The 10 Best Movies That Have Referenced The Godfather

The Godfather has proven to be one of the best movies in cinematic history. Even modern movies today enjoy making references and parallels to it

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Content Warning: This article contains discussions/descriptions of violence

As The Godfather is one of the most iconic movies of all time, as it’s full of classic quotes and memorable scenes, the movie is referenced so often in everyday life. With fans repeating lines like “make him an offer he can’t refuse,” or “the day of my daughter’s wedding,” the movie has been embedded in pop-culture.

But it doesn’t end there, as there are even hundreds of movies that have referenced the greatest gangster movie of all time. Whether it’s paying homage to scenes by using the same editing beats or casting actors from the mob movie just to repeat those very iconic lines, the film has been referenced in so many creative ways.

10 Despicable Me (2010)

Even though most animated movies tend to be targeted towards a young audience, the creators still try to make them enjoyable for adults by including some hidden references to R-rated classics, which is exactly what happened in Despicable Me.

In The Godfather, a wealthy movie producer owns a horse that he loves dearly. However, when he refuses to reason with Tommy, he finds the horse’s head in his bed the next morning. It’s one of the most famous scenes of all time, and Despicable Me of all movies pays homage to this, as Gru finds a doll’s head in his bed and he screams in the same way the movie producer does.

9 Oldboy (2013)

There might be a lot of things wrong with the 2013 American remake of Oldboy, with critics panning the movie to no end, but it did, at least, had a few Easter eggs for eagle-eyed viewers.

In The Godfather, anytime somebody is about to get murdered, there are oranges in the shot – whether it’s when Vito gets shot down or when Michael dies in the final movie. It’s one of the best examples of foreshadowing in movies, and just like in The Godfather, a bowl of oranges can be found on a table just before Adrian dies.

8 The Judge (2014)

In The Judge, The Godfather is referenced by simply repeating what is possibly the most famous quote in cinema history. In the movie, Sam mentions “an offer he can’t refuse,” which refers to the dangerous method in which Vito Corleone threatens to murder associates unless they do favors for him.

But what makes this reference special is that Robert Duvall, who played Tommy, Vito’s lawyer in The Godfather, is the lead actor in The Judge, making it a surprisingly meta-joke in what is otherwise a pretty serious movie.

7 Pitch (1997)

Pitch is a mockumentary created by Kenny Hotz and Spencer Rice, who went on to create one of the most outrageous Canadian comedies, Kenny vs. Spenny. The mockumentary is less aggressive and vulgar than the TV show they became known for, but it still has its references to one of the most violent mob movies of the 70s.

The movie follows the two so-called best friends, who try to sell a screenplay they worked on together in Hollywood. With Kenny being Kenny, who is such a narcissist and so egotistical, he compares the screenplay to The Godfather. Needless to say, the screenplay didn’t sell, even if they did manage to hand the script to Al Pacino in person.

6 Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

In the typically symmetrical Wes Anderson movie Moonrise Kingdom, Jason Schwartzman has a major role in the star-studded cast. And one of the lines of dialogue he has is, “Take the carbon, leave the Bible.” This is an obvious play on “Leave the gun, take the cannolis,” a line of dialogue uttered by Clemenza in the first installment of the mob movie.

But what makes this reference special is that Schwartzman followed in his mother’s footsteps, as his mother, Talia Shire, is also an actor and played Connie in the Godfather series.

5 Due Date (2010)

Due Date is one of the most underrated comedies of the 21st century, as it follows two complete opposites forced to go on a road trip across America together.

One of the characters, Ethan decides to reenacts Vito’s whole speech from the first scene of The Godfather. He literally spends a whole minute hilariously butchering it by putting on Brando’s accent and getting the words totally mixed up.

4 Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith (2005)

The baptism scene in The Godfather is one of the most rewatched scenes in the movie. It famously intercuts Michael Corleone becoming the godfather with several mob bosses getting assassinated, and the scene is almost identical to one found in Revenge of the Sith.

The scene of Palpatine’s declaration of the Empire, intercutting with the shots of Anakin murdering the Separatists, pays homage to the baptism scene. It not only has the same editing, but the themes are similar too. It’s hardly surprising that this substantial scene is a giant reference to The Godfather, as Coppola was a big influence on George Lucas, and Lucas even edited the newspaper headline montage in the mafia movie too.

3 American Gangster (2007)

When it comes to American Gangster, there’s actually an alternate opening to the one that was shown in theatres, as Frank walks into a building, fires a gun, and then throws it on to the ground. This is a direct reference to the famous dinner scene between Michael, Sollozzo, and the police chief, where Michael shoots them, then throws the gun on the floor before walking out.

Leaving the gun at the scene of the crime was some of the best advice ever given to Michael by Clemenza, and it’s now such a common occurrence in gangster movies.

2 Ocean’s Thirteen (2007)

Every filmmaker working in Hollywood today is clearly influenced to some extent by The Godfather. However, it looks as if Steven Soderbergh clearly feels like he owes something to the gangster movie, as Ocean’s Thirteen is a whole well of Godfather references.

The most obvious of them all is when Danny Ocean says to Bank, “What I want, what’s most important to me…” which is what was uttered by Michael in the first Godfather movie. And what’s more interesting is that Bank is played by Pacino, who also plays Michael in the mafia flick.

1 The Wolf Of Wall Street (2013)

Though fans are still dying to see a director’s cut, many fans will agree that the Martin Scorsese epic The Wolf of Wall Street is long enough. With those 3 hours, fans have still found much entertainment through all the easter eggs and references to other movies.

In what is one of the strangest jokes is when Jordan Belfort hires two bodyguards, both of whom are called Rocco. But there’s actually a reason behind that, as it’s a reference to another bodyguard, Rocco from The Godfather, who was an enforcer for the Corleone Family.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/the-godfather-best-movie-references-in-other-films/