The Godfather is long and talks about many things, but at the end of the day, this is a film about the cycle of violence.  The transition of power, the clashes between criminal families, the abandoning of love for business.  It's all here, laid out for anyone to see, and it is beautiful.  The characters here are the obvious stars, carrying dramatic scenes and fleshing out the story to masterful levels.  While this movie does have one shortcoming, in the lack of gore and violence to further sell the brutal nature of the mob, this movie is undoubtedly a masterpiece.  I wish there were a hundred more movies with these exact characters, as I would not hesitate to watch them all.