The Godfather (1972) & Goodfellas (1990)

The Godfather (1972)

Basic MIGRAIN:

• begins with a black screen and classic music playing as the nam"e Marlon Brando" appears and an image. "Al Pacino" introduced. Music begins before any name appears or any images - the music sets up a dramatic environment.

Key characters, Brando was already established, and this movie aimed to establish Pacino.

• familial idealogies throughout the trailer - we see images of family, weddings, children and women. The only joyous scene in the movie is a clip of a family wedding.

• "dont ever tell anyone outside the family what your thinking again" - backs up familial ideologies - introduction of violence as its a threat.

• "women and children can be careless, but not men" - sets up a patriarchal thinking, could be linked to familial ideologies as he believes he has to look after and protect the women and children.

• classic music turns into loud typical italian music.

• dark lighting - dark rooms - Brando's office.

• all wearing suits - shows wealth, sophistication, power, well established in whatever they do - capitalist ideologies ?

• we can see that Brando is the dominant figure - most respected.

• Brando is the only one who wears a red handkerchief in his suit - connotes violence and blood - relfective of his lifestyle.

• guns and violence introduced later in the trailer.
• "he'll never fear you" - typical of gangster films.

• we see several relationships - between family and men and women.

• family dinner - again backs up the familial ideologies this trailer establishes - "its my family not me" - loyalty despite orignally disagreeing with this lifestyle.

• kissing of Brandos hand - power, dominance, fear.

Goodfellas (1990)

Basic MIGRAIN:

• unlike the previous film which was tradition based when it came to the gangster lifestyle, this film makes it more about the luxury.

• begins with laughter unlike the Godfather.

• gangster lifestyle is set up to be a childhood dream, to gain wealth and luxury. "Rags to riches" song.

• "always keep your mouth shut" - violence quickly introduced - breaking car windows and blowing up cars as a child.

• large group of men greet the young boy after hes carried out a task - patriarchal ideologies - violence is a form of acceptance by these men.

• quick shots introduce 4 key things in this lifestyle - money, guns, the cross, blood.

• religious reference with the cross - lifestyle associated with italians - catholics.

• stealing of large sums of money and murder seen as casual - part of their lifestyle - accepted the violence and murder.

• "if we wanted something we just took it".

• show a joy in what they do - do not see itsdangerous or take it serious.

• gangster films usually show women as passive and weak under the mans power however here we see a woman confront Liotta's character for standing her up on a date and then holding a gun aimed at his head. She is a strong woman - it is shown that she is a jewish woman - maybe its shown to say if she was italian she would be passive like the other women in such films? only outside women can act this way?

• glamourises the lifestyle whereas the Godfather doesnt look at that aspect of the lifestyle and is more about carrying on for your family.

Related Texts:

• Scarface (1983)
• The Godfather trilogy (1974, 1992)
• One Upon A Time in America (1984)
• Casino (1995)
• Carlito's Way (1993)

SHEP -

• prohibition
• immigration in the early 1990s
• crime development
• poverty
• glamour linked to the gangster lifestyle shown through people such as Al Capone.

Cult of the Celebrity - people such as Al Capone, John Gotti etc. gained alot of importance within society and the media, they glamourised this lifestyle and made it more appealing due to the wealth they had gained. Made it more appealing to watch these types of films and learn about the life.

Moral Panic - during the period the films are set in there was a significant amount of moral panic associated with the gangster way of life, it was a threatening and dangerous thing. We learn through both movies what people outside these links thought and how they feared these people.

Hypodermic Needle Model - some may be influenced by the glamour and money, may want to take part in this kind of life, similiar to Ray Liotta's character in Goodfellas who dreamt of becoming a gangster from a young age.

Similarities & Differences

• The Godfather shows this life as more traditional, it is for the sake of the family, however, Goodfellas shows it more about the luxury and the wealth which comes with this lifestyle.
• Goodfellas has more elements of humour and comedy, the trailer begins with laughter and we see as they bury a body the are making jokes. The Godfather is more serious about these issues.
• Godfather is more family based and traditional however Goodfellas is about these group of men and what they can get out of it all.
• Goodfellas shows more female figures, and establishes one of them as stronger than most women in this film genre.
• Goodfellas glamourises violence and robberies alot more than the Godfather does.

:: Guardian Story :: Oscar-winning director Minghella dies at 54

Anthony Minghella, the Oscar-winning director of The English Patient, has died at the age of 54, his agent said today.
Minghella won the best director Academy award in 1997, the year in which the film won nine Oscars. He was also nominated for the best adapted screenwriting award in 2000 for The Talented Mr Ripley.
He had undergone an operation for cancer of the tonsils and neck last week and the operation seemed to have gone well. But he suffered a fatal haemorrhage at 5am today, his agent Leslee Dart said. "The surgery had gone well and they were very optimistic," she said. "But he developed a haemorrhage last night and they were not able to stop it."

The actor Jude Law, who worked with Minghella on The Talented Mr Ripley, Cold Mountain and Breaking And Entering, said he would miss the director "hugely".
He said: "I am deeply shocked and saddened to hear of Anthony's untimely death.
"I worked with him on three films, more than with any other director, but had come to value him more as a friend than as a colleague.
"He was a brilliantly talented writer and director who wrote dialogue that was a joy to speak and then put it on to the screen in a way that always looked effortless.
"He made work feel like fun. He was a sweet, warm, bright and funny man who was interested in everything from football to opera, films, music, literature, people and, most of all, his family whom he adored and to whom I send my thoughts and love. I shall miss him hugely."
Former prime minister Tony Blair said Minghella, who directed him in a party election broadcast for Labour, was a "wonderful human being".
"Whatever I did with him, personally or professionally, left me with complete admiration for him, as a character and as an artist of the highest calibre," he said.
Fellow film director Lord Puttnam said the death was a "shattering blow" to the industry.
He said: "I am shattered. He was a very important person in the film community because not only was he a fine, fine writer ... and made the transfer into becoming a really excellent director, he was also a really beautiful man. I just spoke to Alan Parker and it was the line Alan used: he was a beautiful man; he was a lot of fun to be with; he was thoughtful and intelligent."
Lord Puttnam said Minghella had been "a storyteller in the classic British tradition". He compared him with David Lean, saying he was particularly good at inspiring great performances from actresses.
The film-maker recently completed work on the Botswana-set comedy, The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, which he directed after co-writing with Four Weddings and a Funeral scribe Richard Curtis. An adaptation of the Alexander McCall Smith novel, it had been due to premiere on BBC1 on Easter Monday.
Minghella had two projects in the pipeline: New York, I Love You, a celluloid ode to the Big Apple for which he had written and directed a segment, and the drama The Ninth Life of Louis Drax.
The director was born on the Isle of Wight, the son of Gloria and Edward Minghella, who owned an ice-cream factory.
His father was Italian-Scottish and his mother came from Leeds, although her ancestors were also Italian. Minghella attended Sandown grammar school and St John's college in Portsmouth. He is a graduate of the University of Hull, where he completed undergraduate and graduate courses, but eventually abandoned his doctoral thesis.
Minghella worked as a television script editor before making his directing debut in 1990 with Truly, Madly, Deeply, a comedy about love and grief starring Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman. The made-for-TV production proved so popular that it received a cinematic release.
The director also received critical plaudits for his 2003 film Cold Mountain. While Minghella himself did not receive any nominations, it saw Renée Zellweger take the Oscar for best supporting actress, with Jude Law picking up a nomination for best actor.
Minghella began his career in theatre, working as a playwright as well as a director. The plays of Beckett were a lifelong fascination - Play and Happy Days provided his directorial debut - and Minghella presided over a starry gala tribute to celebrate the playwright's 100th birthday in 2006, as well as writing a radio play to commemorate the occasion.
Two volumes of Minghella's own plays were published by Methuen, and he won a number of awards for his theatre writing in the mid-80s.
He returned to the stage in 2005 with a cinematically lavish staging of Puccini's Madam Butterfly at the English National Opera, which disappointed critics but was enthusiastically received by audiences. Last year, it was announced he would direct and write the libretto for a new work at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in the 2011-12 season
At the time of his death Minghella had recently relinquished his role as chairman of the British Film Institute. He was replaced by the former director-general of the BBC, Greg Dyke, on March 1. Minghella was made a CBE in the 2001 Queen's birthday honours list. He was married to Carolyn Choa and had two grown-up children, Max and Hannah.