Steven Spielberg’s pick for greatest American movie ever made is getting new life on streaming. Spielberg himself can lay claim to having directed some of the greatest American movies ever made, with a filmography that includes blockbusters like E.T. and Jurᴀssic Park, as well as acclaimed prestige films like Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan.

One of Spielberg’s other great films, once called the best movie ever made by Quentin Tarantino, is currently being celebrated on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. The impact of Jaws was indeed powerful when the thriller movie first sank its teeth into the box office back in 1975, launching the blockbuster era, while propelling Spielberg into the first rank of Hollywood directors. Three years earlier, another film from a celebrated New Hollywood director of the ‘70s set the stage for Spielberg’s box office triumph, after almost making the Jaws wunderkind quit movies.

The Godfather Trilogy Is Now Streaming On Paramount+, And It Recently Cracked The Top 10

It’s Been On The Streamer Since June 1

Spielberg said while recently celebrating Francis Ford Coppola that The Godfather was the greatest American movie ever made, and it’s on Paramount+ right now, along with its two sequels. Coppola changed Hollywood forever with his 1972 take on the gangster genre, starring Marlon Brando as the iconic Don Corleone. The film became the first ever to gross $100 million, going on to be the biggest money-maker of all-time, until Jaws came along and broke its record.

Paramount+ subscribers can now judge Spielberg’s pick for greatest American movie for themselves, as The Godfather has been available on the streamer since June 1, and recently cracked the service’s U.S. top 10 with an appearance at #2 back on June 16 (via Flixpatrol). On that same date, The Godfather Part II also made the top 10, hitting #5.

Our Take On The Godfather Being A Streaming Hit

Audiences Still Can’t Refuse The Gangster Classic

The Godfather is one of those American classics that every movie fan must see at least once in their lives. Spielberg saw it when it came out back in 1972, and told the audience at Coppola’s April AFI tribute what the movie meant to him:

The Godfather, for me, is the greatest American film ever made. Many artists can and do take a bow from their work on a page, on a canvas, on a screen, but our applause for you Francis, is from a different kind of audience. When we’re young, it’s our parents we want to make proud, and then it’s our friends, and then it’s our colleagues, and finally, it’s our peers, but you, sir, are peerless.

Spielberg once also revealed how The Godfather’s greatness demoralized him, recounting for a bonus feature on the movie’s DVD restoration that he was “pulverized by the story and by the effect it had on me, and I also felt that I should quit.” Thankfully, the director did not quit, and three years later he released the shark-attack thriller that would knock The Godfather from its perch atop the all-time domestic box office chart.

Even as Spielberg’s shark movie contribution to classic 1970s cinema receives its 50th anniversary laurels, Coppola’s masterpiece and its sequels are drawing eyeballs on Paramount+. Now is the perfect time to see The Godfather, the equally-acclaimed Godfather Part II, and the divisive trilogy-capper that used to be known as The Godfather Part III, but was re-christened Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone upon the occasion of its latest recut.

The first two Godfather movies have rightly been enshrined in the American pantheon, while the third is getting a reᴀssessment in the wake of Coppola’s most recent tweaks. Whether watched individually, or as one great, sweeping epic, The Godfather Trilogy remains one of the greatest achievements in Hollywood history.

Source: Flixpatrol