The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration Giftset (The Godfather / The Godfather Part II / The Godfather Part III) [Blu-ray]

Product Description:
Studio: Paramount Home VideoRelease Date: 09/23/2008Run time: 549 minutesRating: R

Amazon.com:
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

Rating: - As advertised ... mint condition..
Received item as advertised ... arrived in mint condition and will be looking forward to our next transaction.
Rating: - Film Geek Conspiracy.
I give Godfather 1 & 2 five stars as films, but I give this Blu-Ray 1 star for picture quality. I spent a good half hour playing with my TVs settings to get something that didn't remotely resemble a Vaseline smeared mess. I know part of the problem is the brilliance and audacity of Gordon Willis' LOW light cinematography that most HD TVs can't re-create it's velvety depth, but I feel like there could have been a decent compromise in this somewhere.

Since I know that both Scorsese and ... Read More
Rating: - Almost HD A Must Have
Godfather I and II looks way better thanthe DVD's great restoration but part III is almost HD quality like it was filmed five years ago
Rating: - Did the people who wrote the above 3-star reviews actually buy this set and watch it?
I am with mixed feelings about this set, but right now I'm leaning towards an all-out PAN of this Blu-Ray release of these movies. I've been noticing that a lot of the reviews say "THIS IS A FAITHFUL RESTORATION OF THE ORIGINALS!!!!". Well that wasn't what I got in this set.

I wanna know what the 4 and 5 star reviewers were smoking when watching this set. Now yeah it's true that this set contains less grain than the 2001 DVD release. But I want to know what Coppola was doing in the year ... Read More
Rating: - Very good collection for a good price.
Movies: GF1 is a very solid movie, exceptional in every way. It stays very close to the book. The final moments of the film are breathtaking. 10/10. I liked GF2 better than a first film. I found the story to be more interesting. The whole corruption plot in both family ties and in business world really engaged me in the story. The final moments of the film hold the same power as it's precedor's climax but the flashback endings wasn't very well edited in my opinion. 10/10. GF3 has a very big potential. ... Read More