Bridget Fonda Movie:

		List Price: $124.99		Label: Paramount Home Entertainment Salesrank: 39 Released: September 23, 2008
		Our Price: $52.60
		Used Price: $48.81
		MPAA Rating: R (Restricted) Media: Blu-ray

Editorial Review:
THE GODFATHER: Popularly viewed as one of the best American films ever made, the multi-generational crime saga The Godfather (1972) is a touchstone of cinema: one of the most widely imitated, quoted, and lampooned movies of all time. Marlon Brando and Al Pacino star as Vito Corleone and his youngest son, Michael, respectively. It is the late 1940s in New York and Corleone is, in the parlance of organized crime, a "godfather" or "don," the head of a Mafia family. Michael, a free thinker who defied his father by enlisting in the Marines to fight in World War II, has returned a captain and a war hero. Having long ago rejected the family business, Michael shows up at the wedding of his sister, Connie (Talia Shire), with his non-Italian girlfriend, Kay (Diane Keaton), who learns for the first time about the family "business." A few months later at Christmas time, the don barely survives being shot by gunmen in the employ of a drug-trafficking rival whose request for aid from the Corleones' political connections was rejected. After saving his father from a second assassination attempt, Michael persuades his hotheaded eldest brother, Sonny (James Caan), and family advisors Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) and Sal Tessio (Abe Vigoda) that he should be the one to exact revenge on the men responsible. After murdering a corrupt police captain and the drug trafficker, Michael hides out in Sicily while a gang war erupts at home. Falling in love with a local girl, Michael marries her, but she is later slain by Corleone enemies in an attempt on Michael's life. Sonny is also butchered, having been betrayed by Connie's husband. As Michael returns home and convinces Kay to marry him, his father recovers and makes peace with his rivals, realizing that another powerful don was pulling the strings behind the narcotics endeavor that began the gang warfare. Once Michael has been groomed as the new don, he leads the family to a new era of prosperity, then launches a campaign of murderous revenge against those who once tried to wipe out the Corleones, consolidating his family's power and completing his own moral downfall. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards and winning for Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando), and Best Adapted Screenplay, The Godfather was followed by a pair of sequels.

THE GODFATHER PART II: This brilliant companion piece to the original The Godfather continues the saga of two generations of successive power within the Corleone family. Coppola tells two stories in Part II: the roots and rise of a young Don Vito, played with uncanny ability by Robert De Niro, and the ascension of Michael (Al Pacino) as the new Don. Reassembling many of the talents who helped make The Godfather, Coppola has produced a movie of staggering magnitude and vision, and undeniably the best sequel ever made. Robert De Niro won an Oscar®; the film received six Academy Awards, including Best Picture of 1974.

THE GODFATHER PART III: One of the greatest sagas in movie history continues! In this third film in the epic Corleone trilogy, Al Pacino reprises the role of powerful family leader Michael Corleone. Now in his 60's, Michael is dominated by two passions: freeing his family from crime and finding a suitable successor. That successor could be fiery Vincent (Andy Garcia)... but he may also be the spark that turns Michael's hope of business legitimacy into an inferno of mob violence. Francis Ford Coppola directs Pacino, Garcia, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Eli Wallach, Sofia Coppola, Joe Montegna and others in this exciting, long-awaited film that masterfully explores the themes of power, tradition, revenge and love. Seven Academy Award® nominations, including Best Picture.

The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration Giftset (The Godfather / The Godfather Part II / The Godfather Part III) [Blu-ray] Reviews:
The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration Giftset
2008-10-12 - Stark, stunning, superb acting rolled into a hellva good story as you follow the Corleone family into the dark and brutal world of the mafia.

The Restored Classic in Your Living Room
2008-10-10 - When I was in college I went to the theatre and watched Francis Ford Coppola's brilliant interpretation of Mario Puzo's bestseller The Godfather. The stunning photography and sound transformed a very good Mafia story into an iconic piece of American culture. Over the years I have watched the Godfather and its brilliant sequel in various formats, film, VHS and DVD. But finally when the trilogy was restored by Coppola and his brilliant cinematographer Gordon Willis I broke one of my cardinal rules about acquiring Blu-ray versions of movies I already own in DVD.

I watched on my Mitsubishi LT-46149 46-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV with Integrated Sound Projector, which fully optimizes Blu-ray disks in a 1080p format. Just to be sure I compared it with the original triologyThe Godfather DVD Collection (The Godfather/ The Godfather - Part II/ The Godfather - Part III) on the same set using a Sony BDP-S301 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player BD/DVD/CD Playback with Bonus HDMI Cable which "upverts" standard DVDto 1080i.

There is no comparison.The colors are deep and rich in Blu-ray, while they are faded and scratchy on the "upverted" DVD. The overall effect of the restoration is to bring that original movie onto that original theatre screen into my house. Even though Godfathers I and II have never lost their place in the pantheon of American film, we have for years been watching these films under less than ideal conditions. The darkness that surrounds Don Corleone and then Michael became more dark gray than near-black. In its 1080p restoration the vermillion Statute of Liberty rises from the flat marsh grasses looking more like amber waves of grain than a neutral killing field. Taillights twinkle against the buffed exteriors of post-war automobiles as Michael exits the restaurant after killing a rival don and a corrupt police captain.

In Godfather II the 1080p again recreates the feel of the original cinema release, subject to a few clearly enhanced scenes. In several of the lake scenes (excluding Fredo's last bite) the water seems bluer and the mountains purpler. As many Godfather aficionados know the lake house was actually on the California side of Lake Tahoe. From the back yard the mountain profile Heavenly is unmistakable, establishing the California address.

The prequel segments featuring De Nero are bathed in sepia-like golden hues presumably as an antique finish that seems more reminiscent of Traffic than the theatrical rversion of Godfather II. It might be easy to say that the "restoration" has in some places done more than recast a damaged negative. However like the Star Wars recuts that used contemporary special effects technologies to create new virtual sets unimaginable in the 1970's, this restoration was the product of the original director in collaboration with the original cinematographer. These artists (and only they) are entitled to enhance their work using tools that help explain their original vision. this is not the colorized version of The Maltese Falcon whose pastels reeked havoc on a film noir classic. There is no reason these two films should not be works in progress by their creators.

The second issue relating to any enhancement is of course the viewer. It has been 36 years since the public has watched a fresh print of the Godfather. Since then we have seen it in less than optimal circumstances on over the air analog television, VHS, standard DVD and even Betamax. Each one of these formats substantially degrades the original film with poor resolution, pan and scan editing, and sloppy sound mixing. With so many exposures to these two classics under less than perfect conditions it is slightly presumptious to attempt to say what it looked like back then.

A 1080p Blu-ray version is a close as any average consumer is ever going to come to having a a fresh print. The bonus is that unlike a fresh print the digital imagery and sound will not fade, scratch or be formatted for television. In 38 years when Francis and Gordon (and I) will be likely be gone from this world this vision will be as fresh as it was today and in 1972 and 1974.

I have no comment on Godfather IIII, which is a poor cousin to the first two films. It is good to have, if only to show that money drives Hollywood and even great directors.

This is an offer you can't refuse!!
2008-10-05 - One of my top 10 in blu!!!!, now give me TLOTR Trilogy, Braveheart, Gladiator, Pulp Fiction, Star Wars, HEAT, Jason Bourne Trilogy, The good, the bad and the ugly, and 7 Samurai and i will be complete.

well done
2008-10-05 - just wanted to say i recieved my copy on friday, i only put it on to see what the quality was like and i have to say good job, once i put it on i didn't want to turn it off. notn only was it nice and clear but it was full screen. it's not often i can sit down and watch an old movie, its good how the picture quality makes all the difference.

The video quality is just OK
2008-10-04 - I was really looking forward to this title. I haven't seen the Godfather in a while and when I heard that the Blu-Ray version had gotten a hand makeover I thought it's time to buy it.
I was very disappointed in the quality of the picture, the colors were just OK and a lot of things just faded into black throughout the scenes.
All in all it was a good buy but I really believe it could've been so much better. This film deservers it!