The King Has Spoken — Steven Spielberg Proclaimed This Classic as “The Greatest American Film Ever Made”

For many, there is no filmmaker more influential or iconic than Steven Spielberg. A risk-taker and visionary, Spielberg has been a force of nature and a huge part of the zeitgeist of movies ever since Jaws. However, the world’s greatest filmmaker has another creator in mind when it comes to what he deems the greatest American movie of all time: Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather. Still considered one of the greatest screen accomplishments of all time, Spielberg absolutely has a point. The film really shouldn’t work, but for all of its controversies and trials, the movie is truly a marvel more than five decades after its release.

‘The Godfather’ Works Because of Its Controversies

Spielberg has long voiced his love for The Godfather, but bestowed his recent proclamation upon the film while speaking at a ceremony honoring Coppola. According to Variety, Spielberg and George Lucas presented Coppola with the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award, where he said “The Godfather, for me, is the greatest American film ever made.” There are few who would argue with Spielberg, as many filmmakers viewed the picture with admiration and cite it as an influential movie.

Collider has also listed it as one of the greatest movies ever made. However, in many ways, the picture should never have worked. The movie had a famously difficult production, with Marlon Brando being particularly contentious. The movie was also incredibly controversial throughout its production and following its release. While rather tame by today’s standards, the movie was considered incredibly violent for the time. However, these controversies and difficulties are why the picture works on all levels.

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The movie may be violent, but it’s also incredibly sophisticated. Nearly every piece of dialogue is a work of art, and the characters, no matter how seedy they may seem, come to life with an extraordinary amount of nuance and fascination. In most mob movies that came before The Godfather, characters like Vito Corleone would have been portrayed as a straightforward villain, rather than the tantalizing anti-hero he has become. Despite being responsible for much of the violence in the picture, Vito is a character who is portrayed with depth and devotion, rather than stereotypically, an issue many Italian American characters faced before the film. Nothing ever feels senseless or shocking for the sake of shock. Rather, it is a fantastically profound story. But, of course, for all its merits, The Godfather would be nothing without its director.

Francis Ford Coppola’s Direction Is Still Incredible

The Godfather is certainly an accomplishment, but it would be nothing without the direction of Coppola. While speaking at AFI, Spielberg called the director “fearless,” saying: “On one hand, you are a warrior for independent artists, you always champion their causes, but also, and always, you’re fearless in how open you are to ideas, opinions and inspiration.” Spielberg is absolutely right. Coppola is one of the few directors who has continuously fought the battle of art vs. commerce, usually choosing artistic vision over commercial promise.

The risk has always given Coppola’s career an edge, for sure, with his longtime dream project, Megalopolis, which Coppola largely self-financed, bombing at the box office. However, Coppola’s visionary superiority is exactly what makes The Godfather a classic. Despite being a largely commercial venture, the movie is dripping with arthouse sentiment and dynamic filmmaking that isn’t often seen in larger films. In many ways, the picture is the perfect personification of Coppola’s ideals, execution, and work as a whole. There isn’t a single frame of the film that isn’t dripping with his unique approach to filmmaking, and, considering Coppola co-wrote the movie, his cinematic DNA is truly at the heart of the entire film.

Steven Spielberg certainly made a bold claim when he called The Godfather the greatest American film ever made. Considering how his own movies have reinvented cinema time and time again, one might not expect the film giant to make such a proclamation. However, there are few who would, or could, argue with the idea. The movie has consistently ranked among the greatest pictures ever brought to the screen, thanks to Coppola taking a controversial story that, fundamentally, shouldn’t have worked and turning it into a masterpiece. From its deep characters and complex story, to Coppola’s visionary directing, it’s truly a film that we can confidently say will go on forever.

The Godfather

Release Date

March 24, 1972

Runtime

175 minutes

Director

Francis Ford Coppola

Writers

Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola

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