The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration Giftset DVD | 
| Actors: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino
Studio: Paramount
Category: DVD
List Price: $69.99
Buy New: $27.75
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New (66) Used (29) Collectible (2) from $19.90
Rating:  36 reviews
Sales Rank: 1648
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 5
Running Time: 549 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.5 x 1.3
MPN: 131354
UPC: 097361313542
EAN: 0097361313542
ASIN: B0018CMJSU
Theatrical Release Date: 1972
Release Date: September 23, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Movie DVD
Amazon.com essential video
Throughout his long, wandering, often distinguished career Francis Ford Coppola has made many films that are good and fine, many more that are flawed but undeniably interesting, and a handful of duds that are worth viewing if only because his personality is so flagrantly absent. Yet he is and always shall be known as the man who directed the Godfather films, a series that has dominated and defined their creator in a way perhaps no other director can understand. Coppola has never been able to leave them alone, whether returning after 15 years to make a trilogy of the diptych, or re-editing the first two films into chronological order for a separate video release as The Godfather Saga. The films are our very own Shakespearean cycle: they tell a tale of a vicious mobster and his extended personal and professional families (once the stuff of righteous moral comeuppance), and they dared to present themselves with an epic sweep and an unapologetically tragic tone. Murder, it turned out, was a serious business. The first film remains a towering achievement, brilliantly cast and conceived. The entry of Michael Corleone into the family business, the transition of power from his father, the ruthless dispatch of his enemies--all this is told with an assurance that is breathtaking to behold. And it turned out to be merely prologue; two years later The Godfather, Part II balanced Michael's ever-greater acquisition of power and influence during the fall of Cuba with the story of his father's own youthful rise from immigrant slums. The stakes were higher, the story's construction more elaborate, and the isolated despair at the end wholly earned. (Has there ever been a cinematic performance greater than Al Pacino's Michael, so smart and ambitious, marching through the years into what he knows is his own doom with eyes open and hungry?) The Godfather, Part III was mostly written off as an attempted cash-in, but it is a wholly worthy conclusion, less slow than autumnally patient and almost merciless in the way it brings Michael's past sins crashing down around him even as he tries to redeem himself. --Bruce Reid
On the DVD
People used to say this was Frank Sinatra's world, and the rest of us just lived in it. After watching the multiple special features in the box set The Godfather: Coppola Restoration, one might conclude it's actually time for a cultural and historical revision: This is the Corleone family's world. The rest of us better tread lightly. Actually, the point of the half-dozen or so features crammed onto a disc accompanying the beautifully restored The Godfather, The Godfather II and The Godfather III, is that The Godfather movies have penetrated popular culture in such a deep and meaningful way that they are second-nature to everything. David Chase, creator of and writer on The Sopranos, for example, describes in the featurette "Godfather World" that his hit HBO series was intended to be the story of the first generation of mobsters actually influenced by Francis Ford Coppola's hit trilogy. Joe Mantegna calls the three films "the Italian Star Wars." (Mantegna co-stars in The Godfather III.) Alec Baldwin says no matter what one is doing, one is compelled to stop and watch the films if they're on television. Richard Belzer calls the films "a religion." And so on. A number of people similarly testify in "Godfather World" to the importance and ubiquitousness of The Godfather and its sequels in American life. There's no point in arguing, so its best to move on to the other featurettes, including "The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't," reviewing in detail much of what has been said about Paramount's mistreatment of Coppola, about casting fights (Steve McQueen as Michael?), about the studio's assumption they were getting a quick-and-dirty B-movie, and about producer Robert Evans' determination to keep his choice of director and unlikely actors under his wing. Fresh information within the special features, however, begins with "? When the Shooting Stopped," a fine study of post-production on The Godfather, with several surprising and fascinating facts. Among emerging details is an explanation of why Michael Corleone's scream toward the end of The Godfather III is silenced out. (Hint: it was meant to be the inverse of a sound effect in the first movie.) "Emulsional Rescue: Revealing The Godfather" talks about the painstaking work of restoring the first two films, beginning with a phone call from Coppola to Steven Spielberg (after the latter's DreamWorks studio became part of the Viacom family) asking if he'd request money from Paramount for restoration work. "The Godfather On the Red Carpet is a negligible series of fawning statements about the movie from hot young actors, while "Four Short Films" are brief and enjoyable takes on different aspects of The Godfather's impact on modern living. --Tom Keogh
Stills from The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration Giftset (Click for larger image)
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| Customer Reviews: Read 31 more reviews...
"The Godfather" reclaimed June 22, 2009
J. H. Minde (Boca Raton, Florida and Brooklyn, New York)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I've reviewed the three GODFATHER films in depth elsewhere on Amazon.com, so I am going to limit this review to the merely technical aspects of "The Coppolla Restoration."
First of all, it's important to watch the two "Extras" discs first, as they provide a lot of information about the restoration process, particularly the short named "Emulsional Rescue."
THE GODFATHER's original master negative was created on particularly "thin" photo stock, meaning that fewer top quality prints could be created from it. Ironically, THE GODFATHER ended up having a vast number of prints made from this thin stock. The quality of these prints deteriorated fast---much faster than with an average movie made on standard stock.
The master negative was in such poor shape when the restoration team began working that they inadvertently destroyed about thirty feet of it trying to save it. This meant that the restoration team had to find the best quality prints from all around the world and laboriously splice them together, often individual frame by frame, to reconstruct what they called their "hero" negative from which the restoration was made.
As a result, the restoration is not as good as a pristine master negative would be, even a "restored" one. This is as good as it will ever be, barring some new as-yet unimagined process.
Many reviewers have commented on the "poor" color quality of the restoration. I was fascinated (and a little befuddled) to discover that the "tangerine hell" one reviewer described in certain color scenes was intentional on the part of the cinematographer, as was the darkness of much of the film---there are scenes in which the blackness is so utterly black that it swallows the set.
No, we're not losing our eyesight.
I missed the point, too, until I thought it through. It makes a certain "artsy-fartsy" sense when the viewer recognizes that The Godfather lives in hell. Evil is pure darkness, and joy (such as Connie's wedding) is lit by fiery reds and golds---literally a "tangerine hell."
For a more intense example, look at the Sollozzo murder scene: Just before the shootings Michael is dark, while the out-of-focus red neon light on the Louis' Family Restaurant sign burns brightly over his right shoulder. That this is not bad filmmaking can be seen in the fact that less crucial scenes (such as the Don's funeral scene) have no such color distortion. It's subtle, and it is artsy, but mute the color extremes and THE GODFATHER would probably lose much of its visual impact.
On a more normative note, the restoration brings out a hundred little details: A sign announcing Jake LaMotta's defense of his title pops out of nowhere, presaging Raging Bull; the appearance of oranges (always a harbinger of death in THE GODFATHER films) is more obvious; the dissolution evident on the face of the Black Hand extortionist Fanucci is highlighted; the sepia-tint quality of the early Twentieth Century DeNiro scenes in GODFATHER PART TWO is emphasized; and the intricacy of the sets is evident everywhere.
Fortunately, THE COPPOLLA RESTORATION is just that, a restoration, and Francis Ford Coppolla does not do what he has done before, re-edit, add, subtract, and meld these movies together. This is a purely "technical" restoration of the films (or at least The Godfather and The Godfather Part II; the less-worthy Godfather Part III gets no such treatment).
THE GODFATHER becomes more enjoyable as a result of the restoration, though you may not be consciously aware of the changes at first.
 A Positive Experience!! June 20, 2009
Robert J. Nolan (Bronx, NY USA)
Promply Shipped, Packed better than anyone else in the Marketplace, and received in A # 1 Condition!! Plays like New!!!! Thanks!
An offer I could not refuse June 18, 2009
ThatGuy_from_NJ (Jersey City, New Jersey United States)
Two important things that I love about this boxset. 1) The Godfather Part two is now on one disk rather than two disks as was the case with the previous boxset. 2) The additional bonus disk is also interesting, epscially when it mentions the influence of pop culture due to The Godfather.
The movies themselves...Well what's not to like
Great restoration!!!! May 11, 2009
J. Brown (Dallas, TX)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
After having watched this movie countless times I was thrilled with this version. This film is a classic and one of the best films ever! The visuals are tremendous and the script is engaging. This is a story that will draw you in every time you watch it. This new version gives you a sense of real life that previous editions did not convey. You will enjoy this awesome film!
A CLASSIC INDEED!!! April 27, 2009
Manuel N. Elnar (Daly City, CA USA)
Excellent indeed!!! What is there to say? Love it beyond compare. Good or evil, 'brings LOVE OF FAMILY to higher order. Media totally removed that from our existence.
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