Based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo, The Godfather was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, with the screenplay written by Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola, and Robert Towne, although Towne's name doesn't appear in the credits. It became of one of the most potent film projects ever and oozed talent with Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall and Diane Keaton bringing the most powerful Mafia family to life right from scene one. For the audience it was 175 minutes of jaw-dropping awe and an experience that would live with each individual. I remember clearly the rich, dusky-dark rooms where Don Corleone, played with rare excellence by Marlon Brando, prowled and freely issued death as easily as Julius Caesar would send a slave to the lions. It was real and I breathed in every second hardly daring to blink. And then a scene would appear where Don Corleone played with his grandchildren like every grandfather throughout the world and the audience is forced to try and understand and struggle and find themselves trapped, but willing prisoners in Mario Puzo's and Francis Ford Coppola's world... Pure cinema magic...

Godfather II & III proved equally as potent and the Corleone family became a part of our history. Al Pacino became the next Don and we watched his brutal life grow old and we cried for him, because, in a secret place we tuck away deep inside, we loved him and choose to ignore the fact he has become an instrument of death. The same for his father, who was played as a young man with true brilliance by Robert De Niro. We had grown to love these men like the Italian families they ruled with the iron fist of fear loved them. At the end of The Godfather III we understood and mourned their passing into history. I particularly like the scenes with Robert De Niro playing the young Don Corleone. I remember thinking as I watch the young Don Corleone's life of crime unfolding, he is a good man with a good heart in a world of bad men with cruel hearts... I think maybe there is a point there. Don Corleone was a victim of his own culture as were, may be still are, many young Italian men... Or am I just making excuses because I have been seduced by great storytelling? But isn't that the point? In watching these great films we enjoy shared experience and we learn much about ourselves.

Tim Rees

My novel Raw Nerve is available on Kindle Click here.

And you can read my appraisal of all the Hollywood Greats on my Hollywood film stars website Click here.

Rambo First Blood: Part 1

If you really twisted my arm and told me I could only watch one film again ever, I think I would choose First Blood, the first Rambo film. The script is loosely taken from Davis Morrell's novel of the same name and First Blood, shot with grainy reality, and superbly directed by Ted Kotcheff, sporned four more "big budget" Rambo films, but, in my opinion, the big budget follow ups lack the raw grit, and gripping storyline of First Blood, except, perhaps, number four, which is a truly tremendous film.

Sylvester Stallone portrays John Rambo with deep understanding and from the introduction to Rambo the vagrant to Rambo the brutally efficient Special Forces soldier the audience never loses empathy with Rambo the man. He is a peaceful man who arrives in a town where he meets Sheriff Will Teasle played by Brian Dennehy. Teasle is a bully, only this bully has picked on the wrong guy. Rambo escapes from the police station and the chase is on, only to catch John Rambo is a little like catching a tiger by the tail and it is a damned idiot who attempts that. The revenge Rambo inflicts is well researched and dynamically shot and edited with Sylvester Stallone giving us the best portrayal of a top-notch professional soldier. Stallone not only looks the part with every finely honed muscle, but it is in the quieter moments where we get to look into Rambo's eyes and get a glimpse of his psychology where Stallone's genuine talent really shines.

Then the speech at the end where Rambo has Teasle at his mercy and his colonel stops him at the point of the kill. I am an ex soldier who has fought in a war. I completely understand Rambo's plight. A man trained to be 100% professional and who has honed his skills to brutal efficiency, a man trusted with millions of dollars worth of equipment, who is now a man who can't hold down a job. There is something about war and fighting that gets under a man's skin and once experienced is hard to shake off. Rambo is the best of the best and now trapped in a world that perceives him a loser. That scene where he clings to the colonel and cries his heart out causes the tears to rain on my cheeks and the hypocrisy, the unfaireness, of society to thunder in my heart everytime I watch it... For me, it is the most emotionally draining cinematic moment...

Tim Rees

My novel Raw Nerve, a novel inspired by First Blood, is available on Kindle Click here.

And you can read my appraisal of all the Hollywood Greats on my Hollywood film stars website Click here.