The Godfather Part III: The Greatest Underrated Film Ever Made

Rating: 10/10 (19 October 2011)

Many have trashed the third part of The Godfather.Many fans of the first two movies have called it that the movie should have not been made.Some have said that this movie does not hold a candle to the first two movies as Parts I and II are considered American masterpieces as both have established a standard for cinema excellence.While others have coldly stated,"This movie is simply an offer you can refuse".LOL
Anyway,The Godfather Part III stars Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, and Andy García, and it features Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, George Hamilton, Bridget Fonda, and Sofia Coppola.It is about an aging Don Michael Corleone,who seeks to legitimize his crime family's interests and remove himself from the violent underworld. Unfortunately,he is kept back by the ambitions of the young namely Joey Zaza and hungrier gangsters. While he attempts to link the Corleone's finances with the Vatican, Michael must deal with the machinations of a hungrier gangster in both Don Licio Lucchesi and Don Altobello,who are seeking to upset the existing mob order.Aside from that,it also involves Vincent Mancini,a young protégé of Michael who gets involved with a love affair with his daughter,Mary.The movie also weaves into its plot a fictionalized account of real-life events—the 1978 death of Pope John Paul I and the Papal banking scandal of 1981–1982—and links them with each other.
Director Francis Ford Copolla said the first two films had told the complete Corleone saga. In his audio commentary for Part II, he stated that only a dire financial situation caused by the failure of New York Stories compelled him to take up Paramount's long-standing offer to make a third installment.Coppola and Mario Puzo,author of The Godfather, requested six months to complete a first draft of the script with a release date of Easter 1991. Paramount agreed to give them six weeks for the script and, lacking a holiday movie, a release date of Christmas Day 1990. Given the conditions together with the casting of neophyte actress and the director's daughter,Sofia Copolla,whom many fans have vehemently criticized for her poor portrayal of Mary Corleone,I still believe that Part III is still a great film.
Part III still has great acting from the cast except from Sofia Copolla,whom I must really say deserved the Razzies he got from this film.Worthy of mention is of course,Al Pacino,Andy Garcia and Eli Wallach.Also,the movie's story still works despite missing Robert Duvall and his character,Tom Hagen,whom I believe was really essential in story as he plays an important role in the family. The screenplay was also good BUT one cannot fully comprehend this movie without watching the first two.And of course,other great features from the previous Godfather movies are still present in this movie like the great writing of Copolla and Puzo,the music of Carmine Copolla and Nino Rota and the direction of Copolla.Overall,it is still a great movie although not a masterpiece as compared to the first two.
After viewing The Godfather Part III once again after so many years before writing this review,I would say that if The Godfather is the greatest film ever made and The Godfather Part II is the greatest sequel ever made,this movie is definitely the greatest underrated film ever made.It is a great movie although it may not be comparable to the first two in terms of critical and commercial success.The Academy Award nominations it got attest to that.