Star Wars or the Godfather

[Hamish]

To help settle an argument I had with someone, what is everyone's opinion on which of these two great films has been more influential, Star Wars or The Godfather? And you can interpret 'influential' as you like! Cheers.

[+The_Sponge]

My opinion - Star Wars has been more influential, Godfather is the better film.

[CaleyD]

I've had a few arguments about these two films in the past....the general cause of the arguments was that many people see the violence in Star Wars as perfectly acceptable for kids to be watching, but for some reason Godfather is a big no no.  You can drag Tom and Jerry cartoons in to the equation for a more lively debate if you so wish  :015:

I think Star Wars has a wider audience, and for that reason it has to be viewed as the most influential...but it's hard to compare two films with totally different genres.

[Scotty]

The key to the question is the word influential.

The original Godfather is probably the better film of the two but Star Wars created a whole genre so has been more influential

You could have similar arguments about Simpsons / South Park or Harry Potter / Lord of the Rings

[VIVA LAS TOKLEY]

Scotty has hit the nail on the head,  The key word is influential.

The Godfather is a great film, and classic story  targeted at an adult audience.  It has probably influenced a generation of filmakers, writers and modern day gangsters(haha).

Star wars on the other hand was a film that appealed to the majority of ages at the time,  and has probably influenced and inspired an entire generation of kids,  myself included.  I still get excited when i hear the 20th century fox fanfare at the start of a film.

[Hamish]

The key to the question is the word influential.

The original Godfather is probably the better film of the two but Star Wars created a whole genre so has been more influential

You could have similar arguments about Simpsons / South Park or Harry Potter / Lord of the Rings

I'm not really sure about the Harry Potter/ Lord Of The Rings example; the latter is more influential and the better film by a long, long way!

[SMEE]

I think the word influential should not be confused with quality. In my understanding of the word influential, i would ahve to say Star wars films are infinitley more Influential. I played with star wars toys wen wee along wi lots of my mates at the time.....and here i am 30 yrs on buying my 5 yr old a Darth Vader figure TODAY as HE is into star wars.

[Scotty]

I'm not really sure about the Harry Potter/ Lord Of The Rings example; the latter is more influential and the better film by a long, long way!

you think ?

Every HP book has, or will be, made into a film and shown to impressionable youngsters and others, many of whom have made JK Rowling a very rich woman in the process by buying squillions of the books ....

The Tolkien books on the other hand have been hugely popular amongst a certain demographic for a long time and the films, although spectacular and of better quality will probably have been seen by less people overall, and from a demographic that are not as impressionable.

I therefore submit, that as SMEE said above, quality should not be confused with influence .. and the HP series is the more influential set even though I personally enjoyed the LOTR trilogy a lot more

[Hamish]

I disagree totally. Lord Of The Rings clearly was a HUGE influence on JK Rowling in the HP books. OK, now we're not talking about the films per se but I think the argument still stands. The Lord Of The Rings films certainly made more money individually at the box office, which translates into the number of people having seen the films. Also, there are not many people that I can think of who don't have the LOTRs dvds in their collection. The same cannot be said for the HP films.