what's so great about the godfather?

[Blarg]

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One thing that I think is interesting about Godfather (and many gangster films, for that matter, but more so for this one) is that the protagonists are BAD guys. They are, for the most part, despicable human beings (Michael is an exception), but we end up heavily rooting for them and becoming emotionally attached to their characters.

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Yes, this was unusual for the time, and was one of the wonders of the film. It was also a breathtaking look at capitalism and the social goals tied in with it. Vito Corleone was an entrepreneur, the truest kind of American that could ever be produced, in his way. He was simply one without morality, at least in a conventional sense. In the same way that capitalism, and really the world at large, is essentially without morality. His tribal sense of morality rings a bell with all of us easily, even if we decry it, which many of us don't. What is the family but the first tribe? That infantile morality can resonate and hold value well into adulthood, and join battle strongly with anything we would like to think more evolved. Vito Corleone was Horatio Alger with a pistol. How could we not cheer his repulsive rise?