The Godfather Part III (1990)
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola

The main thing to say about The Godfather Part III is that Sofia Coppola is not only not bad in it, she is quite good. It's a typical case of people reading way too much into the hype surrounding a movie and not paying attention to the reality of it. Coppola was cast as Michael Corleone's daughter Mary after Winona Ryder pulled out—this story was much publicized at the time and since Sofia was not a proven quantity, I think every critic in the fuckin' world went out of their way to assume she was going to suck even before they saw a frame of this movie. It's now been a full decade since The Godfather Part III came out, and Sofia Coppola has gone on to become a director of note, yet the fiction persists: look in the g'damn Maltin Guide (aka "The Idiot Book," around here at least) and you'll see that the only flaw he finds with the movie is Sofia.

Well, speaking as someone who is under 100 years old, I'd like to say this: The Godfather Part III would have been absolutely insufferable with Winona Ryder in it, as any movie is. Indeed, I do believe she could even sink a Godfather movie. And I think that time has been and will continue to be kind to Part III, hopefully even more so as Sofia establishes herself as more of a fixture in cinema. She does not give a studied performance here by any means, but that's exactly why she's perfect—she's real in a way that you tend to see only in indie film performances, not giganto-budget films like The Godfather (admittedly, indie, but in a different way). Coppola is alternately sweet, flirty, sexy, vulnerable, young, knowing, and honest. She is totally convincing. As for Winona Ryder: have you actually sat through The Age of Innocence? How about Little Women? She is terrible, and don't buy into Maltin's charlatanism on either account.

Okay, beyond the unfair savaging of Sofio Coppola by critics, what's worthwhile in The Godfather Part III? Well, all of it, honestly. It's a satisfying and appropriate conclusion to the trilogy, and very nearly stands as tall as the previous two. It hasn't a right to be as good as it is, but it takes risks and wins. Many layers, many subtleties … the plot of this one is far more involved than the previous two, and a bit more grand cinema than soap opera. Surely, there may be a bit too much telegraphed directly to the audience, but then these movies were never understated, and neither need they be. What's great about this one is that it takes the crime element to the biggest possible level, positing the idea that the higher up you get in either criminal or legitimate power, it all becomes the same. It gets into that Illuminatus/"X-Files" territory that may actually be cooler now than in 1990. This is truly one of those "fine wine" movies.

Performances all around are good, though perhaps not quite to the caliber of the first two. Joe Mantegna is notably almost laughable, but maybe that's just 'cause it's hard to see him play a gangster after associating him with Fat Tony from "The Simpsons" for so many years. George Hamilton is bewilderingly present, but he's very good, Talia Shire is good as always as Connie Corleone, Diane Keaton is good but with not much to do, Andy Garcia is fine, and Don Novello (!) is briefly seen, which is always a good thing. I will not count the presence of Bridget Fonda as a drawback, as she was also in Scandal, and what's more, no one knew any better in 1990.

Michael Corleone is truly one of the saddest characters ever given a life story in the movies. This movie brings his arc to its inevitable end, and it is, I think, entirely effective. They could have gone a totally different route with this, making it more of a Goodfellas (which came out the same year), and that could have been really cool too. Ultimately, though, I believe that The Godfather Part III will continue to age well and steadily gain more support, as opposed to being written off as the Godfather movie you don't have to bother with. It's three hours very well spent, and furthermore: don't believe the hype; Sofia Coppola good, Leonard Maltin bad. We'll learn you yet.

Review by Kenneth J. Loggins