The Godfather Coda: The Death Of Michael Corleone (aka The Godfather Part III) (1990)

The patriarch (Al Pacino) of a major crime "family" is determined to go legitimate and divests the family of its criminal and illegitimate businesses. But his ambitions to go straight are hindered by the other mob families who either hold deadly grudges or want a part of the "legit" action. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, this is a restructured edit of THE GODFATHER PART III. It's still the weakest of the GODFATHER trilogy but that's hardly a putdown. The first two are among the greatest American films and just about any film would suffer in comparison. I liked the original GODFATHER III a lot and I had no problems with Sofia Coppola's performance which was roundly panned. There's no difference between the two films as far as the narrative goes and it still feels less epic than the first two movies. It's a bit tighter (though still running over the 2 1/2 hour mark) and there's more clarity to the complicated plot. But it remains a more than decent end to the GODFATHER saga. The only thing that irritated me was the creepy incestuous romance between Sofia Coppola and Andy Garcia (their fathers are brothers!) that the film seems to approve of. The massive cast includes Diane Keaton, Eli Wallach, Talia Shire, Raf Vallone, George Hamilton, Bridget Fonda, Joe Mantegna, Helmut Berger, John Savage, Donal Donnelly, Brett Halsey and Al Martino.