I have always been curious as to why The Godfather has been praised as one of the greatest movies of all time. Everyone has always told me that I need to watch it, especially because I’m a guy (OK, I guess that’s a good reason). When Dr. Knight assigned us to watch a movie edited by Walter Murch, I made this the perfect opportunity to initiate myself into the The Godfather realm. NOW I see what everybody was talking about.

This is an outstanding movie – great cast, great story and ingenious editing. However, I’m not really here to give a review of the whole movie. I am here, though, to analyze some scenes as it relates to the sound editing aspect of the film. So here is my take in relation to two scenes in particular.

The first scene I want to talk about is when Michael Corleone kills Sollozo in the restaurant. From the very beginning of the scene, the tension is built up between the two characters. Their conversation over dinner is pretty much a standstill of enemies, initiated by a thorough frisking of Corleone for weapons. However, when Corleone requests to go to the bathroom, a revolver has been strategically placed above the toilet. Here is where the sound comes in. As he grabs the gun, Corleone places his hands on the sides of his head while a train screeches by outside. The train represents the terrifying thoughts that are happening inside of his head. Although he is normally the one ordering the murders, he must perform one right here and now. The sound of the train returns when he sits back down at the table while Sollozo speaks. Murch did a phenomenal job with this one. Normally music would play to signify one’s emotions but using the restaurant’s natural environment, Murch makes the audience feel that they are inside Corleone’s head.

The second scene I want to talk about is the baptism scene. Murch does a great job of utilizing the score of the film as well as the organ music from the baptism to highlight the significant parts of the montage. The music illustrates the different scenes happening simultaneously, creating tension between both the baptism and the hits Corleone is ordering out. Moreover, just as the hits are about to be executed, the audience hears the cry of the baby as to highlight a sense of panic happening outside the confines of the church. There a great montage scenes in the film world but this one definitely takes the cake.