![]() ![]() For a variety of reasons, The Godfather, Part III never lived up to its predecessors and its stigma of damaging what should have been the best trilogy ever made has always gnawed at Coppola. Coming up with a satisfying conclusion to any beloved story is difficult (just ask the people who made The Sopranos), but even more difficult when the two prior chapters are among the best movies ever made. In the end, Michael ends up losing what he loves the most when a botched hit on him ends up killing his daughter Mary ( Sofia Coppola).This was welcome news for both Godfather and film fans because, well, The Godfather, Part III isn’t a very good movie. Handing the family over to his volatile nephew Vincent ( Andy Garcia) in the third act doesn’t absolve or free Michael. ![]() But it doesn’t matter because Michael is still too wrapped up in the underworld to be free from its consequences and make a clean getaway. Michael even allows his son Anthony ( Franc D’Ambrosio) to leave the family business and become a singer. He’s trying to buy his way out of sin, and he attempts to do it by running a legitimate business through the Catholic Church and going so far as confessing his sins to Cardinal Lamberto ( Raf Vallone). The heart of The Godfather, Coda and Part III are how Michael’s love of family has been a thin excuse for his own avarice and hunger for power. Instead, Coda makes the wise move to put the business arrangement between Michael and Gilday at the start of the film because Michael’s business interests and his cold rationality are what drives both The Godfather and The Godfather Part II. However, religion has never been at the forefront of these movies (it doesn’t play much of a factor at all in Godfather Part II except when Fredo recites a Hail Mary while fishing), and so starting with a big church service recalls the first Godfather but not the second. In the original cut of Part III, we can see Michael once again making a mockery of religion and using it to try and purchase salvation. The original church scene coincides nicely with that approach as it calls back the famous baptism scene in the original Godfather where Michael has all his enemies murdered while he’s at the baptism of Connie’s (Talia Shire) baby. By starting with the ruins of Part II, we’re able to see how Michael’s final unforgivable act-the murder of his brother-hangs over the rest of the movie, which is important because the final film, whether it’s Part III or Coda, is one long business deal, but the deal is Michael trying to buy his way out of sin. In the original cut of Part III it’s easy to see what Coppola was going for. ‘When the Sicilians wish you ‘Cent’anni’, it means ‘for long life’…and a Sicilian never forgets.’” Instead, the screen fades to black and ends with the title card: The new ending instead goes for a close-up of Michael in his chair, but he doesn’t die. He then keels over and dies, his body falling out of his chair in a darkly comic moment as the screen cuts to black. Dogs play at his feet, and he holds an orange (a recurring symbol of death in The Godfather movies) that falls out of his hand and drops to the ground. The original ending had Michael sitting alone at a villa (likely in Sicily), old and alone. From there, the scene goes to the party at Michael’s penthouse, and the film that follows is largely the same as Part III except for the ending. For Michael, Immobiliare is a chance to create something totally legitimate. ![]() Gilday agrees but notes that the Board of Directors and even the Pope will have to sign off on the agreement. Michael agrees in exchange for a controlling interest of Internazionale Immobiliare, an international real estate company worth $6 billion. In this scene, Archbishop Gilday ( Donal Donnelly) confesses that his oversight of the Vatican’s bank has caused a large debt, and he needs Michael Corleone’s ( Al Pacino) help to make up the shortfall. He’s also removed the scene in the church where Michael receives his award, instead opting to open the film with a scene that originally came later in the film’s first act. ![]() Director and co-writer Francis Ford Coppola has redone the intro so that it removes the flashback to Fredo’s murder in Part II and deleted the scene of the empty Nevada home where the Corleones resided in that movie. What you should know about Coda is that it isn’t a radically different movie than Part III. ![]()
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