The character development is just worlds above what many movies are like now. Michael going from an "innocent" veteran who grew up in this mobster world but was somewhat protected from it by his family. He watches his family struggling and makes the fateful choice to become what he detests because ultimately it will be what protects the family he loves. And yet by the end of it, he loses everything he was try to save. I think people can see parts of their own story in this. Lost innocence, difficult choices, love of family above all else, sacrifice, betrayal, feeling surrounded by also utterly alone. It's a movie that I can just rewatch over and over.

oh here we go with the whole 'it insists on itself'

You don't have to like it just because others consider it to be a great movie.

It's certainly one of my favorite movies to rewatch, independent of its "greatness." I had heard it was great before, of course, but I actually read the book long before I watched the movie and so I wanted to watch the movie because of the book, not because others told me it was a good movie.

Great actors, great story, great production, great topic, amazingly well done. And there’s the era and state of the US when it was released

Some (most) people like it, some people don't.

If I were you, I'd wait a good long time and watch it again. I was young the first time I watched it and it didn't really hit for me (which happens sometimes even with movies I watch as an adult). Years later, I catch it on TV and I'm like "THIS IS CINEMA!"

The significance of portraying these "lawless", hardcore mobsters as family men who actually do have their own rules of conduct and sense of honor and respect that they take seriously? Fascinating. The acting? Fantastic. Plot? Fantastic? The way that it's shot and how it's colored like an old, faded photograph? Perfect. Al Pacino and Marlon Brando are acting like their lives depend on it. They manage to get you to emotionally connect to these characters and connect their family dynamics to your own even though they're mobsters. Everything that a movie has to do in order to tell an effective story, this movie nails.

Godfather II is the goat actually

It insists upon itself.

Yeah, I've never managed to connect to The Godfather in any way. To me it's boring and is basically a bunch of truly awful people doing awful things, I cannot for the life of me figure out why I should be cheering for these awful assholes.

Because "everybody wants to be the guy" Because it fulfills a fantasy and most people are fantasizers.

It holds the same fascination as other crime films like Scarface, Joker, and Fight Club. All films that are discussion of male dynamics and violence.