I don't know if this subject has been posted before, sorry if this is a repeat-

How old were you your first time that you saw GF?
How old were you the first time you read the book?
Share your memories of the first time...

I was nine, and it was the "Complete Novel for Television". I watched as much as I could over the course of several nights, but there were parts I missed or didn't quite get (i.e.- I kept thinking Michael and Carlo was the same person and got confused when Michael got married and then "beat his wife" remember, I was nine...)

I have very clear memories of the baptism, young Vito's witnessing his Mother's murder, Michael with Vito in the hospital, the party in Tahoe along with the "drapes open scene", and for some reason, the floor show at the place in Havana when Senator Geary makes his "red-headed Yolanda" comment.

I read the book for the first time when I was twelve, (by then a dyed-in-the wool Padrinophile, thanks to HBO) and was initially frustrated with the Johnny Fontane subplot and Lucy Mancini's gynecological problems, but I probably read the book another dozen times by the time I was 20.


Sammy The Fish

I was thirteen but I only saw a part. First time that I sat through the entire trilogy was when I was 14. Have watched the Trilogy another 2 times since.
I read the book once, when I was 16.

I mistook Sonny and Carlo, so I didn't understand why Sonny was hitting his sister.

11 the first time I saw the first movie thirteen with the other two and 13 when I read the book.

Yes Sammy, it's a repeat, but one we like to remenicse (sp.) about.

I read the novel in March of 1970 at age 20. Couldn't wait for the movie, which of course I saw when it was released. The rest is history as they say. I've seen the movie XXXX times and still enjoy every frame. I read the novel a second time a few years ago.

Now when I watch the movie I say the lines along with the actors and drive my family nuts. I look around the frame for all the little nuances and details. It's a sickness, I know. Therapy has helped, but ahh, why bother.

I do that when watching 'The Wizard of Oz'. I can't be around people during that movie, it's just too annoying.

Anyway...first time watching GF? That would have to be when it premiered on network television, so I must've been around 17 or 18. My mother (having read the book) was far more interested in it than I was.

I don't think I finally saw the film in its entirety until around 20 years later!!

Apple

when i was 16 i watched all three and 16 when i read the book.

let's see the first time I seen the GF was about 5 years ago. Me and the hubby was visiting with his cousin in Kentucky who was watching it. I was fasinated with the movie. So as soon as I got back I rented all 3 and read the book and the rest is history.

I remember when the movie was released in theaters in 1972, I was nine years old. The thing I rememebr the most was what a big deal it was in my extended family. All of my aunts and uncles went to see it, as if it was a huge event. I guess among some Italian-Americans it was.

As for myself, I read the book (for the first time) in the summer of 1981, when I was 18 years old. I loved it from the get go. This was before we had a VCR, so I waited patiently and the movies (I & II) were shown on cable sometime that summer. I watched them in their entirety on consecutive nights. Been in love with them ever since.

I was just finishing high school when the book came out in 1969. I read Dick Schaap's review of it (March, '69) and bought the book a few weeks later. I always loved gangster stuff but the book had a special interest to me because it took place right here in New York.

I saw the movie a few months after it came out in 1972. I loved the movie immediately (I was a little put off of the novel because of the too many sequences about Lucy Mancini, Nino Valenti, etc. that I felt weren't necessary).

I remember thinking (at the time) that the cast wasn't that much of a draw for me. I always liked Brando but he hadn't done much of anything recently (the last thing I saw him in was the movie in which he played a southern sheriff co-starring with Robert Redford and the movie wasn't too good). I knew of Robert Duvall (seeing him in "M*A*S*H") and Richard Conte but wasn't all that familiar with anyone else.

I never imagined that some 30+ years later I'd be "living" in a "Godfather" community.

"Godfather Family" You mean huh?

I was an "adult" (older than SC, alas ) when I read the novel in its first printing. Same for the movie. I couldn't put the novel down, and read it hundreds of times over the next five years or so.
GF made a huge impression on me. GFII initially struck me as too long after seeing it the first time. But I had no opportunity to see them again until 1983, when the "Saga" was first shown on TV. That's when (and why) I bought my first VCR. Thereafter I watched the tapes religiously, and came to appreciate II as perhaps even better than GF.

The only reason why I saw the Godfather was because when I was like 9, my whole family (aunts, uncles, parents, g-parents, etc) told all of us kids to go upstairs. "This is a grown-up movie". THAT's ALL THEY HAD TO SAY. I swear, between my uncles quoting and my mom saying how beautiful Al Pacino is, I couldn't WAIT to see it. I finally saw it when I was 12. I could not believe I didn't have the GF in my life before then. Oh yeah, then I thought I was gonna marry Al Pacino.
AHHH. memories.
thanks for that buddy.

I remeber I was in 6th grade when I saw The Godfather. I watched it on TV with my Dad, I remember thinking this is like my family, not in the criminal sense of course. I saw II and III about a month later and on my next B-day I recieved the Trilogy on VHS. I read the book about 5 years later and to this day The Godfather is an obsession and passion.

-Sonny

I Was 24 When The GF Was Released & seen it 1 week later!
Been A Fan Ever Since!

17 years old. I kindof had to sneak around, because Dad was still aprihensive about letting me watch R movies.

I had read the novel, and went to a matinee to see the movie the day it came out. I then stayed for the second showing.

I was about 21. Since, I've reread the book and reseen the movie probably 100+ times, literally. In fact, I've been rereading he book the last couple of days. It's kind of like having sex with a different woman each time - there are certain basic things that are the same, but each experience looks and feels differently and creates new memories.

I was 16 when I saw all three movies, and I am still reading the book (What a fantastic read!)

I was 16, I believe.

I'd been becoming more and more interested in the mafia and organized crime for a while. I remember I'd asked my parents for The Godfather VHS tape for Christmas. They told me I probably wouldn't like it...its long...and it'd probably be boring for a 15 year old.

So I don't get it for Christmas. I turned 16 a week later...and expected to receive it for my birthday. No dice.

I wait and wait...all the while reading and watching anything I could find related to organized crime.

Finally, I'm in the local video rental store with my aunt...and I see The Godfather on VHS. I ask my aunt to rent it...and she does. It happens to be her favorite film of all time!

We go home...I watch it...and the rest is, as they say, history!

Kudos XD. To paraphrase another Board member's comment, when I die I hope to do so either making love, working out, or watching the Godfather.

I had seen bits and pieces of both Part 1 and Part 2 on television, though I believe I actually saw The Godfather Saga because it was in chronological order from what I remember. Which is why when I was online and couldn't find that on DVD, I was disappointed.

However, I bought the DVD's and watched all three from start-to-finish for the first time when I was 16. Blockbuster Video had them on sale at Christmastime that year for $75 dollars, which was a deal considering the going rate was closer to $100 if I recall...but yes, I caressed and held those brand-new DVD's like it was my first born.

After seeing the movies, I had found the book (a Penguin Classics reprint, hardcover, with a very nice but plain design) at discount store for $7.99, and added it to my collection. I was probably 18 or 19 at the time. I remember I thought the writing was...crappy. But I liked the fact that it helped fill in the spaces where the movie was lacking.

The only other movies that has had similar effects on me are the original Star Wars trilogy and Once Upon a Time in America.

My first time I watched the whole thing was a few years ago. I was a freshman in college and had always wondered about La Cosa Nostra... I rented the trilogy DVDs from a Movie Galery and couldn't stop watching it... I didn't take the movies back for a year. I watched at least one of the movies every 2 - 3 days at least. Then I graduated and began buying all movies related to the mafia... i also checked out the book from the library when i was a senior... began reading it and actually liked it more than the movies... but i was "pledging" at the time and had no time to read it. I still have not completed the novel today, but plan on it very soon.