The Godfather: Part III (1990)

 

 

 

In the midst of trying to legitimize his business dealings in 1979 New York and Italy, aging mafia don Michael Corleone seeks to vow for his sins while taking a young protégé under his wing.

 

It's a good movie with all the ingredients of the previous parts, but adds nothing in scope and depth, and the plot is not as stringently scripted.

 

On re-watching: This remains an ambivalent experience, since it falls so way down below the previous two films and has so many flaws and only rare moments of brilliance.

 

Halliwell**: "Overlong, often confusing to those who cannot remember the earlier films, and hampered by at least one wretched performance, it fails to reach the standard of the first two movies in the series. But for all that it retains one's interest most of the time."

 

Maltin***: "Only a filmmaker like Coppola (teamed with writer Mario Puzo) could extend his history-making Mafioso saga and make it work so well. Absorbing story...Longish, but masterfully told, with one almost-fatal flaw: the casting of Coppola's daughter Sofia (an amateur) in the pivotal role of Pacino's daughter."

 

[N.B.: Although many have criticized Sofia Coppola, I disagree: she plays adequate to the role. The problem is that the love story with her cousin is in itself misconceived from the start.] 

Edipo Re (1967)

Based on the Greek tragedy about a man who, unaware of his true parentage, kills his father and marries his mother.

Engaging, slow-paced retelling of the Greek classic, beautifully set in Moroccan landscape, is framed within a modern story which barely corresponds to the historic tale.

Halliwell**: "Austerely involving adaptation of the Greek tragedy, sandwiched between scenes set in modern Italy."

Maltin**1/2: "Pictorially arresting but dull, disappointing adaptation..."

La luna (1979)

While touring in Italy, a recently-widowed American opera singer has an incestuous relationship with her 15-year-old son to help him overcome his heroin addiction.

From memory: A movie, just as sleazy as its plot line suggests, gets an artsy treatment, so there a few good set pieces, but generally it's quite a disappointment.

Halliwell (no star): "Interminable catalogue of events few people wanted to experience; the kindest description would be 'pretentious claptrap'."

Maltin***: "Initially dazzling tale......becomes ponderous when it turns into a mother-son soap opera with incestuous implications. Cinematically exciting, though, with a bravura finale."

The Godfather: Part III (1990)

 

 

In the midst of trying to legitimize his business dealings in 1979 New York and Italy, aging mafia don Michael Corleone seeks to vow for his sins while taking a young protégé under his wing.

 

It's a good movie with all the ingredients of the previous parts, but adds nothing in scope and depth, and the plot is not as stringently scripted.

 

I watch the Godfather trilogy at least once a year; nothing to add to my previous comment.

 

Halliwell**: "Overlong, often confusing to those who cannot remember the earlier films, and hampered by at least one wretched performance, it fails to reach the standard of the first two movies in the series. But for all that it retains one's interest most of the time."

 

Maltin***: "Only a filmmaker like Coppola (teamed with writer Mario Puzo) could extend his history-making Mafioso saga and make it work so well. Absorbing story...Longish, but masterfully told, with one almost-fatal flaw: the casting of Coppola's daughter Sofia (an amateur) in the pivotal role of Pacino's daughter."

 

[N.B.: Although have criticized Sofia Coppola, I disagree: she plays adequate to the role. The problem is that the love story with her cousin is in itself misconceived from the start.] 

 

 

Mamma Roma (1962)

After many years working in the streets of Roma, the middle-age whore Mamma Roma saves money to buy an upper class apartment, a fruit stand and retires from the prostitution

The Godfather (1972)

 

The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.