PHE Press Release: Mario Puzo’s THE GODFATHER, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone (1 Viewer)

[Noel Aguirre]

The master will give us a wonderful new take like the new Cotton Club. This is a great film- always liked it. Brilliant. Operatic. And Sophia Coppola played the spoiled boughie daughter perfectly. It deserved all the Oscar nominations it received including Best Picture
To those on here that put this down yet praise drek like Sweet Charity I have no comment.

And I always thought this was an entirely separate storyline other than the first 2 so I get this. The restorations of I and II only at Radio City of few years ago which I attended now makes total sense. A purchase Day 1 meaning ticket or Blu whichever I have access too.

 

[PMF]

[...]To those on here that put this down yet praise drek like Sweet Charity I have no comment.[...]

Whoa, whoa, whoa there, buddy boy. You don’t go around using words like “drek” to describe my girl and then think you can just walk away by saying “I have no comment”. Too late now. And man, are you in deep.

 

[Carlo_M]

I know the easy thing is to criticize Sofia (especially with Ms. Ryder near the peak of her career...okay and I had a massive crush on her too), and yes I too feel Winona would have done a superior job.

In my mind, Part III was critically injured when they didn't bring back Robert Duvall (I've seen it reported that he felt that the financial offer was too small). This resulted in some cascading choices which IMHO hurts the film.

• The replacement character by George Hamilton was...essentially useless. I haven't seen the new cut, but I'd be hugely surprised if suddenly his role became more prominent and better acted.
• The elevation of Connie into the cold blooded father's daughter that, quite frankly, we never saw coming. Not that characters aren't allowed to change, but to say this is a 180 turnaround is...accurate. I guess you can't get more opposite than 180.

If they had brought back Duvall, he could have been the one to freeze Michael out, when Michael didn't have it in him to do the family business anymore, rather than Connie. This would have brought a nice counterpoint to when, in Part II, Michael freezes Hagen out because "he's not a wartime consigliere." It also would have made the lines in the earlier movies about how Tom was "as much a son" of Vito's as his biological children all the more prophetic.

Having to write off Hagen is similar to my one complaint about Part II (which I feel is a near perfect film), and that was the need to create the Pentangeli character when the actor who played Clemenza essentially wrote himself out of the movie (as I understand it he insisted his girlfriend have re-write ability on his dialogue, to which rightfully Mr. Coppola said "no"). Don't get me wrong, the actor who played Pentangeli did a fine job. But how much more elegant would it have been to have Clemenza, one of the last original caporegimes be the one who initially betrays the Corleones, only to recover his honor at the end? That to me is the one thing I would change from the first 2 movies.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I know the easy thing is to criticize Sofia (especially with Ms. Ryder near the peak of her career...okay and I had a massive crush on her too), and yes I too feel Winona would have done a superior job.

In my mind, Part III was critically injured when they didn't bring back Robert Duvall (I've seen it reported that he felt that the financial offer was too small). This resulted in some cascading choices which IMHO hurts the film.

• The replacement character by George Hamilton was...essentially useless. I haven't seen the new cut, but I'd be hugely surprised if suddenly his role became more prominent and better acted.
• The elevation of Connie into the cold blooded father's daughter that, quite frankly, we never saw coming. Not that characters aren't allowed to change, but to say this is a 180 turnaround is...accurate. I guess you can't get more opposite than 180.

If they had brought back Duvall, he could have been the one to freeze Michael out, when Michael didn't have it in him to do the family business anymore, rather than Connie. This would have brought a nice counterpoint to when, in Part II, Michael freezes Hagen out because "he's not a wartime consigliere." It also would have made the lines in the earlier movies about how Tom was "as much a son" of Vito's as his biological children all the more prophetic.

Having to write off Hagen is similar to my one complaint about Part II (which I feel is a near perfect film), and that was the need to create the Pentangeli character when the actor who played Clemenza essentially wrote himself out of the movie (as I understand it he insisted his girlfriend have re-write ability on his dialogue, to which rightfully Mr. Coppola said "no"). Don't get me wrong, the actor who played Pentangeli did a fine job. But how much more elegant would it have been to have Clemenza, one of the last original caporegimes be the one who initially betrays the Corleones, only to recover his honor at the end? That to me is the one thing I would change from the first 2 movies.

I agree to a certain extent regarding Hagen not being in Part III. However, I'm glad Clemenza wasn't in Part II as I wouldn't want him to betray the Family at all because there is no way I could buy him thinking MIchael would have tried to kill him.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

In my mind, Part III was critically injured when they didn't bring back Robert Duvall (I've seen it reported that he felt that the financial offer was too small). This resulted in some cascading choices which IMHO hurts the film.

Yes, as I recall Hagen was going to be a major player in this picture, a much larger part than he played in the previous films. However, Duvall asked for them to back a Brink's truck up to his house to play the part and the studio said "No way!" forcing rewrites and expanding the parts of other characters. A major chunk of the story was removed when Hagen was eliminated as he and Pacino were going to be the key players.

They then greatly reduced that part of the picture, so Hamilton did not just step in and pick-up the Duvall part, that was now removed and Hamilton took a much smaller role.

On Sofia, well, I think that did far less damage to the film than losing Duvall. I don't know how much more Ryder would have brought to the table but I don't think her going caused the kind of rewrites losing Duvall did.

The problems with the picture are not Sofia and George stepping in, the problem was having to rapidly rewrite when they lost Duvall. The story is why the picture does not reach the heights of the other two films. I think if Duvall returned and we had Sofia step in for Ryder...the picture would have been fine. I think what Francis asks Sofia to do she does, that's not an issue for me really. The issue for me is you can tell the story is a mess and I think Hamilton gets stiffed by the rewrite because his character is there now not to do what Hagen was going to do but rather to deliver some lines to sort of describe what Hagen might have been doing had that part not been cut from the story.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Whoa, whoa, whoa there, buddy boy. You don’t go around using words like “drek” to describe my girl and then think you can just walk away by saying “I have no comment”. Too late now. And man, are you in deep.

Sorry but she’s no Gwen Verdon.
‘Nuff said- especially as Chita and Paula basically stole the whole movie away from her plus I must have missed her Oscar nom. etc etc etc.
You asked for the comments- never too late!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Is it me or does humor get lost in some posts?

 

[owen35]

I've been reading for many years how Coppola was rushed and the final film was not what he wanted. I think this is a welcomed release to see what he originally intended to create. On the Restored discs they had the original opening with Michael at the Vatican negotiating the deal to "wash his sins away" and I always felt that was the right direction. We shall see.

As for how it fits into the entire series, my personal theory was that the first two had the feel of the classic "gangster film" with similar iconography, taking place in the past, etc... GF III takes place in 1980, the family is incredibly wealthily and living a plush life, and just seemed too modern to "feel" like a Godfather film. It just really sticks out visually from the two.

But I loved the dramatic underpinnings that Coppola was grappling with. Michael is a tragic character and his desire in III to find redemption from his crimes, including having his brother killed, was the right story to follow. When I don't compare it to the other two, and see it for a character study, it is a very compelling film. The scene of Michael crying out in pain after his daughter's murder and then just withering into a lump, was dramatic tragedy at its finest.

 

[PMF]

Sorry but she’s no Gwen Verdon.
‘Nuff said- especially as Chita and Paula basically stole the whole movie away from her plus I must have missed her Oscar nom. etc etc etc.
You asked for the comments- never too late!

If ever we needed HTF member B-Roll and his trademark insertion of Leslie Nielsen, this would be the time.

 

[B-ROLL]

If ever we needed HTF member B-Roll and his trademark insertion of Leslie Nielsen, this would be the time.

You mean this one...

 

[PMF]

You mean this one...
View attachment 78135

Well...that was not quite the “Coda” I had in mind, but it’ll surely do the trick for now.

 

[B-ROLL]

Well...that was not quite the “Coda” I had in mind, but it’ll surely do the trick for now.

Robert Hays does not get the credit he is due ...

!

 

[PMF]

Robert Hays does not get the credit he is due ...
View attachment 78139 !

Phew. The B-Roll build-up was killing me; but I can honostly say that a better nights sleep has now been achieved.

So, let us resume with “The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone”

a) I feel that Sofia’s performance got somehow lost in translation; but she was fine with me.

b) FFC should’ve ponied up and never horsed around with the then newly Oscared Duvall.

c) “Coda” will settle all accounts with the family Corleone.

 

[B-ROLL]

Phew. The B-Roll build-up was killing me; but I can honostly say that a better nights sleep has now been achieved.

So, let us resume with “The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone”

a) I feel that Sofia Coppola’s performance got somehow lost in translation; but she was fine with me.

b) FFC should’ve ponied up and never horsed around with the then newly Oscared Duvall.

c) “Coda” will settle all accounts with the family Corleone.

I think Ms. Coppola, the Younger (Her aunt Talia had performed under the family name before being known a a Shire-fire actress with a Rocky start to her fame) was fine when she was delivering her lines. When the focus was not on her and she was still on camera, she appeared to be out of character.

Besides I thought this was all settled with another Marlon Brando film ...

 

[PMF]

[...]
Besides I thought this was all settled with another Marlon Brando film ...
View attachment 78216

Perhaps the time is ripe for someone to film Duvall and Broderick in “The Freshman, Part II: The Post-Graduate Years”.