An Offer I Can't Refuse

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4899512.stm >The Mafia.My fascination with them is endless.Having finished(finally) reading Mario Puzo's acclaimed "The Godfather" and watching yet again on DVD,Francis Ford Coppola's legendary cinematic adaptation of the book,I'm hooked on the mob.Part of it has to do with the sheer style and narrative momentum of the plot.I'm a sucker for the "pacifist forced to take up arms" tale and The Godfather has a delightful spin on it:Michael Corleone,the lone "White Sheep"(wants nothing to do with the family "business",went to college and is a decorated war hero) of the powerful Corleone clan of New York,is forced into the business when pop,powerful Don Vito Corleone is gunned down by a rival family.Michael shoots the plotter,flees to Sicily,leaving his WASP girlfriend behind.In the meantime,back home,war escalates between rival families,killing hot tempered older brother Sonny.Micahel returns home,assumes command and after the (natural)death of his father,exacts swift,brutal revenge on his enemies.Ironically,I found Puzo's writing rather pedestrian with nothing leaping off the pages and grabbing me.What gives the novel it's immense pull is the fascinating insight into a world that is at once shadowy,labyrinthine and brutal juxtaposed with the day to day life and loves of a traditional,extended Italian American family,something Puzo gives an authentic feel too,being Italian himself.The movie is another matter:Francis Ford Coppola layers it with oodles of style,pulling of the casting coup of the century and populating the screen with a near flawless ensemble of thespians looking like they were born to play the parts;can you imagine anyone else but James Caan as Sonny,Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen,Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone and last but not least Al Pacino as Michael Corleone?Watching it again in a pristine,restored version via DVD has only enhanced my enjoyment of this Mob Masterpiece.