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The Godfather: Part III



The Godfather Part III
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Genre: Modern Gangster
Featured Cast: Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy Garcia, Eli Walach, Joe Montegna, George Hamilton, and Sophia Coppola.
1990

How the mighty have fallen. When this movie came out, it was one of the most anticipated sequels in history. What we got was a big disappointment. There were several factors that contributed to this reception. The one that stands out to most people is the performance of Sofia Coppola. The actress who was to play Mary, Michael’s daughter, backed out at the last minute, and Francis Ford Coppola filled this key role with his daughter Sofie. To be fair, Sofie was in way over her head
from the beginning and if there is anybody to blame it would be Francis Ford Coppola for throwing her into the deep end of the pool. Sofie earned two Razzie awards for her part in the Godfather part II, Worst Supporting Actress and Worst New Star. Thank goodness Sofie found her place behind the camera where she has achieved some notable success with Lost in Translation, The Bling Ring, and The Virgin Suicides among other films. .
Another big problem of the film was the screenplay. It seemed like the script was merely an annotation of the first two films with someone shouting out the major plot lines. Now they will Fear You!, etc..
As stated above, this film could have been one of the best sequels ever if it had not been made because the director needed cash in a hurry. If it had been made at Coppola’s leisure it might have achieved the same level of success as the first two films. What we ended up with was probably one of the worst series ending sequels that has permanently scarred the Godfather franchise.