· With The Godfather Trilogy, Francis Ford Coppola reinvented the gangster film for modern audiences. Coppola recast the mafia film as a Gone with the wind family saga, the complexities of underworld life now effectively dramatized. Men who, in their solemn offices, coldly give orders to kill are the same men who attend marriages and baptisms.
The mafia as a dual personality became the subject of this Best Picture Oscar winner and of the mob movies to follow. Amazingly, Coppola managed to outdo himself with his sequel. Considerably darker than the original, Godfather 11 allowed Coppola to distance himself from the first film’s romanticized view of Michael Corleone ( Al Pacino). His boyish charm gone, Corleone emerged as a man able to maintain his power only by cutting himself off from all the love and emotion.
· In the final scene, Michael Coeleone sits on his private island; his wife long since deserted him, his brother Fredo dead at his own command. As he stares glumly into the camera, Michael bears no resemblance to the heroes of classic gangster movies.
· Since the Godafather saga is based on a sense of continuity, Coppola necessarily introduced a young character who related to Michel much as Michael, in his youth, related to Don Vito (Marlon Brando). This is Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia), illegitimate son of Michael’s long deceased brother Sonny (James Caan). Vincent insinuates himself into the family and the family business, eliminating enemies like Joey Zasa ( Joe Montegna) while seducing Michael’s daughter ( Sofia Coppola). Garcia, just then making headway toward becoming a superstar for the nineties, was all anyone could have hoped for as Vincent Mancini. On the other hand Sofia Coppola proved to be the key casting flaw. Winona Ryder had been signed to play the role of Mary, but when she dropped out of the project, Coppola was desperate to move on at once, casting his daughter.
· Also notably absent was Robert Duvall, who had played the family lawyer and adopted son, Tom Hagen. When he held out for an impossible fee, Duvall was at last replaced with George Hamilton, who gave a competent performance, but couldn’t fill the shoes of Duvall.
· Like so many other mob movies , GodfatherIII, takes sacred-cow institutions and make them appear no better than organized crime. Other films did this to government, the banking industry, and the big business, but GodfatherIII went further, insisting that the Catholic Church is knee-deep in dirt. Not only does Michael Corleone easily buy himself a place of honor by donating laundered money; Machiavellian characters are here seen plotting, counterplotting, even sanctifying murder in the pursuit of their self interests.
· I like the dialougue, “ Finance is a gun, and politics is knowing when to pull the trigger.
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