Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone

[The Laughing Fish]

Paramount Pictures has announced it will release the Coppola cut of The Godfather Part III, as it was originally conceived and intended.

https://deadline.com/2020/09/francis-coppola-godfather-part-iii-recut-limited-december-theatrical-release-1234570031/

It has been a very long time since I watched the trilogy, and I know the third film is considered to be a downgrade compared to the first two. I didn't mind it, to me, I prefer to look at crime epics as a cautionary tale, and Michael Corleone suffering the tragic death of his daughter seems rather fitting of, if you forgive the cliche, that "crime doesn't pay". Nonetheless, maybe this director's cut will satisfy the majority of the fans.

The article also mentions that Coppola is working on another cut of Apocalypse Now. I'm quite surprised, I thought Redux was considered to be the definitive version. I guess I was wrong.

[thecolorsblend]

My understanding is that some scenes were resequenced for the theatrical cut. There is wisdom with opening a Godfather film with a big celebration of some kind so I think I understand why the theatrical cut flows the way it does.

Honestly, the biggest problem with The Godfather Part III is the title of the film itself. Even now, it looks like Coppola isn't quite getting his way. It's supposed to be The Death Of Michael Corleone. "Godfather" refers to Vito and since he has pretty much nothing to do with this movie, calling it The Godfather Part III doesn't make very much sense. It's a coda to the story told in The Godfather and The Godfather Part II. It's not a chapter unto itself, necessarily. So marketing stupidity aside, Part III is just a plain bad title.

Whatever, it's done. And yes, I'm pre-ordering this son of a son. I never turn my back on Godfather films.

[thecolorsblend]

Looks like this son of a buck has a release date of December 08, 2020. There's a long and established history of releasing Godfather films in December so that part checks out.

I'm not expecting any major changes to my opinion of the third film after seeing this thing. But I'm all in.

[The Laughing Fish]

The trailer is up and running.

[thecolorsblend]

The trailer is up and running.

A new beginning and ending, you say? Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinteresting.

[thecolorsblend]

Just finished this up. I plan to give away some of the recuts/adjustments so read at your own risk. The movie came out thirty years ago so I doubt a spoiler warning is valid here. But if it is, well, there you have it.

Disclaimer: I never had major problems with The Godfather Part III. No, it's not as good as the first two. But what is?

I find the new cut to be a more enjoyable take on the same essential story. According to my iTunes purchased, og The Godfather Part III clocks in two hours, fifty minutes and eight seconds. By way of contrast, Coda has been cut down to two hours, thirty seven minutes and fifty six seconds. That's a hell of a lot of belt-tightening.

The oh-riginal version started off with a glimpse of the Corleone compound in Lake Tahoe. That's gone from Coda and, honestly, it's probably the one change that I truly mourn. Originally, the compound stood in ruins, a mere shadow of Michael's original dream to create a new life for his family in Nevada. After all, who needs a family compound when the family members who aren't dead are completely estranged? Plus, I appreciate the symbolism of Michael poisoning everything he touches. The remnants of the compound bear silent testimony to Michael's malevolence.

From there, we cut to Michael's meeting with Gilday where the stakes of the movie are established from the jump. The Immobiliare deal is the centerpiece of Michael's borderline Quixotic quest to find legitimacy and, thereby, salvation. It's a fool's errand and setting it up as literally the first thing in the film does much to strengthen what had previously been merely a late blooming subplot. The meeting brings to mind Vito's meeting with the undertaker in the original film. The difference here is Vito buried bodies of his own while accepting that as a legitimate occupational hazard while Michael buries bodies too and thinks he can somehow buy his way out of it.

That single change drastically improves the film in my estimation. Michael seeks legitimacy while surrounding himself with murderers. He seemingly earnestly begs God to give him one last chance at salvation, then he immediately (although tacitly) agrees to several more murders. It's open to debate just how much of his own hypocrisy he's even aware of anymore.

The final scene. This is the other change. And depending on how you look at it, it's either a drastic change or it's just losing a few frames. Eye of the beholder. In the original, Michael slumps over in his wheelchair in a Sicilian villa and then falls down dead.

He gets no such sweet release in Coda. Here he simply puts on his sunglasses and... that's it. Did he fall down dead immediately after? Are the sunglasses meant to somewhat protect his eyes from the blinding hellfire that surely awaits him? Or does he have a few more years yet?

Does it matter? Michael Corleone died on the steps of the opera house with Mary. Anything else after that is a footnote, really. Whether it happens that day in the Sicilian villa or some other day, Michael will die miserable and alone. And then he'll go to Hell, the end. No other outcome is possible for him, ultimately.

Either Sofia Coppola's performance works for you or it doesn't. If it doesn't, nothing in Coda is liable to change your mind too much. I was never particularly bothered by her performance. She was an awkward teenage girl acting like an awkward teenage girl. She pretends to be more on top of things than she actually is, as is probably true for most 18 year olds. There's a lot of uncertainty and self-doubt being poorly concealed by a mask of bravado.

Anyway, overall I recommend Coda to fans of the series. For comparison if nothing else, it's worth checking out.

[Silver Nemesis]

I'm late to the discussion on this one, but I finally got around to watching The Godfather Coda last weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed it. While I've watched the first two Godfather films many times over the years, I only ever watched the theatrical cut of the third film once, and that was back when I was a teenager. So it wasn't fresh enough in my memory that I was constantly noticing the changes present in the new cut. That allowed me to approach the Coda as though I was seeing it for the first time, almost entirely unprejudiced. I say almost unprejudiced, because of course Godfather III couldn't hope to match the near perfection of the first two instalments in the saga. Nevertheless, I think the new cut is of a sufficiently high quality to offer a rich and satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.

The danger in making any sequel to a longstanding classic is that you risk retroactively damaging the preceding film(s), as we've seen happen repeatedly in a galaxy far, far away, and that's my litmus test for whether such a sequel was worth making in the first place. Does its existence complement the earlier movies or detract from them? With the Godfather Coda, I'd say it definitely enhances the earlier films.

The key to its success for me is that the third film provides Michael's character arc with a moral conclusion that was absent from Parts I and II. The first film establishes that he's a man of conscience who doesn't want to get drawn into his family's criminal affairs. We then see how one moral compromise after another draws him deeper and deeper into the evil life of a Mafioso, and that immersion sinks to even greater depths in the second movie when he orders the death of Fredo. Godfather III confronts the natural conclusion of that character arc, wherein Michael's conscience – his humanity – finally catches up with him and he suffers accordingly. It's a powerful film, and most of the performances are excellent. Especially Al Pacino, Andy Garcia, Talia Shire and Eli 'Mr Freeze' Wallach.

I'd rate the first two Godfather films 10/10. I wouldn't rate the Coda less than an 8/10. It's a splendid cinematic trilogy.

[thecolorsblend]

It appears that the original edition of The Godfather Part III is gone. At least, it's not available for purchase in iTunes. Now, you can find the new Coda version easily. But the theatrical cut is nowhere to be seen.

Is Coppola pulling a George Lucas here? I mean, if he is, something tells me he won't encounter as much resistance erasing the theatrical Godfather Part III as Lucas faced when erasing the original Star Wars trilogy.

But still, I don't like revisionism. Never have. If that's what Coppola is up to, then he's not being honest with himself, the audience or history. I do consider the Coda to be superior to the theatrical version. And just in this thread, it's clear that I'm not alone on that one. But that's not the point, is it? The point is that both versions should be allowed to exist.

For a comparison, Coppola has recut Apocalypse Now twice at this point. But afaik, the theatrical version has not been erased from existence. He's also recut The Outsiders. But again, the original version still exists.

So, he clearly has a history of allowing multiple versions of something to exist. Which raises the question of why he's so determined to delete The Godfather Part III.

Eh...

[Kamdan]

It appears that the original edition of The Godfather Part III is gone. At least, it's not available for purchase in iTunes. Now, you can find the new Coda version easily. But the theatrical cut is nowhere to be seen.

Is Coppola pulling a George Lucas here? I mean, if he is, something tells me he won't encounter as much resistance erasing the theatrical Godfather Part III as Lucas faced when erasing the original Star Wars trilogy.

But still, I don't like revisionism. Never have. If that's what Coppola is up to, then he's not being honest with himself, the audience or history. I do consider the Coda to be superior to the theatrical version. And just in this thread, it's clear that I'm not alone on that one. But that's not the point, is it? The point is that both versions should be allowed to exist.

For a comparison, Coppola has recut Apocalypse Now twice at this point. But afaik, the theatrical version has not been erased from existence. He's also recut The Outsiders. But again, the original version still exists.

So, he clearly has a history of allowing multiple versions of something to exist. Which raises the question of why he's so determined to delete The Godfather Part III.

Eh...

Both the original theatrical cut and the initial Final Director's Cut are available on the 4K Blu-ray Godfather Trilogy set.