Brew Views: The Godfather

You gotta go, you gotta go.

THE GODFATHER
By AARON MESH

Every possible aspect of The Godfather has been thoroughly assayed and diagramed—in some college library, there is surely a term paper titled Woltz Up, Doc?: Khartoum the Horse and the Art of Non-Verbal Communication—but I'll still point out my personal-fave performance. It's Sterling Hayden, who gets about six minutes of screen time as corrupt Capt. McCluskey, and makes him the most repugnant policeman before the pepper-spray era. Hayden made a magnificent career out of self-loathing tough guys, but for two scenes he makes us loathe him, until we can't wait for Michael Corleone to send his soul to damnation on a plate of veal Parmesan.

  1. Showing at: Academy, on 35 mm.
  2. Best paired with: Farnese Montepulciano.
  3. Also showing: Office Space (Laurelhurst).

WWeek 2015

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