The Godfather tops film bluffs’ list

Briton is a nation of film bluffs according to researchers who found four out of five of Britons lie about what movies we have seen to impress people.

Top of the film fibs is The Godfather, the first part of Francis Ford Coppola’s sprawling mafia trilogy, starring Al Pacino and Marlon Brando with almost a third of people (30 per cent) saying they lied about having watched it.

The second most popular choice was 1942 classic Casablanca with around one in 10 (13 per cent) saying they had seen it when they had not.

Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film, Taxi Driver, came in third with 11 per cent falsely claiming to have watched the tale of a tormented Vietnam war veteran. Around 1,500 people took part in the poll by movie rental firm Lovefilm.

Its editor, Helen Cowley, said: “Whether it is a small white lie about having seen a cult classic or nodding along to friends as they recount the infamous horse head scene in The Godfather, there are some films that we just do not want to admit we have not watched.”

The top 10

1. The Godfather (30 per cent)
2. Casablanca (13 per cent)
3. Taxi Driver (11 per cent)
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey (nine per cent)
5. Reservoir Dogs (eight per cent)
6. This Is Spinal Tap (seven per cent)
7. Apocalypse Now (six per cent)
8. Goodfellas (five per cent)
9. Blade Runner (five per cent)
10. The Great Escape (four per cent)