RiffTrax: The Forum

How it works: Each poll will be open for two weeks, giving all of you time to watch each film. New polls added every Sunday and Wednesday.

The Godfather (1972) vs. Clerks (1994)

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The Godfather is a crime film based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, with a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola, and an uncredited Robert Towne. It stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall and Diane Keaton. The story spans ten years from 1945 to 1955 and chronicles the Corleone crime family. Vito Corleone is the aging don (head) of the Corleone Mafia Family. His youngest son Michael has returned from WWII just in time to see the wedding of Connie Corleone (Michael's sister) to Carlo Rizzi. All of Michael's family is involved with the Mafia, but Michael just wants to live a normal life. Drug dealer Virgil Sollozzo is looking for Mafia Families to offer him protection in exchange for a profit of the drug money. He approaches Don Corleone about it, but, much against the advice of the Don's lawyer Tom Hagen, the Don is morally against the use of drugs, and turns down the offer. This does not please Sollozzo, who has the Don shot down by some of his hit men. The Don barely survives, which leads his son Michael to begin a violent mob war against Sollozzo and tears the Corleone family apart.

The film is greatly respected among international critics and the public and is routinely listed as one of the greatest films ever made. Although many films about gangsters had been made prior to The Godfather, Coppola's sympathetic treatment of the Corleone family and their associates, and his portrayal of mobsters as characters of considerable psychological depth and complexity was hardly usual in the genre. This was even more the case with The Godfather: Part II, and the success of those two films, critically, artistically and financially, opened the doors for more and varied depictions of mobster life, including films such as Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas and TV series such as David Chase's The Sopranos.

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Clerks is a film written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also appears in the film in a minor role, and stars Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson. Dante Hicks is a clerk at a local convenience store in New Jersey. On one particular Saturday morning, he gets called in on his day off. Once there, he must deal with multiple problems. The shutters outside won't open. His ex-girlfriend, whom he is still in love with, is getting married. His girlfriend, who bugs him about starting college, has revealed certain, uh...stuff about her past. His boss hasn't come in to take his place. He has a hockey game at 2 o'clock. Another ex has died, and today's the last day he can go to her wake. He must deal with customers that aren't so intelligent. His friend, Randal, a clerk at the video store next door, is even less dedicated to his job than Dante, and is always bothering Dante's customers. Dante is left with no choice but to bend the rules a little with work, customers, and most of all his love life.

The film became a surprising success after it was taken by Miramax Films and has made over $3,151,000 gross in the United States despite never playing on more than 100 theater screens in the United States at the same time. Clerks won the "Award of the Youth" and the "Mercedes-Benz Award" at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, tied with Fresh for the "Filmmakers Trophy" at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards. Often the items that the customers are purchasing are strangely and coincidentally relevant to the topics the characters are discussing. For example, the woman who interrupts Dante and Veronica's conversation about oral sex is purchasing Vaseline and rubber gloves. The offended customer in the "Jizz Mopper" scene is purchasing Windex and paper towels. The woman who "manually masturbates animals for artificial insemination" is purchasing jerky.

Please take the time to watch or re-watch these two films before voting. You can use this thread to post reviews after having watched them, campaign for your preferred movie, or just discuss the movies in general.

WOW.....quite a pairing.

While i can appreciate Godfather for it being a kick ass film, i'm really gonna have to go with Clerks.  Being a monkey on w wheel in the retail world, i defintely identified with Dante Hicks.  I remember laughing louder than anyone when the secene witht the Egg Guy, and The Milkmaid came up, i've seen that many times working in a grocery store.  WHile most people think Kevin SMith is a one trick pony, and a over-rated director, this was when his bag of tricks was brand new.

Personally I think Clerks 2 is way better than Clerks.  But I've never seen the Godfather, so no vote from me this time.

Quote from: YoohooRiffer on June 01, 2008, 11:36:43 AM
But I've never seen the Godfather, so no vote from me this time.

???  Get thee to a video store/library/Netfilx site/Bravo or A&E broadcast!

Clerks was a fun movie and all, but seriously... The Godfather was THE FREAKING GODFATHER. :)

I've tried watching and enjoying the Godfather on numerous occasions, each time thinking "well it's been a few years, maybe I just couldn't appreciate it before, and now I'll see why it's so loved" and each time I just ended up bored.  Voting for Clerks here.

I think the Godfather 1 and Godfather 2 (along with Blade Runner and Silence of the Lambs) are the best movies I have ever seen.

Clerks I (and 2) is one of the funniest movies full of heart that I have ever seen.

Quote from: Imrahil on June 01, 2008, 02:39:10 PM

Quote from: Chaos on June 01, 2008, 01:57:35 PM
Clerks was a fun movie and all, but seriously... The Godfather was THE FREAKING GODFATHER. :)

Eh, I don't fetishize it at all like most people I know do. But I'll say that once you start watching you it hooks you. If you try to get up and leave, it keeps dragging you back in...

I don't fetishize it or anything, but I still think it's a fantastic movie. I know the type of people you're talking about though. They're the same kind of people who will hear no negative feedback re: the Star Wars prequels. There's just no helping some people. ;)

Quote from: Imrahil on June 01, 2008, 02:39:10 PM

Quote from: Chaos on June 01, 2008, 01:57:35 PM
Clerks was a fun movie and all, but seriously... The Godfather was THE FREAKING GODFATHER. :)

Eh, I don't fetishize it at all like most people I know do. But I'll say that once you start watching you it hooks you. If you try to get up and leave, it keeps dragging you back in...

Well done on the reference to Michael's predicament, I assume that was intentional. :)

I won't be voting in this round, so this has no effect on the tallies whatsoever.  That said, if The Godfather loses, I will be morally compelled to blow up the Internet.

Discuss.  ;)

Quote from: Chaos on June 01, 2008, 01:57:35 PM
Clerks was a fun movie and all, but seriously... The Godfather was THE FREAKING GODFATHER. :)

yup.

Oh!  I misread it as Weekend at Bernies, thanks for the clarification.

Quote from: YoohooRiffer on June 01, 2008, 11:36:43 AM
But I've never seen the Godfather, so no vote from me this time.

nice to know I'm not the only one, No vote from me either

Isn't it on your list?

oh yeah, that reminds me.....

I'm from Jersey and we really love our convenience stores. I do feel kind of bad going against the mob though.

don't worry, there is no mafia, this big scary Italian guy with a gun told me so very forcefully once

I like Clerks, but come on.

...

Now, i can pick Bueller over Brazil because that's a special case. It was hard, but that choice was made long ago.

But now the film student in me won't allow me to click that button for Clerks. And i really have a lot of fun watching that movie. I would actually much rather watch Clerks multiple times than The Godfather. But i just think that The Godfather is a much better film in every single sense of the word. It just feels epic.

I suppose that feeling comes from the cinematography more than anything else... at least for me, which is weird. It has a feeling of grandeur somehow. And that's even though i flew through cinematography by filming gritty and over exposed crap, because editing was my thing. But the look of The Godfather has something that i haven't seen it a lot of movies since. I think that's a big reason why the third movie didn't feel right to me... because it didn't look right (among other things.)

Anyway, there ya' go: The Godfather... all the way.

-Rude

Quote from: RoninFox on June 03, 2008, 05:22:58 AM
don't worry, there is no mafia, this big scary Italian guy with a gun told me so very forcefully once

A local Jersey radio station host once ran a whole show on the mob. He said, "I swear undying loyalty to the mob and challenge you to call me and tell me something they did to you that you didn't deserve." All he got was a garbage collection contract dispute. One of the first people they questioned about Hoffa lived across the street from my mom. There were 8 kids in her family and this guy would come by now and then with say, a box of kid's shoes that "fell off a truck" for only $5. I'm not the least bit Italian and I can still say they took care of their own.

I still voted clerks though which is why I feel guilty.

Look at it this way:  I have no doubt that the entire cast and crew of Clerks would vote Godfather.

Again , to reiterate, I fully ackowledge that Godfather is a more superior film, but the poll states: Which film do you prefer?  And given the choice, i'd chose Clerks over Godfather.  But the point is moot, because Godfather has this poll in the bag.

Godfather for the win... both 1 and 2 are amazing =)

I think Godfather should win, but I'm glad it's far enough ahead that I can throw a token vote to my main man Kevin. 

VOTING IN NOW CLOSED

The Godfather moves on to Round 2