Still Need to Watch: Finian’s Rainbow, You’re a Big Boy Now, Gardens of Stone, Megalopolis
Not Gonna Lie, Probably Will Never Watch, Life is Too Short: Jack
Francis Ford Coppola is such an icon and is one of those figures that you sometimes forget to actually look at the word he has produced when you assess his abilities and contributions to the world of cinema. He has made some of the best, biggest and most important movies ever made. He has made some financial disasters. He has made some real intimate and personal movies. And more importantly his work suggests he has rarely ever stopped exploring through art what it means to be alive in a very messed up world.
18. Bram Stoker’s Dracula [1992]
One of the truly special things about this film that is that undeniable feeling that you get that Gary Oldman, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, and Anthony Hopkins all are seemingly acting in completely different films. There is just a sensation of utter chaos to this mess that makes it utterly beautiful and compelling. It is never going to be a film I point to as a favorite in any way, but Dracula truly captures how Coppola really just Goes For It instead of settling for mediocrity most of the time. I appreciate how much some people love this one even if it is definitively Not For Me.
17. The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone [2020]
Despite this two-decades-later follow-up being aggressively imperfect in (frankly) far too may ways, I have developed a fondness for Part III over time. I probably need to do my due diligence and go back and watch the original cut, but the final cut Coppola released in 2020 has always left the best taste in my mouth of any version (so I tend to only re-visit it). While much of the film still does not work, I do find myself moved by Michael Corleone’s journey. After all his business success, he is left with essentially nothing. Almost all of his family is long dead. He has no one he could consider a friend. His ex-wife is long-estranged. He barely knows his children. At what he can sense is the end of his journey, he is trying to fix everything with the limited tools that he has at his disposal. He almost manages to pull it off until his old sins come back and take his daughter away from him. What the Coda cut gets right most of all compared to the original is the understanding that living with this pain is a fate worse than death. And that is the ending Michael Corleone deserves.
16. The Outsiders [1983]
“It seems like there’s gotta be someplace without greasers or Socs, with just people. Plain, ordinary people.”
While the style of the acting and dialogue always alienated me, as I get older I cannot help but feel moved by the emotion of this story. These artificial divisions forced upon us are so goddamn stupid, counterproductive, and tragic. One aspect of that dynamic that Coppola captures so well here is how people who grow up in abject poverty truly see no escape. And it just leads to so much self-destructive and destructive in general behaviors. I’ll never feel very invested with The Outsiders, but I finally found a connection to it.
15. Tetro [2009]
It is truly beautiful that Coppola managed to pull off the George Lucas dream: he amassed a huge fortune and then got to make a series of small personal films with his own money. While this middle feature was not as strong as the other two (sunk too much by the presence of Vincent Gallo), it was a compelling family drama. The circumstances of the family obviously were heightened to the point of almost melodrama, and Coppola used that to explore the pain and torment we can so often put people through despite them (or maybe because of them) being our deepest connections in the world. It’s a fascinating film and should not be ignored.
14. The Rainmaker [1997]
Coppola, known to be longing to have a genuine hit again, tried to strike while the fire was hot with the Grisham film adaptation craze of the 90s. Despite being one of the better ones, the film did not grab the imagination of the audiences. Such is the luck of Coppola and maybe a bit fitting given what an ordinary adaptation it is overall.
It’s not that the material is a mismatch for Coppola or anything necessary. You could see what might draw Coppola to it, as it is centered around a young idealist coming up against a corrupt system. You could see how the story would appeal to the anti-capitalist/anti-system streak that Coppola was drawn to throughout his career.
Everything about the movie is perfectly…fine. Nothing terribly wrong but nor is there anything terribly impressive. It does however make me long for a time when A-list filmmakers were making movies for adults that were also fun and breezy.
13. Dementia 13 [1963]
Despite being a blatant Psycho copycat, Coppola’s debut film manages to be worth watching on its own merits. You see the promise in Coppola’s camera placement and sense of how to portray a family on screen. The movie seems in conflict with itself with how seriously it wants you to take what is happening on screen. High brow vs. low brow is a false dynamic, but the film’s identity crisis permeated throughout. Coppola’s failed attempts at tension caused the film to rely on WHAT is happening as opposed to HOW it was happening. He would improve.
12. Tucker: The Man and His Dream [1988]
“You don’t understand how powerful the forces are working against us here.”
One of the fascinating things about exploring Coppola’s career outside of his accepted “prime” in the 1970s is that you quickly discover the dude has made almost nothing but very interesting films (at a minimum). Tucker eloquently captures the major trap of this country.
There is an alliance between the oligarchs and the politicians so entrenched that even calling it is an alliance is suspect because it implies they are meaningfully distinct groups of people. And once you become in any way a threat to them, you are a dead man in one way or another.
Coppola makes the interesting choice of illuminating this idea by juxtaposing a rather joyful/almost-screwball comedic tone with this extremely dark and morbid story. The story of Tucker is that of the inherent evil that has a death grip over all of us on this land. That story is contrasted with the almost “peppy” tone throughout. It captures how normal this world we have inherited is supposed to seem, but there is a darkness beneath the shiny surface that is just oozing out.
11. The Rain People [1969]
For his fourth film and in a time when New Hollywood was only just starting to happen, this movie feels quite bold. He is trying to explore how maddening it must be to be a woman in this world. And while his POV is inherently limited, that does not in it of itself make the film less interesting. Coppola has a deep desire to be empathetic of his protagonist and why she feels like the way she does and how the world is driving her insane. It is a FAR from perfect film (whatever that means) but it is essential for understanding how Coppola feels about people.
10. The Cotton Club: Encore [2017]
Note: I have only seen the director’s cut “Encore” edition of this film.
Francis Ford Coppola was in his “for hire” phase post-financial disaster of One from the Heart and got hired to make this. As he was wont to do, he dived all in and did not merely do the job and go home. He even spent 500K apparently 2015 to finish the original cut of the film or whatever. The film is all over the place and has some weaker castings, but when you just sit back and let it wash over you it is such a winning film. The most interesting idea in the film is the juxtaposition of the black characters trying to find a way to use their talent to make a dignified life for themselves in this fucked up country whereas the white ethnics are descending deeper and deeper into the despair of organized crime. I am not sure if Coppola nailed what he was going for here fully but he did make is just a beautiful looking movie that is never boring.
9. Peggy Sue Got Married [1986]
“We got married too young and ended up blaming each other for all the things we missed.”
One of the worst things a person can do for their development and inner-life is abandon years of exploring themselves and the world far too soon. For many people, this means, you should avoid marrying, having kids, and/or selecting your career too soon. It is a recipe for a life full of regrets. You feel like you missed out on so many opportunities and never really had a chance to live your life.
Peggy Sue takes this universal idea and creates a fantasy tale exploring it. Kathleen Turner has just divorced her high school sweetheart (Nicolas Cage) and is about to attend her high school reunion in the midst of a mid-life crisis. She never got to live her life for herself, and she gets sent back in time with an apparent chance to change her stars.
What follows is a tragic comedy about how much our life is determined for you in advance due to the conditions in which we are formed. The tragedy of Peggy Sue’s situation is both hard and beautiful though. You see both sides of the dynamic. The sadness of her mother explaining that high school is, “the best time of your life” and explaining how to please her future husband. But you also see how Peggy Sue and Nicolas Cage really deep down do love each other. And that makes it more tragic because they divorced and had an unsatisfying marriage not due to a lack of love but due to timing and circumstances.
8. One from the Heart [1981]
It is classic that a really sweet, sincere, and genuine film made for adults about relationships became a financial catastrophe for Francis Ford Coppola. It tells a story about two imperfect people in an imperfect relationship. It is so easy to grow complacent and selfish in a relationship. It is so easy to stop trying and stop listening. Sometimes a relationship ceases to stop being a true partnership. And it is time to go. Even if you don’t know. Coppola dramatizes a moment in time when two people manage to realize simultaneously that it made be time to end things. It feels all too real to this type of situation in real life.
7. Rumble Fish [1983]
One of the very sad dynamics between human beings is how we dehumanize people via idolization. While this very obviously happens with the famous and rich, it is far more tragic with how we can do that with actual human beings we are close to or even in our family. The Motorcycle Boy exists as this mythical figure for so many people in his hometown – even his younger brother, Rusty James, cannot see through it. Motorcycle Boy is trying to convey a higher truth to Rusty, but he cannot get through to him. Rusty is so caught up in the idea of what his life should be like based on his idea of who his brother is that he cannot function empathetically with others. This a beautiful film, inside and out, and it is one of Coppola’s very best.
6. Twixt/B’Twixt Now and Sunrise [2011/2022]
Like several other imperfect initial releases from the man, Coppola has gone back in and edited around re-released his last film. Ultimately, the story, regardless of which version you see (as of now, I have only seen the 2022 version), feels like it is most about getting old and trying to find ways to feel satisfied with what you are doing and what you have done.
Val Kilmer is a hack mystery writer who has reached the age where it is possibly too late to do anything else or anything new. He has little to show for anything he has done in his life. Lost and confused and in a prolonged, multi-year bender, he wanders into a small town.
Kilmer thinks he is starting to chase a murder mystery that can potentially be a new book but (and as the new edit prioritizes more), he is really chasing inner peace. It makes for a sweet, human story passing as Roger Corman flick. It was an underappreciated satisfying way for Coppola to go out when it looked like this would be it.
5. Youth Without Youth [2007]
“Sometimes, I admit to myself that it’s possible that I will never be able to finish my life’s work, my one and only book, and that in the end, without her, I will be nothing, and I will die alone.”
Ten years after his last film, Coppola released Youth Without Youth. It is not very hard to see what drew Coppola to this film. It is about an artist who is running out of time to complete his one true masterpiece. He is suddenly struck by lightning and is now 40 years old instead of 70. For the rest of the film, he is a man out of place and time being pulled in different directions. He is wanted by nazis. He is forced to live a spy-like life. He is incomplete though. Why? He cannot be reunited with the love from his youth – until he almost can. He finds a reincarnation of her – only his presence causes her to rapidly age. Tragically, the man must leave her to save her. Between the massive deification of the failed artist protagonist and the film’s understanding that without love, life is meaningless, this is pure Coppola.
4. Apocalypse Now [1979]
Francis Ford Coppola managed to fly too close to the sun but somehow his wings never melted. The film captures the tension and the absurdity of insurgent filmmaking within the United States empire. So many of these films aspire, especially with the Vietnam War, to tear down the image of the United States. And there is no doubt, this film included, are very explicitly show the US being bad and war being bad and stupid. From there though, the film is asking you to do more. It’s not a simple protest movie. So what is Apocalypse Now doing instead of simply being “war bad”?
The most successfully cinematic sequence is everything with Robert Duvall. It is absolutely terrifying how thrilling these scenes are shot. The helicopter raid on this Vietnamese village is one of the most impressive “action” scenes ever put on film. The framing of the helicopters is ironically portrayed as heroic, conquering heroes as they commit mass slaughter and murder in order to give their leader, Robert Duvall, an opportunity to take advantage of the best surf spot. It is one of the cruelest moments of satire in film history.
On a character level, the most impressive and most emotional moment is the death of a young Laurence Fishburne, play a South Bronx teenager. The understanding is Fishburne is young and poor and with limited pathways in his future when he left school. There’s a carefree and careless feel to his character that could only come from youth. The boat captain is played by Albert Hall. At no point during the film is there much of a relationship between Fishburne and Hall. Yet, when Fishburne dies, it is Hall who is the most devastated. Up until this point, Hall is the veteran soldier of the boat. Yes, he is no-nonsense but you can tell it is a defense mechanism compared to the horror that he has undoubtedly scene after his time in the war. When Fishburne dies, Hall breaks. He understands how a 17-year-old black boy ended up in this war in a way the other shipmates could never understand. It is absolutely devastating.
3. The Conversation [1974]
“I don’t need anyone.”
The Conversation shows that moment when you have to confront how you make your money for the job you do while trying to survive under capitalism. The film also captures a moment of time when the public of the United States was growing increasingly cynical about its government institutions.
Harry Caul is a middleman for Big Brother. He spies on the people for corporations and for the government. He tries to tell himself and others it’s not his business what is on the recordings. His business is just doing the recording and getting paid. Like so many of us, he shields himself of the consequences of how he earns money to live.
Coppola uses those dynamics to craft an intimate and gripping small-scale character story. He and Gene Hackman both produce some of the very best work of their career making one Harry Caul existing in this horror film about being alive in this country.
2. The Godfather Part II [1974]
Inevitably, when you watch the first two Godfathers close together, the temptation to compare the two and try to assess which one is better can come naturally. I feel as though that line of thinking is futile. For starters, there is a fundamental difference between the two which is that this second one has the benefit if being able to exist in conversation with the first one in a way that the first film does not really have to do.
Despite all the horror portrayed in The Godfather, watching the film is always like settling down on a couch and covering yourself in a warm blanket. It’s just remarkable comfort food while simultaneously some of the best and most iconic art ever made. The film is simultaneously intimate while also dealing with characters that feel mythological in their own way.
And Part II is a rejection of much of that. The romanticism of the first film gets stripped away, and you instead get a film that seems to want to shine a light on all the nasty business underneath the surface of the first film.
Coppola rather ingeniously prevents the film from being overbearingly cold by contrasting the continuing story of Michael Corleone with the origin story of Vito Corleone. Instead of merely filling out a wikipedia page for Vito’s pre-Marlon Brando life story, the story of a young Vito on the rise really captures of the tragedy of this whole situation. The combo of the two stories ends The Godfather story perfectly as the ultimate 1-2 combo of filmmaking.
When a film exists in the world in a way that is bigger than the movie itself in every way, it can become tougher to “analyze” it in any traditional sense. I find with legendary films that I revisit time and time again, I find myself getting drawn to individual scenes that speak to me more than before (for whatever reason).
In my latest viewing (and the first for me on the big screen), it was actually a small scene that really made the biggest impression on me. Michael has taken over the family. He’s callously demoted his brother, Tom. He’s alienated his father’s two longest serving captains, Tessio and Clemenza. He’s arrived in Las Vegas. He is about to push out Moe Green. And in the process, he manages to make his older brother, Fredo, feel so completely insignificant and small.
The failure of Michael Corleone in every way but financial is really captured best by this sequence that builds to Michael belittling his feeble, older brother. Michael’s tragic flaw, and the one crucial personality difference between him and his father, is that he was incapable of making his people feel loved. And it pushed Fredo away and led to the cruelest thing Michael would ever do in his life.
The Reel World 