New version of Godfather 3 to hit theaters

[ichab]

A new ‘good’ cut of The Godfather: Part III to hit theaters in December

Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone is an acknowledgement of Mario’s and my preferred title and our original intentions for what became The Godfather: Part III,” Coppola said in a statement. “For this version of the finale, I created a new beginning and ending, and rearranged some scenes, shots, and music cues. With these changes and the restored footage and sound, to me, it is a more appropriate conclusion to The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II and I’m thankful to Jim Gianopulos and Paramount for allowing me to revisit it.”

There is more at the link.


Not sure how I feel about this. I guess as long as he doesnt go full Lucas and keep us from seeing the original version it's okay.

I never thought it was a bad movie and I enjoy watching it from time to time.

 

[Skellington]

I thought it was an okay movie, deserving maybe three stars out of five if you're prepared to forgive a few things (such as his giving a significant role to his teenage daughter, and her accepting it, despite her acting sounding like a read-through (if I remember correctly)). I have little doubt that the film can be much-improved in the manner described.

Maybe Sofia will redub her part.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Sofia Coppola gets way too much grief for her performance; she was a last-minute addition to the cast after Winona Ryder had to bow out due to nervous exhaustion. Given the difficulty Coppola had in casting the role (Julia Roberts was originally cast as Mary but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts; Rebecca Schaeffer was murdered by an obsessed fan before her audition could take place), I can see him throwing up his hands and saying "Fuggit, Sofia can sort of act and I know she's free."

So I guess this is what Francis does now; in the past few years we've also seen him revisit Apocalypse Now for a second time, and also The Cotton Club. At least the changes so far haven't been on a Star Wars Special Edition level of offensive. I'm not sure what he'd want to change about the ending to GF3, though; I thought it ended great as-is.

 

[Saul]

So this, Rocky 4 recut, Snyder Cut, Ayer Suicide Squad cut, potential Man of Steel extended cut. Any others?

I remember they had plans to do a Godfather Prequel movie. I wonder if that might be something added as a bookends here.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

So I guess this is what Francis does now; in the past few years we've also seen him revisit Apocalypse Now for a second time, and also The Cotton Club. At least the changes so far haven't been on a Star Wars Special Edition level of offensive.

Well, unlike George Lucas, he's not "modernizing" the films or anything like that. He's just taking another crack at editing them, restoring material that was previously excised, and often rearranging things. Makes me wish I still had my DVD copy of the theatrical cut of The Cotton Club so I could do a more thorough comparison between the 2 versions. Shame that the Blu-ray only includes the new cut, not the original. (IIRC, there's a region free European Blu-Ray of the theatrical cut but that seems like a lot of work for a movie that I was never crazy about in either version.)

 

[Push The Button]

Sounds interesting, I hope it works. I so wanted to like Part 3, but could never get past the fact that Pacino isn’t playing Michael anymore, he’s playing himself. Plus the haircut was all wrong.

Would also love to see Andy Garcia come back for a Part 4, it could be about the final days of the Corleone family in the 2000s, weakened by rival organized crime factions and the RICO laws.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Would also love to see Andy Garcia come back for a Part 4, it could be about the final days of the Corleone family in the 2000s, weakened by rival organized crime factions and the RICO laws.

I remember they had plans to do a Godfather Prequel movie. I wonder if that might be something added as a bookends here.

There were rumours maybe 10-15 years ago that he wanted to do a part IV, which would’ve been done in the style of II, focussing on Garcia’s character but interspersed with flashbacks to the young Sonny (his father), who Coppola apparently wanted to be played by DiCaprio. I think the project died along with Puzo. Given the poor quality of the spin-off novels (supposedly based on outlines by Puzo), we may have dodged a bullet, TBH.

As to III, it’s a decent enough mafia/political thriller (Vatican rather than conventional politics) that suffers when set alongside its brilliant predecessors and also suffered the misfortune to be released around the same time as Goodfellas, alongside which it looks melodramatic and turgid.

Still, who would’ve thought at the time that it would end up being a highlight of the latter part of Coppola’s career?

 

[J.T.B.]

I saw it in 1990 with much anticipation and was so underwhelmed I have never felt a need to revisit it. I probably should, I might appreciate it more as a flawed but noble attempt that did its best but missed the mark, as I have done with the other long-delayed great '70s movie sequel of 1990, The Two Jakes.

Sofia Coppola gets way too much grief for her performance; she was a last-minute addition to the cast after Winona Ryder had to bow out due to nervous exhaustion. Given the difficulty Coppola had in casting the role (Julia Roberts was originally cast as Mary but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts; Rebecca Schaeffer was murdered by an obsessed fan before her audition could take place), I can see him throwing up his hands and saying "Fuggit, Sofia can sort of act and I know she's free."

But miscast is miscast. Because of her importance in the story, the Mary character needed to be played by someone on the level of Judy Garland or Audrey Hepburn or Julie Christie, someone whose personality just comes off the screen wins over everyone in the audience. That's a lot of weight on Sofia Coppola, and I don't know who in that age range could have done it. But bottom line, it didn't work.

Another reason I resented the movie was dropping Tom. As the outsider on the inside, he was crucial for audience identification and as a barometer for Michael. If Michael went too far would Tom's good sense or his loyalty win out? It's Robert fucking Duvall, come up with the money.

 

[cardinal biggles]

I'm curious whether they had commitments from the returning principal actors (Pacino, Keaton, Duvall, Shire) before starting work on the script or only after; if it was the latter I'd love to read an early draft of GF3 where Tom Hagen was still involved. There's so little of Tom in B.J. Harrison; the only bit that comes close is when he loses his temper for a moment after Keinszig and Lucchesi start dicking around with the Immobiliare deal. The rest of the time he's just a lawyer in a nice suit.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

My biggest gripe with the movie was that the death of a certain character at the end seemed arbitrary and contrived for shock value. The rest of it was pretty good, I’d be interested if they changed that part.

 

[cardinal biggles]

My biggest gripe with the movie was that the death of a certain character at the end seemed arbitrary and contrived for shock value. The rest of it was pretty good, I’d be interested if they changed that part.

I assume you're referring to Mary; her death was foreshadowed rather ham-fistedly when Michael and Kay stop to watch the puppet show during their visit to Corleone — a baroness is killed by her father when she betrays her husband to have an affair with her cousin. Not coincidentally the baroness is wearing a gold gown, which is also what Mary wears to the opera. The guy narrating the puppet show uses his big (spear? lance? sword? pointy stick?) to mime the father stabbing his daughter through the chest; Mary is killed when Mosca's bullet passes through Michael's chest and hits Mary.

Coppola loves this sort of foreshadowing, so it really shouldn't have been a surprise when Mary became collateral damage. It also works thematically — Michael emphasizes to Vincent that your enemies will come for those you love. The film's big question, whether Michael, after all the evil he's done, can be redeemed, can find forgiveness (or at least forgive himself), can find some peace in his old age — well, there's your answer. No, he can't, and he can't have nice things, either.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Even though the movie is 30 years old, I kinda feel like there should have been spoiler code in that last post. The previous poster seemed to be deliberately vague about who died. And I haven't seen it yet, so I didn't know until just now. I'm not upset. Just kinda mildly annoyed in principle.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

It just feels like every other death is someone’s deliberate choice and that one seemed random and melodramatic. It required a very low probability confluence of timings to occur.

 

[Timby]

Even though the movie is 30 years old, I kinda feel like there should have been spoiler code in that last post. The previous poster seemed to be deliberately vague about who died. And I haven't seen it yet, so I didn't know until just now. I'm not upset. Just kinda mildly annoyed in principle.

The statute of limitations on The Godfather, Part III, ended about 30 years ago. Deal. :-P

 

[Allyn Gibson]

There were rumours maybe 10-15 years ago that he wanted to do a part IV, which would’ve been done in the style of II, focussing on Garcia’s character but interspersed with flashbacks to the young Sonny (his father), who Coppola apparently wanted to be played by DiCaprio. I think the project died along with Puzo. Given the poor quality of the spin-off novels (supposedly based on outlines by Puzo), we may have dodged a bullet, TBH.

Ed Falco's The Family Corleone is based on Puzo's work on The Godfather, Part IV, at least in part. It's the half of the would-be film's story set in the past. The thing is, it's the other half of the script -- Vincent Corleone and the drug cartels -- that I'm interested in.

The Mark Winegardner novels (The Godfather's Return and The Godfather's Revenge) are not based on the movies. They are sequels to the Puzo novel and they play a very interesting game, from a writing standpoint, of working around The Godfather, Part II and leading up to The Godfather, Part III without actually touching those films. I found them readable, and they're certainly of more literary merit than Puzo's own Godfather novel (which, if you've never read it, is lurid ).

Still, who would’ve thought at the time that it would end up being a highlight of the latter part of Coppola’s career?

I was really pleased with Bram Stoker's Dracula at the time, and I remembered it fondly. I watched it last year for the first time in over twenty years, and... it really wasn't that good. There's a staggering amount of talent in it, there are some fantastic visuals, and Coppola doesn't pull it together. It frequently looks cheap, and no scenery is left unchewed by Hopkins and Oldman.

The comic book adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula by Roy Thomas and Mike Mignola remains a delight.

So I guess this is what Francis does now; in the past few years we've also seen him revisit Apocalypse Now for a second time, and also The Cotton Club. At least the changes so far haven't been on a Star Wars Special Edition level of offensive. I'm not sure what he'd want to change about the ending to GF3, though; I thought it ended great as-is.

I think they're largely forgotten now, but Coppola and his editor Barry Malkin reedited the films for television, first the two films in the 70s, later all three in 1991, into chronological order and incorporated a great deal of previously unseen footage. That was how I saw the first two films the first time; Paramount syndicated The Godfather Saga in the late 80s.

I'm also not sure what Coppola might want to change about the ending of Part III. Michael sees Force Ghosts of Marlon Brando and Robert Duvall as he dies? Martin Sheen comes walking through the field muttering about Saigon? I dunno, I got nuthin'.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Ed Falco's The Family Corleone is based on Puzo's work on The Godfather, Part IV, at least in part. It's the half of the would-be film's story set in the past. The thing is, it's the other half of the script -- Vincent Corleone and the drug cartels -- that I'm interested in.

Agreed, I'd be curious to see where they had planned to take that storyline.

I was really pleased with Bram Stoker's Dracula at the time, and I remembered it fondly. I watched it last year for the first time in over twenty years, and... it really wasn't that good. There's a staggering amount of talent in it, there are some fantastic visuals, and Coppola doesn't pull it together. It frequently looks cheap, and no scenery is left unchewed by Hopkins and Oldman.

I remember watching Bram Stoker's Dracula once, maybe back when I was in college? I finally watched it again a couple months ago when trying to knock out some unwatched movies I'd accumulated. My primary reactions were: beautiful visuals, excellent cast, over the top, and horny as fuck.

I think they're largely forgotten now, but Coppola and his editor Barry Malkin reedited the films for television, first the two films in the 70s, later all three in 1991, into chronological order and incorporated a great deal of previously unseen footage. That was how I saw the first two films the first time; Paramount syndicated The Godfather Saga in the late 80s.

I'm also not sure what Coppola might want to change about the ending of Part III. Michael sees Force Ghosts of Marlon Brando and Robert Duvall as he dies? Martin Sheen comes walking through the field muttering about Saigon? I dunno, I got nuthin'.

They were before my time; by the time I was introduced to the Godfather films, they were airing edited-for-TV versions of the three separately, and I'd picked them up on VHS and subsequently DVD. But I've seen some of the extra footage included as bonus features.

 

[Push The Button]

Andy Garcia is 64 now, which would be Vincent’s age in 2010. This needs to happen, and now.

As for the cut scenes in I and II, some are really great (Sonny’s daughter’s boyfriend asking for Michael’s permission to marry her), others belonged on the cutting room floor (Vito and the sons visiting the dying Genco in the hospital.)

 

[Oddish]

Funny how Sofia Coppola was so mediocre in front of the camera, but so amazing behind it.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

The Mark Winegardner novels (The Godfather's Return and The Godfather's Revenge) are not basedhttps://the-toast.net/2014/10/09/please-dont-forget-american-classic-godfather-important-subplot-big-vagina/ on the movies. They are sequels to the Puzo novel and they play a very interesting game, from a writing standpoint, of working around The Godfather, Part II and leading up to The Godfather, Part III without actually touching those films. I found them readable, and they're certainly of more literary merit than Puzo's own Godfather novel (which, if you've never read it, is lurid ).

I just clicked on the link and, OMG, that's the funniest thing I've read in ages! I can barely breathe! Please, everyone, you have to read this! https://the-toast.net/2014/10/09/pl...assic-godfather-important-subplot-big-vagina/

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Will there be a CGI Jabba The Hutt added in?

I just clicked on the link and, OMG, that's the funniest thing I've read in ages! I can barely breathe! Please, everyone, you have to read this! https://the-toast.net/2014/10/09/pl...assic-godfather-important-subplot-big-vagina/

It sounds like a plot to a fairly mediocre 70's porn movie.