History FranchiseOriginalSin / TheGodfather

* ''Part III'' was attacked for introducing a large number of new characters, especially Don Altobello, a longtime Corleone associate [[RememberTheNewGuy the audience hadn't met or even heard of before]]. However, characters like these (namely Hyman Roth and Frank Pentangeli) had already been introduced in ''Part II''. This was accepted back in 1974 because the main characters (Michael, Kay, Tom Hagen, Fredo) from the original films carried over with the StoryArc continuing directly, the new characters were also gangsters (at least for the most part), it stayed a gangster movie at heart all the way through, and the first two films being released only two years apart meant that audiences could easily suspend their disbelief about the WorldBuilding, especially since not that much time had passed in-universe between the first two movies. None of this was true in 1990. Aside from Michael, Kay, and Connie, Part III had entirely new characters, with Coppola himself admitting that Tom Hagen's absence crippled it from providing real closure to the story. Many of said new characters were figures like shady financiers and corrupt cardinals, and the movie basically works in its early section as a business procedural of all things (Michael gives speeches at Wall Street as if he's trying to imitate [[Film/WallStreet Gordon Gekko]]) without any further explanations as to the sudden GenreShift, since the high-rolling finance side of the Corleone Empire never really connects with Vincent Mancini's classically street gangster story arc. On top of it all, there was a decade-plus gap between ''Part II'' and ''Part III'' along with a greater TimeSkip, which changed the entire context that the audience had with the films and these characters.

* One of the most common criticisms of ''Part III'' is that it often feels like a [[PostScriptSeason Post-Script Finale]] compared to the first two entries, since it has no basis in Mario Puzo's original story. Even Coppola has described it as an "epilogue" rather than a true third act (and, true to his word, the 2020-released director's cut of the film is renamed to ''Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone''). To an extent, this is also true of ''Part II'': Puzo did ''not'' write a sequel to the book, and he pretty conclusively wrapped up the story with Michael [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere moving the Corleone clan to Nevada]] and making plans to go legitimate after [[spoiler:orchestrating the murders of the heads of the Five Families]]; Michael's entire storyline in ''Part II'', involving his business empire in Cuba, Hyman Roth's vendetta against the family, and [[spoiler: Fredo's betrayal]], was invented entirely for the film. But it was easy to forgive this, since the flashback portions about [[FromNobodyToNightmare Vito's origins]] ''were'' taken from the novel, and the story actually moved the Corleone brothers' arcs forward in interesting ways. ''Part III'' was not only completely unconnected to the novel, it featured none of the original cast besides Michael, Kay, and Connie, making it feel like a pointless continuation of the saga.

While it's generally agreed that the series fell from grace in Part III just as tragically as Michael Corleone himself did in the original Godfather film, it's much comparatively lesser known that the earliest signs of this downfall [[FranciseOriginalSin had their warning signs on full display]] in the much better received Part I and II.

While it's generally agreed that the series fell from grace in Part III just as tragically as Michael Corleone himself did in the original Godfather film, it's much comparatively lesser known that the earliest signs of this downfall [[FranciseOriginal had their warning signs on full display]] in the much better received Part I and II.

While it's generally agreed that the series fell from grace in Part III just as tragically as Michael Corleone himself did in the original Godfather film, it's much comparatively lesser known that the earliest signs of this downfall had their warning signs on full display in the much better received Part I and II.

* ''Part III'' received criticism for having a plot that went out of its way to incorporate historical events into the narrative, namely the Vatican Bank scandal and Pope John Paul I's death. However, the Cuban Revolution and Kefauver Hearings played major roles in the plot of ''Part II''. The difference was that the historical bits were tied in to the history of the Mafia, along with broader American history and politics, which was thematically appropriate to the exploration of the American Dream. In contrast, the focus on European financial corruption feels esoteric and remote, and doesn't really tie in to the overall story of immigration and assimilation in the first two movies. The Vatican Bank scandal by its very nature is also extremely topical and arcane, with many facts still unknown to this day, which is an odd choice compared to pre-revolutionary Cuban history where Mafia influence in and collusion with the Batista regime was fairly well-known to the average moviegoer, while the Senate hearings on organized crime were very much within memory to audiences of the time.[[note]]Coppola's dramatization also drew some analogies to the Watergate scandal, which was unfolding [[RealitySubtext while the film was in production]].[[/note]]

* Creator/FrancisFordCoppola cast his daughter Creator/SofiaCoppola in the role of Michael's daughter Mary Corleone for ''Part III'', which [[OldShame she couldn't handle]]. What a lot of people forget is that Francis included many of his family in the cast and crew of the first two films, most notably his sister Creator/TaliaShire in the role of Vito's daughter Connie Corleone. However, Talia is a good character actress, and her role in the first two films was relatively minor. While she got a larger part in the third one, she'd already won the audience's goodwill, and so they accepted her expanded role despite her being related to the director.[[note]]Not to mention that many audiences may not have known she was related to Francis, due to having a different surname.[[/note]] The fact that she had gained additional fame for playing Adrian in five ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' movies during the interim between ''Part II'' and ''Part III'' certainly helped. On the other hand, Sofia, on top of being inexperienced and not wanting to play the part in the first place, was expected to take on the role of the emotional center in ''Part III'', which was a far more demanding part that brought greater attention and scrutiny to the perceived {{nepotism}}.

* One of the most common criticisms of ''Part III'' is that it often feels like a [[PostScriptSeason Post-Script Finale]] compared to the first two entries, since it has no basis in Mario Puzo's original story. Even Coppola has described it as an "epilogue" rather than a true third act (and, true to his word, the 2020-released director's cut of the film is renamed to ''Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone''). To an extent, this is also true of ''Part II'': Puzo did ''not'' write a sequel to the book, and he pretty conclusively wrapped up the story with Michael [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere moving the Corleone clan to Nevada]] and making plans to go legitimate after [[spoiler:[[KillEmAll orchestrating the murders of the heads of the Five Families]]]]; Michael's entire storyline in ''Part II'', involving his business empire in Cuba, Hyman Roth's vendetta against the family, and [[spoiler: Fredo's betrayal]], was invented entirely for the film. But it was easy to forgive this, since the flashback portions about [[FromNobodyToNightmare Vito's origins]] ''were'' taken from the novel, and the story actually moved the Corleone brothers' arcs forward in interesting ways. ''Part III'' was not only completely unconnected to the novel, it featured none of the original cast besides Michael, Kay, and Connie, making it feel like a pointless continuation of the saga.

* ''Part III'' received criticism for having a plot that went out of its way to incorporate historical events into the narrative, namely the Vatican Bank scandal and Pope John Paul I's death. However, the Cuban Revolution and Kefauver Hearings played major roles in the plot of ''Part II''. The difference was that the historical bits were tied in to the history of the Mafia, along with broader American history and politics, which was thematically appropriate to the exploration of the American Dream. In contrast, the focus on European financial corruption feels esoteric and remote, and doesn't really tie in to the overall story of immigration and assimilation in the first two movies. The Vatican Bank scandal by its very nature is also extremely topical and arcane, with many facts still unknown to this day, which is an odd choice compared to pre-revolutionary Cuban history where Mafia influence in and collusion with the Batista regime was fairly well-known to the average moviegoer.

* Fans often blame ''Part III'''s quality on Coppola openly [[MoneyDearBoy doing it for the money]], implying that it didn't match its predecessors because Coppola's heart wasn't in the material. In fact, Coppola held the same attitude towards the entire franchise. He hated Mario Puzo's novel and took the job directing the first film a) to compensate for his failure setting up an independent studio, and b) because the studio wanted an Italian director to assuage members of the Italian-American community who feared that the film would be a parade of offensive stereotypes otherwise (which is also why the word "Mafia" is never used in the film). He had even less interest in making the second movie after the original's immensely TroubledProduction, and agreed to make it in large part to [[OneForTheMoneyOneForTheArt gain studio funding]] for ''Film/TheConversation'', a longtime pet project. Few blame Coppola's mercenary attitude with detracting from the first two movies' quality.

* Creator/FrancisFordCoppola cast his daughter Creator/SofiaCoppola in the role of Michael's daughter Mary Corleone for ''Part III'', which [[OldShame she couldn't handle]]. What a lot of people forget is that Francis included many of his family in the cast and crew of the first two films, most notably his sister Talia Shire in the role of Vito's daughter Connie Corleone. However, Talia is a good character actress, and her role in the first two films was relatively minor. While she got a larger part in the third one, she'd already won the audience's goodwill, and so they accepted her expanded role despite her being related to the director.[[note]]Not to mention that many audiences may not have known she was related to Francis, due to having a different surname.[[/note]] The fact that she had gained additional fame for playing Adrian in five ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' movies during the interim between ''Part II'' and ''Part III'' certainly helped. On the other hand, Sofia, on top of being inexperienced and not wanting to play the part in the first place, was expected to take on the role of the emotional center in ''Part III'', which was a far more demanding part that brought greater attention and scrutiny to the perceived {{nepotism}}.

* Creator/FrancisFordCoppola cast his daughter Creator/SofiaCoppola in the role of Michael's daughter Mary Corleone for ''Part III'', which [[OldShame she couldn't handle]]. What a lot of people forget is that Francis included many of his family in the cast and crew of the first two films, most notably his sister Talia Shire in the role of Vito's daughter Connie Corleone. However, Talia is a good character actress, and her role in the first two films was relatively minor. While she got a larger part in the third one, she'd already won the audience's goodwill, and so they accepted her expanded role despite her being related to the director.[[note]]Not to mention that many audiences may not have known she was related to Francis, due to having a different surname.[[/note]] The fact that in the interim between ''Part II'' and ''Part III'', she had gained additional fame for playing Adrian in five ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' movies certainly helped. On the other hand, Sofia, on top of being inexperienced and not wanting to play the part in the first place, was expected to take on the role of the emotional center in ''Part III'', which was a far more demanding part that brought greater attention and scrutiny to the perceived {{nepotism}}.
* ''Part III'' was attacked for introducing a large number of new characters, especially Don Altobello, a longtime Corleone associate [[RememberTheNewGuy we hadn't met before]]. However, characters like these (namely Hyman Roth and Frank Pentangeli) had already been introduced in ''Part II''. This was accepted back in 1974 because the main characters (Michael, Kay, Tom Hagen, Fredo) from the original films carried over with the StoryArc continuing directly, the new characters were also gangsters (at least for the most part), it stayed a gangster movie at heart all the way through, and the first two films being released only two years apart meant that audiences could easily suspend their disbelief about the WorldBuilding, especially since not that much time had passed in-universe between the first two movies. None of this was true in 1990. Aside from Michael, Kay, and Connie, Part III had entirely new characters, with Coppola himself admitting that Tom Hagen's absence crippled it from providing real closure to the story. Many of said new characters were figures like shady financiers and corrupt cardinals, and the movie basically works in its early section as a business procedural of all things (Michael gives speeches at Wall Street as if he's trying to imitate [[Film/WallStreet Gordon Gekko]]) without any further explanations as to the sudden GenreShift, since the high-rolling finance side of the Corleone Empire never really connects with Vincent Mancini's classically street gangster story arc. On top of it all, there was a decade-plus gap between ''Part II'' and ''Part III'' along with a greater TimeSkip, which changed the entire context that the audience had with the films and these characters.
* Then there were the criticisms of ''Part III'' having a multilayered plot incorporating historical events, namely the Vatican Bank scandal and Pope John Paul I's death. However, the Cuban Revolution and Kefauver Hearings played major roles in the plot of ''Part II''. The difference was that the historical bits were tied in to the history of the Mafia, along with broader American history and politics, which was thematically appropriate to the exploration of the American Dream. In contrast, the focus on European financial corruption feels esoteric and remote, and doesn't really tie in to the overall story of immigration and assimilation in the first two movies. The Vatican Bank scandal by its very nature is also extremely topical and arcane, with many facts still unknown to this day, which is an odd choice compared to pre-revolutionary Cuban history where Mafia influence in and collusion with the Batista regime was fairly well-known to the average moviegoer.

* One of the most common criticisms of ''Part III'' is that it often feels like a [[PostScriptSeason Post-Script Finale]] compared to the first two entries, since it has no basis in Mario Puzo's original story. Even Coppola has described it as an "epilogue" rather than a true third act (and, true to his word, the 2020-released director's cut of the film is renamed to Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone). To an extent, this is also true of ''Part II'': Puzo did ''not'' write a sequel to the book, and he pretty conclusively wrapped up the story with Michael [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere moving the Corleone clan to Nevada]] and making plans to go legitimate after [[spoiler: [[KillEmAll orchestrating the murders of the heads of the Five Families]]]]; Michael's entire storyline in ''Part II'', involving his business empire in Cuba, Hyman Roth's vendetta against the family, and [[spoiler: Fredo's betrayal]], was invented entirely for the film. But it was easy to forgive this, since the flashback portions about [[FromNobodyToNightmare Vito's origins]] ''were'' taken from the novel, and the story actually moved the Corleone brothers' arcs forward in interesting ways. ''Part III'' was not only completely unconnected to the novel, it featured none of the original cast besides Michael, Kay, and Connie, making it feel like a pointless continuation of the saga.

* Creator/FrancisFordCoppola cast his daughter Creator/SofiaCoppola in the role of Michael's daughter Mary Corleone for ''Part III'', which [[OldShame she couldn't handle]]. What a lot of people forget is that Francis included many of his family in the cast and crew of the first two films, most notably his sister Talia Shire in the role of Vito's daughter Connie Corleone. However, Talia is a good character actress, and her role in the first two films was relatively minor. While she got a larger part in the third one, she'd already won the audience's goodwill, and so they accepted her expanded role despite her being related to the director.[[note]]Not to mention that many audiences may not have known she was related to Francis, due to having a different surname.[[/note]] On the other hand, Sofia, on top of being inexperienced and not wanting to play the part in the first place, was expected to take on the role of the emotional center in ''Part III'', which was a far more demanding part that brought greater attention and scrutiny to the perceived {{nepotism}}.

* One of the most common criticisms of ''Part III'' is that it often feels like a [[PostScriptSeason Post-Script Finale]] compared to the first two entries, since it has no basis in Mario Puzo's original story. Even Coppola has described it as an "epilogue" rather than a true third act. To an extent, this is also true of ''Part II'': Puzo did ''not'' write a sequel to the book, and he pretty conclusively wrapped up the story with Michael [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere moving the Corleone clan to Nevada]] and making plans to go legitimate after [[spoiler: [[KillEmAll orchestrating the murders of the heads of the Five Families]]]]; Michael's entire storyline in ''Part II'', involving his business empire in Cuba, Hyman Roth's vendetta against the family, and [[spoiler: Fredo's betrayal]], was invented entirely for the film. But it was easy to forgive this, since the flashback portions about [[FromNobodyToNightmare Vito's origins]] ''were'' taken from the novel, and the story actually moved the Corleone brothers' arcs forward in interesting ways. ''Part III'' was not only completely unconnected to the novel, it featured none of the original cast besides Michael, Kay, and Connie, making it feel like a pointless continuation of the saga.

* ''Part III'' was attacked for introducing a large number of new characters, especially Don Altobello, a longtime Corleone associate [[RememberTheNewGuy we hadn't met before]]. However, characters like these (namely Hyman Roth and Frank Pentangeli) had already been introduced in ''Part II''. This was accepted back in 1974 because the main characters (Michael, Kay, Tom Hagen, Fredo) from the original films carried over with the StoryArc continuing directly, the new characters were also gangsters (at least for the most part), it stayed a gangster movie at heart all the way through, and the first two films being released only two years apart meant that audiences could easily suspend their disbelief about the WorldBuilding, especially since not that much time had passed in-universe between the first two movies. None of this was true in 1990. Aside from Michael and Kay, Part III had entirely new characters, with Coppola himself admitting that Tom Hagen's absence crippled it from providing real closure to the story. Many of said new characters were figures like shady financiers and corrupt cardinals, and the movie basically works in its early section as a business procedural of all things (Michael gives speeches at Wall Street as if he's trying to imitate [[Film/WallStreet Gordon Gekko]]) without any further explanations as to the sudden GenreShift, since the high-rolling finance side of the Corleone Empire never really connects with Vincent Mancini's classically street gangster story arc. On top of it all, there was a decade-plus gap between ''Part II'' and ''Part III'' along with a greater TimeSkip, which changed the entire context that the audience had with the films and these characters.