The Godfather 3-Movie Collection

First there was the book; then there were the movies. In 1972, three years after the publication of "The Godfather," Mario Puzo's runaway best-selling novel of the Mafia, Paramount Pictures released the movie "The Godfather," a film that would change the course and tone of gangster films forever. Two years after "The Godfather," came the sequel, "The Godfather Part II;" and sixteen years after that, the third and (to date) final sequel, "The Godfather Part III" was released. And nothing was ever the same again.I could spend countless paragraphs rhapsodizing about these three iconic films, and about how good I think they are. Suffice it to Say, "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II" are genuine masterpieces of filmmaking that rightfully deserve their spots on the American Film Institute's list of the "100 Greatest American Films of All Time." And while "The Godfather Part III" doesn't quite rise to the level of excellence as its predecessors, it is nevertheless a good movie.Over the years, I've owned home video versions of "The Godfather" movies in nearly every format - VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray. I make time at least twice a year to watch `em all. Until recently, I watched "The Godfather" films on my "The Godfather DVD Collection," a first-generation set of DVDs that marked the very first time these movies appeared together in this format. I expected the DVD versions to show a dramatic improvement in video and audio quality over the clunky VHS videocassettes, with their annoying 1.33:1 pan-and-scan aspect ratio, that I had previously used; and while there was some improvement, (most notably the correct 1.85:1 aspect ratio,) the DVDs were still a disappointment to me. I saw little difference in the overall quality of video or audio. I was especially irked by the fact that "The Godfather Part II was put on a "flipper" disc.Then, about a year ago, I discovered "The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration," a four-disc set with each of the three films on its own Blu-ray disc, and a fourth disc containing a wide range of fascinating bonus features. This set - commonly known as "The Godfather Collection" - was first released in 2008. It's a complete 4K digital remastering of all three films. Each of the movies has been meticulously restored frame-by-frame by director Francis Ford Coppola and cinematographer Gordon Willis. The results are astounding; colors are much brighter, images are sharper, the film grain is left intact, black levels are superb, there's no evidence of noise reduction or image enhancement, and the Dolby TrueHD lossless 5.1.soundtrack is totally immersive. Some Blu-ray purists will probably criticize the look of the films as not being "Blue-ray enough," but, in fact, these films now look exactly as I remember when I saw them in theaters forty years ago.I never tire of watching "The Godfather" movies. I saw them repeatedly in theaters, and they were among very first movies I purchased on VHS and DVD when those mediums became widely available to the general public. Now, with "The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration" on Blu-ray, I can proudly say I own the definitive collection of the three most iconic and influential greatest gangster films of all time. I'm sure it will remain one of my most often viewed trio of movies in the years to come.

If you're like me, and the vast majority of other reviewers of this set, you consider the three-part Godfather series, particularly part Nos. 1 & 2, to arguably be the greatest movie production ever and without question among the greatest.I cherish my film library, in large part, because I have a propensity to buy the "better" versions of movies and other collectibles. There's another three disc Blu-Ray offering of the three part Godfather film and it currently sells for about $10 less than this one. The exceptional digital transfer quality is identical for both sets but if you are a collector of films, books, coins, etc. you know that saving $10 for a set that offers more, including better packaging, is analogous to those leather bound Easton Press books or your complete Glenn Gould or Arthur Rubenstien CD sets if for no other reason that you've got something on your shelves that represents quality, and if you're a parent, a quality library that your heirs will inherit and add to their heirs and so forth.I bought this set in 2011 and have decided to write my review now, six years after purchase. I have watched the entire set at least once every year and two or three times in at least one of the past six years. I am not one to judge solely on cost. But even if I were, I'd still recognize that THIS IS THE SET TO BUY. Amortize $10 over God knows how many viewings and you'll find the true cost amounts at most, to pennies more and, eventually, even less that a penny more.Even if the reasons stated in my first couple of paragraphs means nothing to a person, the buyer is, I grant you, paying more, but is also getting more which is the fourth disc of special featurettes ( “The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn’t”, “Godfather World”, “Emulsional Rescue: Revealing ‘The Godfather’”, “….And When the Shooting Stopped”, "The Family Tree/The Crime Organization", Montage: “’The Godfather’ on the Red Carpet”, Four Short Films on ‘The Godfather’, Audio Commentaries, Documentary: “The Godfather Family”, “Behind the Scenes”, Storyboards, Additional Scenes/Historical Timeline) so it's simply not an apples to apples comparison. And if you're that true film fanatic , as I am, buying this set over it's less expensive scaled down three disc version; well the decision to buy is really no decision at all. It's a no brainer that you'll buy and cherish this set.I also enjoy it when guests are over and compliment me on my film, music, and book libraries. It's far more impressive and enjoyable to me to look at them as opposed to my Roku or AppleTV film library, iPod, iPhone, or some other MP3 player, and my bookshelves versus my Kindle. When I drafted my will, I felt better about leaving these tangible items to my children as opposed "child # 1 gets my Roku", "#2 gets my MP3 player, etc as opposed to getting my tangible music, book, and video libraries. I think they'll appreciate what's becoming a lost art form far more too.In economic terms this concept is known as the "demand curve" and/or "marginal utility". Which all boils down to, what's one's personal preferences and how does one calculate cost.Anyway, These are fantastic films of which I never tire and in that regard, I think like just about everyone else on this review board as well as the review board for the less expensive set; except on that board you hear a lot of people talking about how smart they were to have chosen that less expensive one. I'm in the right place for me. Where do you belong?