The Godfather

No matter how many they produce, we'll always have Pts. I & II.

The first Godfather is my favourite film ever. I thought a fourth one was in the pipeline ages ago. While there is a long gap between them, who's to say there shouldn't be more? As long as they don't get Leonardo DiCaprio in a lead role which is what I heard. I for one would love to see The Godfather turn into as many as Star Trek, etc...And it is an Italian family...not like they'll ever run out of material.

Lorna

I and II could never be tainted, but I hated III so much that I wouldn't mind a fourth to redeem the series. Heard on TV the other day that some writer won a contest to write a sequel to Puzo's Godfather book, covering the time between, roughly, Godfather II and III. Hope he doesn't screw it up.

After forcing myself to sit through Pt. III now a few times, I must say that it isn't a bad film. It was the casting of Sophia Coppola as Mary Corleone that killed it. Her acting was so bad, so deadpan, and the role was so major, that it disrupted the flow of the film. If you can just get passed her, and it ain't easy, you'll see that the movie is not nearly as awful as it was made out to be when first released.
I read a very in depth article many years ago about the trilogy and Coppola's decision to cast his untalented daughter in that role. Winona Ryder, originally cast as Mary, had a nervous breakdown and could not perform. It supposedly happened the morning of the first day of filming. She couldn't/wouldn't get out of bed. Instead of doing a big search to recast the role, Mr. Copolla, against the advice of everyone, including sister Talia Shire who, of course, played Connie Corleone, threw his kid into the role and the results were Pt. III.
What do you think it was? Parental adoration, all-out panic, heat from the studio? You wonder how and why this man, a master to many, could not see the damage that he himself had brought to his masterpiece.

The problems with Part 3 went deeper than casting Coppola's daughter. The script had big problems too. The Vatican intrigues were murky and opaque and for long stretches of the film, as I recall it, nothing much was happening. Also the absence of Robert Duvall was a big loss.

I agree with Larry. There were script problems that were almost laughable in III.

In any case, I and II are among the finest efforts ever to come out of Hollywood.

Godfather Part III
The Godfather Part III is definitely not in league with Parts I and II. However, I tend to feel it did deserve its Oscar nomination. This only shows how excellent the first 2 movies were.

It was certainly not as dissapointing a sequel as The Phantom Menace was!

Could have lived without part III. c.i.

have never seeen this movie but i heard it's very good

GF was the best film of the last 30 years. it was essentially a story about a family which happened to be making a living from crime. the centerpieces in GF and GF2 were not about crime, but what happened to the family and the exploration of tradition and codes of honor........weddings everywhere......cimino did this well in the deer hunter with ceremony.

in GF michael corleone went back to the old country from which his father fled and a sense of tradition and continuity was invoked.

GF2 had the entire flashback of vito corleone's struggle and rise to the role of Don which filled in the gaps of the life of vito corleone and gave the film a connection with the first, by going backward at the same time the michale corleone storyline went into the future. this craftily repositioned the story of the first film smack dab in the middle of the story arc and completed the "trilogy" of story lines, past present, future. this was an amazing piece of craftsmanship on the part of coppella and puzo, great stuff. its the genius of the two films that they are actually stories that could have been explored in three films.

since the story was complete, there was no need for GF3 and any attempt to graft an entirely new set of storylines onto the original trilogy would be awkward, like putting big tail fins on a porsche.


it was mentioned above that sophia copolla was a poor choice, if that woman is an actress, i'm a schnauzer. having andy garcia stare off into space as representitive of his inner struggle like a young michael corleone did at the end of GF and GF2 showed how awful he acts. i guess though that it is a hard act or acts to follow when compared both to pacino and de niro were at their young, explorative best.

GF3 lacked acting and the same level of exploration of the dynamics of family. but i thought the story line about michael corleone and the vitican scandals was interesting and could have been developed more. perhaps because there was so little else to the rest of the film.

but the film is worth the price of admission just to see what has happened to michael corleone, who grows larger in american film myth every year.

we probably will never again see so many great actors still in their young and mature prime hold supporting casts like in GF2 and particularly in GF. only the big chill comes to mind of such an ensemble of quality actors spot on with their craft..

BTW: has anyone counted the academy awards garnered in the careers of the main players of the ensemble of GF?

and my usual gauge for great films that impact the culture is the number of sayings from the screen play that enter the common cultural. GF seems to have the most, and next, oddly enough would be coppolla's apocalypse now or lucas' star wars.

it's late, i sleep with the fishes tonight....see what i mean?

1 and 11 were masterpieces 111 was pure mediocrity.

i made my ex-girlfriend sit through the triology. she absolute fell in love with the 1st 2. 15 minutes into the 3rd one she said "what the hell? this isn't the godfather. this is like a regular movie!" then she fell asleep.

with few exceptions the script didn't have the godfather feel.

anyway, it can't get any worse than godfather 3 so i would love to see a 4th installment. i heard that it was supposed to continue the story of andy garcia with flashbacks to young sunny corlene (played by leonardo dicaprio). but all that talk was before the death of mario puzo. right after his death, coppola said he would never make another godfather. but he didn't want to make a godfather 2 or 3 either at first. randon house owns the rights to the book. the guy who's writing it, a florida state professor, says it's gonna continue the 1st godfather book not the movie.

Oh please! Leonardo diCaprio as Sonny Corleone???? That's gotta be a joke. What's the punchline?

I didn't like part 3 either so it seems like a general concensus. I don't think there should be a part 4 after all this time it would be like beating a dead horse.