there are so many great moments here. i really like the film, but i dont hold it as high as others do. it still blows away 99% of whats out there. i fall into the camp that says the second one is better. at times, i know coppola said that he wanted to make this film in the classical way, and it has that feel, to a point where it doesnt have a consistent realism to it SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER(ie, when fredo fumbles the gun, it looks staged and unrealistic. also, when the they take out the heads of the five families, some of those deaths look fake, too (like when moe green gets shot in the eye, he just lays his head down, like he's going back to sleep. what? you just got shot in the eye. cmon.))END SPOILER END SPOILER END SPOILER those things aside, i like this very much.

i started watching part ii right after this, and the look between the two films are immediately noticeable. the first film does have that old style feel to it, but the second one is very modern in its feel. so when ffc says that he considers the trilogy to be just one film, its hard for me to think of it as such, because of the differences between all of the films. each part just feels different. more on part ii later

also, i watched this with ffc's commentary, because he is just an insightful guy.   you know, ive said it before, and i'll say it again, ffc is the greatest living director alive (in so much as you think of his work as a whole; i'll be the first to admit that his recent work arent masterpieces).  he dominated the 70s with the first 2 godfathers, the conversation, and the swan song of the decade, apocalypse now.  since then, most people have considered his follow up work as failures (although i for one love the third godfather).  but this is just another situation, i think, where someone's work overshadows everything else he's done.  although, i ve only seen a few of his other films since the 70s (part iii, rainmaker, dracula), but i thought that they were entertaining. 

youth with out youth may be one of the most intriguing films to come out in some time, if for no other reason than to make us all wonder if ffc will be able to make something as great as he did in the 70s.