The Godfather: Part III (1990)
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Film Review

Were it not for the fact that it followed on from two previous films, both universally acknowledged as masterpieces (The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II), The Godfather: Part III might have stood a fair chance of being judged on its own merits. It might even have been hailed as one of the more inspired crime films of the 1990s.  This was a film that Francis Ford Coppola was reluctant to make and did so (sixteen years after  the second Godfather film) only after the almost catastrophic failure of New York Stories (1989).  The director's original concept for the film (which was to have been entitled The Death of Michael Corleone) conflicted with Paramount's insistence that it be a full-blown sequel and the result is consequently something of a curate's egg, lacking the epic vision of the first two Godfather films and the focus and intimacy that Coppola had sought.  The director had at first envisaged a modest character study, about a dying man facing up to his past sins, asking the question: what is the price a man who is steeped in blood must pay to redeem his soul?  Instead, the film he ended up making was another gore-splattered gangster blockbuster, a forced sequel that had next to no legitimacy.

Working closely with Mario Puzo, the author whose novel The Godfather had inspired the first film in the series, Coppola conceives a suitably operatic finish to his modern Greek tragedy, but the film adds little if anything to what had gone before.  The Godfather II ended with Michael Corleone sitting securely at the head of his gangster empire, having jettisoned his earlier scruples and pretty well destroyed his family to get there. The Godfather: Part III merely presents more of the same. Corleone may think he is a reformed man but his obsession with protecting his family can only hasten its destruction.  His attempts to redeem his soul (by playing the role of the great benefactor and currying favour with the Catholic Church) are endlessly frustrated because, as he finds, criminality is all-pervasive in the modern business world - the higher you climb, the more hoodlums you encounter.  Corleone realises too late that he is damned and the film ends precisely as we expect it to, with the once invulnerable gangster boss losing everything he values.  It takes Coppola another two and half hours of tortuous screen-time to tells us what happens next after The Godfather: Part II, and it turns out to be a somewhat pointless exercise in stating the blinking obvious.

Film critics have a tendency to behave like half-starved psychotic wolves when they scent blood and see an easy target, and their pack savagery was very much in evidence when The Godfather: Part III came up for review on its first release.  The main point of focus for the critics' bloodlust was the director's decision to cast his daughter Sofia Coppola in a leading role, that of Corleone's daughter Mary.  As her father was taken to task for flagrant nepotism, the actress was ridiculed for her performance - unfairly as it turns out.  Sofia Coppola may not be as naturally gifted or experienced as the big name actors who appear alongside her (she later showed herself to be a far more capable filmmaker), but her vulnerable, true-to-life portrayal of Corleone's daughter (the one true innocent in a den of macho savagery) is well-judged to illuminate the cold inhumanity of the world she inhabits.  In general, the performances are the one thing that redeems the film and prevents it from being a shallow imitation of the earlier Godfather films.  Despite an awful make-up job, Al Pacino is as impressive as the ageing Corleone as he was as the young firebrand in the previous films; Andy Garcia is excellent as Corleone's number one henchman and heir apparent; Diane Keaton reprises her role as Corleone's former wife with her customary spark and sensitivity; and the supporting players (too numerous mention) bring the required depth and authenticity that is lacking in Coppola's hastily cobbled together screenplay.

As a gangster film in its own right, The Godfather: Part III is hard to flaw.  Only in its writing does it fall far short of the brilliance of the previous films.  The plot may be well-structured but it has a tendency to drift towards comic book excess in a few places, whilst some of the characterisation is laughably shallow, resorting to facile caricature in a way that hurts the film's credibility in a few crucial scenes.   It is a testament to Coppola's skill as a director and the commitment of his cast that these shortcomings are far less apparent on screen than they are on the printed page.  The Godfather: Part III is by no means a classic but it functions adequately both as gripping closing instalment in the Corleone saga and as a bleak commentary on the corruption that has become endemic in our society. Crime and politics are, as the film wryly observes, pretty much the same thing.  Don Corleone may be gone but his spirit is still with us, and will remain with us as long as men are susceptible to the deadly allure of power and money.

Film Synopsis

In 1979, Michael Corleone appears to be a reformed character.  As he nears his 60th birthday, he has almost completely severed his links with the Mafia and now presides as the head of a wholly legitimate business empire.  Keen to make up for his past sins, he devotes much of his time and personal fortune to charitable works, and he is determined that nothing will induce him to return to his former gangster ways.  Unfortunately, fate has other ideas.   Corleone's attempts to obtain a controlling interest in an international real estate company are viewed with suspicion by his criminal opponents, whose own interests may be jeopardised by the one-time hoodlum's newly acquired sense of morality.   Coreleone's bid for control of the company depends on a crucial papal vote, which he is sure to get having offered the stricken Vatican Bank a bribe it cannot refuse.  Vincent Mancini, the illegitimate son of Coreleone's dead brother Sonny, warns Coreleone that he and his family are up against some powerful and dangerous enemies.  Reluctantly, Coreleone takes Vincent on as his bodyguard, and the latter soon proves himself by executing the treacherous gangland enforcer Joey Zasa.  When Vincent falls in love with his employer's daughter Mary, Coreleone insists that they put an end to the relationship.   As he approaches death, Coreleone's one objective is to protect his children.  If he fails in this, he has failed in everything...