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"The Godfather": What's your favorite moment or line or character?
Published: 3/16/2012 3:50 PM
Last Modified: 3/16/2012 3:50 PM

"The Godfather" is turning 40 this month, and he still looks swell.

What's your favorite moment or line or character from "The Godfather" or even the sequel? We don't have to talk about "The Godfather, Part III" if you don't want to, and I know that most of you don't.

People ask me all the time: What's my favorite movie? The answer has been the same for more than three decades: "The Godfather," which along with "The Godfather, Part II," I have always considered to be one big cinematic masterpiece.

That's probably because that's how I always watched them on DVD, back-to-back on at least an annual basis for many years.

Then my daughters were born. Six-hour marathons of shoot-outs and Sicilian revenge have become less frequent.

I usually preface that answer by saying, "I know this is very much a 'guy' answer" because so many men cite "The Godfather" among their best-ever movies.

It's simply an offer we can't refuse.

When "The Godfather" premiered 40 years ago this week in New York, it became a sensation at the box office (if selling tickets at today's prices, it would have grossed $617 million) and in our cultural consciousness.

For me, it did what many of the best movies do: It immersed me in another world completely, one so different and, in this case, dangerous compared to my own, and I couldn't look away.

If you've never seen "The Godfather" on the big screen, a restored version is playing at Cinemark Tulsa on Thursday, with 2 and 7 p.m. showings.

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Thunder196 (11 months ago)

The Godfather fantastic viewing in my opinion. I did like Godfather 2 the best. I have not watched it for a while, but it is time to watch it again.

217719 (11 months ago)

Yep, 2nd is the best, but they are both great and tie unto each other seamlessly.
Great cinema!!!!!!!

Hollywood puts out some decent SF but most everything else has been terrible cinema.

Downton Abby was better than what is coming out of tinseltown.

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“I was born a poor, black child” … not me, actually, but Steve Martin’s character in the “The Jerk.” That absurd opening line is just one of the absurd number of film facts, quotes and minutiae contained in movie critic Michael Smith’s brain, at his disposal to toss out on a moment’s notice. It’s a key requirement as Tulsa World film critic to know these things. Michael learned a few other life facts along the way (seven years as a Crystal’s Pizza & Spaghetti manager) before attempting journalism and joining the Tulsa World in 1996, where he’s covered everything from a school shooting in Fort Gibson to a tornado in Stroud to witnessing an execution. A little community theater coverage was sprinkled in there, too. Movies engender many of his happiest memories, from standing in line for “Star Wars” and “Grease” at the Southroads Cinema to the James Bond and Pink Panther movies that always premiered at the enormous Continental Theater.

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Past Articles By Michael Smith

2/16/2013		Broken Arrow movie theater moves to discount showings
2/15/2013		Review: 'Amour'
2/15/2013		Review: 'A Good Day to Die Hard'
2/15/2013		Review: 'Beautiful Creatures'
2/14/2013		Review: 'Quartet'
2/14/2013		Shirley MacLaine to speak at Osage Casino
2/14/2013		Weekly rewind: February 14
2/14/2013		REVIEW: 'Beautiful Creatures'
2/12/2013		Belgian best picture hopeful 'Amour' opens in Tulsa on Friday
2/10/2013		'Die Hard' marathon at AMC Southroads on Wednesday ends with new film
2/9/2013		Review: 'Identity Thief' a stupid movie from stupid idea
2/8/2013		Oscar audit: Critics choices for best picture hold up over time

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