 The Godfather was the first film that really portrayed the humanness behind the atrocious behavior of the Mafia. Before this film, the public was always fed the notion that the mob was a faceless, foreign group of monsters since the 1920's. Marlon Brando really fleshed out the character of Don Corleone; he commanded the respect of the people around him as well as the audience: a man who spoke quietly because he didn't need to shout to be heard! Al Pacino handled the part of Micheal Corleone with considerable know-how and his transformation was believable. But it was James CAAN's Sonny that was mesmerizing! Everytime he was on the screen, he left you feeling anxious and breathless because he played the ticking time-bomb so effectively. Everything about this film was sheer perfection from Coppola's direction to the costume design. I think anyone would be hard pressed to name a Mafia film that possesses as much gravity or contributed more to our fairly new found perceptions of Mafia life as this one does.