Review of The Godfather Part III (1990) by Arrivist — 23 Jun 2020

Pay Your Debts.

Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope was in big debts after several flops. The obvious way out was to make another Godfather film, even though he'd said himself the saga ended with Part II. From the outset the film was cursed. The part of Mary Corleone was meant to go to Rebecca Shaeffer, but tragically, she was shot dead by her stalker on the way to the audition. The replacement Winona Ryder dropped out (literally) on the first days from 'exhaustion.' Cast members demanded more and more money, Robert Duvall dropped out after not getting his request of $5m to appear, and as a result the whole script has to be rewritten. Coppola asked the studio for this film to be a prologue rather than a sequel, and for it to be titled: The Death of Michael Corleone, which of course was denied. It would have made more sense as Part III doesn't hold a candle to its predecessors, even which the copycat cinematography. Although the character of Vincenzo Mancini is one of the more entertaining, the choice of Cuban-American Andy Garcia was a strange one. Garcia's pseudo-tough guy act becomes more toe-curling as his character's arc progresses. The rest of the cast also ham up proceedings, particularly Coppola's sister Talia Shire, whose line delivery of, 'Now they'll fear you,' drew audible groans in the screening room. Coppola's daughter, Sophia, stepped in at her father's request to fill the serially-doomed role of Mary Corleone, and received the most flack for her wooden performance and valley-girl accent; but she's not an actor, and even Pacino came across badly at times, so who can blame her. Ultimately this was a family effort to get Francis out of debt, and with a revenue of £137m from the box office; mission accomplished.