A quick look at the "IMDb Top 250 Movies" list will show that "The Godfather" is among the top five entries, sitting at #2, to be precise. If we were to filter this list by genre and choose crime thriller, Francis Ford Coppola's first entry in "The Godfather" trilogy emerges at the top, followed closely by "Part II" at the #3 spot. Although lists like this are subjective, and the crime thriller genre encompasses varying tints, this is not a controversial ranking by any means. Rightfully finding its way into conversations about the greatest American films ever made, "The Godfather" is a riveting adaptation of Mario Puzo's work which helped categorize a new mythology of organized crime on the big screen.

It is easy to dismiss Coppola's trilogy as a saga solely about mafia bosses. Although these films trace the legacy of the Corleone family, they also explore complex diasporic identities...