Back to the Basics

Hello everyone, this is really the first official post on this blog, so I thought that it would only be appropriate if I went back to the classics, started off on a good note. Today I would just like to discuss The Godfather series. The best movies ever made in not only my opinion, but the opinion of so many others. Its almost the official opinion, if there is such a thing.
The Godfather made wrote the foundations for all gangster- crime movies I think. It made the official rules of what was okay to have in a movie and what wasn't. Not only was it starring a few of the best actors ever to be seen on the big screen, (De Niro, Pacino, Brando) but they all meshed so well that I don't think they could have substituted anyone for someone else.
For those poor, underprivileged souls who have not yet seen THe Godfather for whatever inexcusable reason, allow me to give a very, very brief description of the first part, so we can at least be on the same page.
The Godfather takes place in New York City in the decade spanning 1945 to 1955. The main character for the first few hours, (they switch main characters a lot) is Marlon Brando, the Godfather himself. He is known by many names in this movie, the name given to him at birth is Vito Andolini. Vito was born in the small village of Corleone in Sicily, Italy. Through complications with the locals at the time, he was smuggled out of Sicily onto a ship containing hundreds of Italians all headed for New York, Vito was about ten years old. Arriving at New York, unable to speak any English, he was confronted with immigration workers asking for his name, on his passport it said "Vito" (his first name) and "Corleone" (his hometown). His new name became Vito Corleone.
Throughout the rest of his life Vito slowly began climbing the ladder of entrepreneurship and became a very wealthy olive oil merchant, or so people thought. Vito was also rising as the top leader of organized crime in the entire nation. His control of the bootlegging and gambling businesses was what he was really interested in. Over the years Vito and his close friends rose to the top of the underworld ladder and the Corleone family started to grow. Vito became the Godfather of this family, also called The Don. Many assassination attempts were made on his life, none of which succeded, but one caused fatal injuries that he hever really recovered from.

The first part in the three part series than, addresses events in The Don's life after he became the official leader of the Corleone family and his competetion with rival Italian families in New York, notably the Tattaglia and Barzini families.