Made in 1972, ‘The Godfather’ is widely, and rightly regarded as one of the most influential and perfectly crafted movies in history. But time takes its toll on us all and after a year of painstaking, frame-by-frame restoration, overseen and approved by Francis Ford Coppola the entire trilogy will be revealed in all their digitally-polished splendor at a special 3-night screening run by American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre in Los Angeles, starting on February 27th.
This is good news, and there’s no question that a film of The Godfather’s calibre deserves it. But I’m concerned it might give Hollywood a dangerous idea – Don’t bother being ‘creative,’ just redefine every movie you ever made since the invention of talkies as ‘a classic,’ do some minor restoration – and make money on them all over again!. Much easier than going to all the trouble of having an original thought, right??
Can you imagine some of the eye-gouging dross they’d release?? Sometimes I worry if this wonderful business really has a future.
If you haven’t seen this remarkable movie recently, or if you have yet to see one of the films and you live in LA, do not miss your chance.
