The Godfather baptism montage

Name: The Godfather baptism montage
Uploaded: 2026-10-24T11:24:45.938Z
Duration: 1 min 22 s
Channel: Capucine · old hollywood
Description: What Coppola pulls off in THE GODFATHER (1972) is that the baptism stops being a sacrament and becomes Michael's last step into who he is. He's renouncing Satan on one side of the cut while a coordinated bloodbath runs on the other, and the back and forth does the work. For my money it's among the coldest stretches of editing the movies have given us.

by Capucine · old hollywood: Francis Ford Coppola

What Coppola pulls off in THE GODFATHER (1972) is that the baptism stops being a sacrament and becomes Michael's last step into who he is. He's renouncing Satan on one side of the cut while a coordinated bloodbath runs on the other, and the back and forth does the work. For my money it's among the coldest stretches of editing the movies have given us.

Transcript (en)

Michael Francis Rizzi, do you renounce Satan? I do renounce him. And all his works? I do renounce them. And all his pumps? I do renounce them. Michael Rizzi, will you be baptized? Michael Rizzi, go in peace, and may the Lord be with you. Amen.

The Godfather baptism montage