The Godfather
By Kit Macdonald
Three hours of primetime Francis Ford Coppola mob movie genius in the air-conditioned environs of Barcelona's finest cinema, in the middle of the June heat? Yes please. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall and Diane Keaton star in the first film of the iconic (for once that word isn't misplaced here) trilogy that has echoed through film and TV history in the more than half-century since its release.
Set in postwar New York, the story follows the Corleone mafia dynasty, whose ageing patriarch Vito (Brando) is seeking to protect his empire amid shifting alliances and rising tensions. His youngest son Michael (Pacino) is initially distanced from the family business but he gradually becomes entangled in its violent operations during the trilogy's tragic, elegiac arc.