The Godfather, Part III

The Godfather, Part III

Runtime: 170 minutes

Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola

Starring: Al Pacino, Andy Garcia, Talia Shire, Diane Keaton, Eli Wallach

From: Paramount

After many years, I finally saw this again. The movie is better than I had remembered, although yeah, Sofia Coppola's performance is pretty bad. But considering this was mainly done for a paycheck... my long Letterboxd review is below: 

Last night after the Super Bowl I had the free time to watch a long film so it was the time for me to rewatch a movie I had seen before but the last time was years ago. Some movies come off as worse after the passage of time or are seen as worse by me compared to when I saw it in my youth. Likewise, films can be better due to the passage of time. This is a movie that is better than what I had remembered.

Considering the circumstances of trying to equal two of the greatest films in the history of world cinema AND being rushed by Paramount so that the movie could come out at a certain time (a horrible idea that happens all the time and honestly it's a miracle when a big Hollywood movie actually turns out great due to the needless corporate constrictions), the movie is good. Unfortunately, it's not great and it'll always suffer in comparison.

To mention the elephant in the room when it comes to III, Sofia Coppola... yes, Winona Ryder dropped out at the last minute and Francis Ford Coppola, father, made the unwise decision to cast his non-actress daughter in a pivotal role, and her performance was notably bad. Even with the circumstances they should have tried to cast someone with experience. The trilogy's theme of family shouldn't have been extended to real life like that. Considering how she got eviscerated for her acting it's a miracle that Sofia would even want anything else to do with the business but at least she's definitely better as a writer and director. Besides, it could be argued that Robert Duvall not appearing in the movie as Tom Hagen due to money reasons is also a big detriment, and to me it is. No offense but the replacement character of George Hamilton's BJ Harrison is just not the same.

At least the story was interesting to me. I can't quite explain why there was the subplot of Mary Corleone and Vincent Mancini (first cousins!) falling in love and they start rolling more than gnocchi-as it's a little weird and also a little gross-but the general idea of Michael Corleone trying to finally be legitimate for good as his corporation purchases the financially troubled bank owned by the Vatican, only to be pulled back into the Mafia life... it is enjoyable. Andy Garcia does a swell job of playing Mancini, who is the illegitimate son of Sonny Corleone, and he really nailed how James Caan acted and sounded in the role. The idea of a new Godfather was largely successfully done here.

The first part of the movie in late 70's New York City set things up nicely and showed who the bad guys were. I am not sure we needed all the obvious allusions and line quotes from the first two movies, though. The villains are pretty awful people, and crazy enough to deliver a memorable helicopter massacre in an Atlantic City hotel meeting room. The second half in Sicily where old locations are visited and we had the memorable opera finale, that works as the story is Michael having to pay for the sins of his past. The confession scene to the priest where he has to admit to his wrongdoings (including what he did to his brother Fredo) was great. The ending, it does show that he while he experienced hardships due to his ways (including friction with his family), he finally was truly punished for his actions; it was certainly an opera or a tragedy, and it was fitting.

Since I last saw the movie I did learn more about two plot points inspired by real life: how Pope John Paul I died barely a month into his reign due to (officially) natural causes but there have always been rumors that due to him trying to clean up corruption in the Papal offices he was actually murdered... and the Banco Ambrosiano, which the Vatican had a big stake in and due to corruption they collapsed, and there are rumors that the two were connected in real life so they did it in a fictional sense here. Knowing that background did help me out here.

To me, the acting was mostly solid. Pacino delivered a quality performance that was perfect for the character as an old beaten-down man. There were great scenes, from the aforementioned confession to Michael and Kay trying to reconcile after all those years but the scene's ending proves that some things will never change. The movie's plot is not always successful (why did Bridget Fonda's character vanish after only appearing in a few scenes?) but overall I'll say it's good. Talia Shire having more to do this time as Connie ended up working for her character. The ending seemed appropriate for Michael Corleone, even if it is pretty sad. Behind the camera things were solid; the cinematography from Gordon Willis stands out for me there.

The movie is not a masterpiece like the first two are; yet, to me it's not the disaster its reputation says it is.