I dunno why Godfather III was not-so-well received. I thought it was a brilliant climax to the trilogy.
And, as an added bonus, my favorite Italian mini-Opera, “La Cavalleria Rusticana” (usually backed up as a double bill with “I Pagliacci”) — it surely gets no better than this!
And Andy Garcia is a brilliant Vincent Corleone.
It shouldn’t have been a trilogy. That story was finished at the end of Part II.
I thought III was a bit tedious and predictable compared to the first two. Garcia was good. The storyline was weak.
ZA ZA!
GFIII has 2 major problems with critics and viewers. 1 of which can’t be helped, the other 1 of which was just a horribly stupid idea.
The first problem is that being #3 in probably the greatest movie series ever and given the time it took to finally make it there was a bar set that simply could never be achieved. III had to be not only as good as I and II it had to be as good as their legend.
The other problem is the incest plot. Just plain creepy and weird as plot lines go, and made more creepy and weird by the fact that the female was the director’s daughter. There are significant portions of the movie that just leave a person feeling unclean.
Now all that being said III is a good movie. I really enjoy watching Vincent transform emotionally from Sony’s kid (hot headed, ill tempered and unwilling to think things through) to Micheal’s kid (incredibly ruthless, super calculating, completely masked). And all that happening while Micheal pays the physical and mental price is amazing story telling. And I really like that they finally killed the don responsible for the death of Micheal’s first wife, the long arm and memory of vengeance.
But man that incest plot is just creepy. I’ve gotten really good over the years at ignoring those scenes.
There is absolutely no accounting for taste!
Godfather III would have been A LOT better if Robert Duvall had been in it (Tom Hagan's character was pivotal to Godfather I and the 1950s portion of Godfather II). It also would have been much better received if it hadn't been released at the same time as "Goodfellas."
Godfather III was a very good movie (I enjoy it a little more every time I watch it), but it WAS NOT a great movie like the first two.
FWIW, I've always thought that Godfather II was better than Godfather I.
I couldn’t buy Sophia Coppola as a love object in part III.