THE GODFATHER

When I was twenty, I saw Francis Coppola's The Godfather and The Godfather Part II on TV.  They showed all eight hours on Saturday and Sunday nights between midnight and 4:00!  Staying awake was a bit of a challenge, but I managed it.

There's a really great scene early in Part II when the Marlon Brando character, back when he's a kid, arrives in New York City, sees the Statue of Liberty and goes through Ellis Island. (You can find it on Youtube!) The movies have some great acting.  But Part III didn't have Robert Duvall, alas.

I like a lot of gangster movies. Another one is Martin Scorcese's Goodfellas, a true story that plays like a black comedy and is really fast-paced, with some great dialogue! ("What do you expect me to do, shoot him?" "Well, it wouldn't be a bad idea...")

And I like the early Warner Brothers gangster movies from the 1930s with stars like James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart.  They showed them on the CBC late show back in the '80s, and I'd watch them while waiting for David Letterman to come on.

And there are some good recent gangster movies too.  I like Mike Newell's Donnie Brasco, with Johnny Depp as a fed who infiltrates mafia circles by getting to know a Willy Loman-type gangster played by Al Pacino. (It has the line "Find him, kill him, leave his body in the street!")

I've also watched the TV series The Sopranos, about Tony Soprano, a gangster who goes to a psychiatrist.  There's a great episode where Tony finds out that his daughter's soccer coach is a sexual predator and considers murdering him.  And there's a funny episode where his son is into Nietzsche but pronounces him "Nich"! (His grandmother tells him, "You die in your own arms.")

I could go on for hours about my favourite gangster movies!