Some cartoon buffoons may think The Godfather insists upon itself, but the film is widely considered one of the greatest ever, a masterful saga of family, legacy and business that topped the box office for 1972, nabbed three Oscars and is constantly ranked on best-of lists, from the AFI and Sight & Sound to Letterboxd and They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They? And since greatness recognizes greatness, Steven Spielberg has officially declared it as the best American film ever.
Speaking at pal Francis Ford Coppola’s recent AFI Life Achievement Award event (via Variety), Spielberg (who received the honor back in 1995), declared, “The Godfather, for me, is the greatest American film ever made. Many artists can and do take a bow from their work on a page, on a canvas, on a screen, but our applause for you Francis, is from a different kind of audience.” Spielberg has always been a student of film and has frequently cited The Godfather (along with Lawrence of Arabia, Citizen Kane and The Searchers) as quintessential cinema, but to put it as the undisputed #1 says a lot.
Of course, Spielberg was delivering all the praise he could at Coppola’s ceremony. Building on his respect for his fellow Movie Brat, he added, “When we’re young, it’s our parents we want to make proud, and then it’s our friends, and then it’s our colleagues, and finally, it’s our peers, but you, sir, are peerless. You have taken what came before and redefined the canon of American film, and in so doing, you’ve inspired a generation of storytellers who want to make you proud of their work, proud of our work, and I always want to make you proud of my work.”
Other notable names who paid tribute to Francis Ford Coppola included George Lucas, Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford, Ron Howard, Spike Lee, and Al Pacino, who has openly said he prefers the second Godfather.
We all know The Godfather is in fact one of the greatest films ever, but is it the best? Chime in with your thoughts – or sleep with the fishes – in the comments section below.
