972 “The Godfather” review in full: You can read more about him in my 2009 profile that included an interview with his daughter. (The San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle still has a Paine Knickerbocker Award given to organizations that contribute to Bay Area theater.)
I AM GANGSTER REVIEW ARCHIVE
It’s always a treat during archive research when I run into his reviews, which have a live theater critic’s eye for actorly details. It was written by one of the best critics The Chronicle ever produced, Paine Knickerbocker, a film and live theater critic from 1955 to 1974 who dressed immaculately (not a usual film critic trait), walked to work from his Cow Hollow home and had a courtly manner - but still championed films that went against the mainstream.
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