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What Does JWFan Think of “The Godfather” Scores?


John

What Does JWFan Think of the Godfather Scores?  

19 members have voted

  1. 1. What do you think of the score for "The Godfather"?

    • It's great.
    • It's good.
    • It's okay.
    • I don't like it.
      0
    • I hate it.
      0
  2. 2. What do you think of the score for "The Godfather Part II"?

    • It's great.
    • It's good.
    • It's okay.
    • I don't like it.
      0
    • I hate it.
      0
  3. 3. What do you think of the score for "The Godfather Part III"?

    • It's great.
      0
    • It's good.
    • It's okay.
    • I don't like it.
    • I hate it.
      0


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I was just wondering what the general consensus as to The Godfather scores are around here... the scores for all three are pretty great, with the first two films being some of my all-time favorite scores.

 

What do you think of Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola's work on The Godfather trilogy?

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8 minutes ago, Woj said:

I don't know the differences between any of them. Isn't it just the same trumpet solo and Olive Garden lobby music over and over? 

 

Not so, my friend.  They may not be the most through-composed scores, and yes, he was somewhat repeating himself, but I think Rota's approach to the films is classic.  The music never really overwhelms the already heavy films, yet adds to them in a crucial way.  Adds a balance of humanity, if you will.    

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1 minute ago, Denise Bryson said:

I've seen almost 50 Best Picture winners now, and these were among the boringest.

 

They are among the most dense.  But humans are dense.  Just look at history.  The best art and cinema seeks to make sense of the void.

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1 minute ago, Philippe Roaché said:

It's so dense. Every single image has so many things going on.

To me, that's the definition of brilliant.  If done right, of course. 

 

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12 minutes ago, Steve McQueen said:

 

Not so, my friend.  They may not be the most through-composed scores, and yes, he was somewhat repeating himself, but I think Rota's approach to the films is classic.  The music never really overwhelms the already heavy films, yet adds to them in a crucial way.  Adds a balance of humanity, if you will.    

 

Steve McKilljoy

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The theme to the first one is a classic but there isn't much more to it other than that.  The second one is great, with more variety and the classic "Immigrant theme".  Haven't seen or heard the third but I don't have any particular desire to.

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15 minutes ago, Denise Bryson said:

I've seen almost 50 Best Picture winners now, and these were among the boringest.

I think you have to be in a certain mood to watch them.

And maybe like the  genre too.

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Well I was being cheeky.  But I do know that older members of my family felt it didn't exactly help the image of Italian immigrants like themselves.  One can imagine the response over such a film today if the ethnic group were shifted to one more popular to defend.

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Not my favorite scores from Rota, but there are some goodies in there!

 

 

(Some of the music is from Toby Dammit)

 

 

I love it when he goes full stereotypical  Italian mode

 

 

Very sweet

 

 

There's a couple more, but YouTube only seems to carry bad quality versions. I only know the third one's score from watching the movie, but I remember it mostly being adaptations of Rota's music for the first two.

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Funny thing: when I was 12 my favorite movie was Revenge of the Sith, and I remember listening to George Lucas say in the audio commentary that the scene with Anakin murdering the Separatists was an homage to the climax in The Godfather...ever since then, I always associate The Godfather with "Anakin's Dark Deeds".

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2 hours ago, JohnSolo said:

Listening to the love theme from the first Godfather right now; such a fantastic, lush composition. I really need to look into more of Rota's work.

 

May I suggest his Harp Concerto?

 

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The first two are among my favourite scores of all time. Rota is amazing, and I actually really do love his score to Fortunella, as well.

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They're OK. Nothing more, nothing less. Carmine Coppola's third, however, leaves much to be desired.

 

I can understand the quality of the GODFATHER movies, but I've never been a big fan myself.

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The scores for the first two films are all-time classics. Part III, while definitely underwhelming when compared to its predecessors, is still a pretty solid score in its own right.

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  • 3 years later...
5 hours ago, pete said:

I enjoy playing the theme badly on guitar:
 

 

 

 

:up: Not bad! Much better than I could have done mate. My guitar skills begin and end with barely plucking out Smoke on the Water.  :lol:

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Nino Rota could definitely write a great theme.

 

I'd agree with somoneone above who said - this is essentially suite scoring. There are some outstanding themes which are then applied to some scenes and that's about it. It's kinda what Moriconne did to Cinema Paradiso.

 

I would argue most of Rota's scores are this way. Seems like the Italian method of scoring. (Like their quirk with dubbing).

 

But the themes are genuinely iconic and outstanding and stirring beyond measure.

 

The Immigrant theme from Part II is one of the greatest. That first scene of Vito arriving into NY harbour - damn! Those are the sequences which elevate the art of film music.

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I think we are lucky, that John Williams is a melodist AND a Score Builder.

 

As I discover many other composers, I also discover that these two skills are not so common.

 

Returning to Nino Rota, some scores are just unmissable, yes sometimes, many times because of some main Themes.

 

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