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The Godfather Part 3 movie storyline. In the final instalment of the Godfather Trilogy, an aging Don Michael Corleone seeks to legitimize his crime family’s interests and remove himself from the violent underworld but is kept back by the ambitions of the young. While he attempts to link the Corleone’s finances with the Vatican, Michael must deal with the machinations of a hungrier gangster seeking to upset the existing Mafioso order and a young protoge’s love affair with his daughter.
The Godfather Part III is a 1990 American crime film written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, and directed by Coppola. A sequel to The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974), it completes the story of Michael Corleone, a Mafia kingpin who attempts to legitimize his criminal empire.
The film also includes fictionalized accounts of two real-life events: the 1978 death of Pope John Paul I and the Papal banking scandal of 1981–82, both linked to Michael Corleone’s business affairs. The film stars Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, and Andy García, and features Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, George Hamilton, Bridget Fonda, and Sofia Coppola.
Coppola and Puzo preferred the title, The Death of Michael Corleone, but Paramount Pictures found that unacceptable. Coppola subsequently stated that The Godfather series is two films and that Part III is the epilogue. Part III received mixed reviews compared to the critical acclaim that the first two films received. It grossed $136,766,062 and was nominated for seven Academy Awards including the Academy Award for Best Picture.
About the Story
In 1979, as Michael Corleone is approaching 60, he regrets his ruthless rise to power and is especially guilt-ridden for having his brother Fredo murdered. He has semi-retired from the Mafia, leaving management of the family’s business to Joey Zasa. Michael uses his tremendous wealth and power in an attempt to rehabilitate his reputation via numerous charitable acts. Michael and Kay are divorced; their children, Anthony and Mary, live with Kay.
At a ceremony in St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, Michael is named a Commander of the Order of Saint Sebastian. At the reception, Anthony tells his father that he is leaving law school to become an opera singer. Kay supports his decision, but Michael asks Anthony to complete his law degree. Anthony refuses to adhere to his father’s wishes. Michael and Kay have an uneasy reunion, in which Kay reveals that she and Anthony know the truth about Fredo’s death.
Vincent Mancini, Sonny Corleone’s illegitimate son with Lucy Mancini, arrives at the reception. He is embroiled in a feud with Zasa, who has involved the Corleone family in drug trafficking and turned Little Italy into a slum. Michael’s sister, Connie, arranges a meeting between Vincent and Zasa. When Zasa calls Vincent a bastard, Vincent bites Zasa’s ear. Vincent overpowers two hitmen sent to kill him and learns that Zasa was responsible. Michael, troubled by Vincent’s fiery temper but impressed by his family loyalty, agrees to take him under his wing.
Knowing that Archbishop Gilday, head of the Vatican Bank, has accumulated a massive deficit, Michael offers the Bank $600 million in exchange for shares in Internazionale Immobiliare, an international real estate company, which would make him its largest single shareholder with six seats on the company’s 13-member board. He makes a tender offer to buy the Vatican’s 25% share in the company, which will give him controlling interest. Immobiliare’s board quickly approve the offer, pending ratification by the Pope.
Don Altobello, an elderly New York Mafia boss and Connie’s godfather, visits Michael, telling him that his old partners on the Commission want in on the Immobiliare deal. Michael wants the deal untainted by Mafia involvement and pays off the mob bosses from the sale of his Las Vegas holdings. Zasa receives nothing and, declaring Michael his enemy, storms out. Altobello follows Zasa, saying he will reason with him. Minutes later, a helicopter hovers outside the conference room and opens fire. Most of the bosses are killed, but Michael, Vincent, and Michael’s bodyguard, Al Neri, escape.
In New York, Neri tells Michael that the surviving mob bosses made deals with Zasa. Believing Zasa lacks the mindset to mastermind the massacre, Michael is certain someone else was the mastermind. Michael forbids Vincent from killing Zasa, realizes that Altobello is the traitor, suffers a diabetic stroke, and is hospitalized.
As Michael recuperates, Vincent and Mary begin a romantic relationship, while Neri and Connie give Vincent permission to retaliate against Zasa. During a street festival hosted by Zasa’s Italian American civil rights group, Vincent kills Zasa. Michael berates Vincent for his actions and insists that Vincent end his relationship with Mary, explaining Vincent’s involvement in the family’s criminal enterprises endangers her life.
The Godfather Part 3 (1990)
Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Andy Garcia, Talia Shire, Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, Bridget Fonda, Sofia Coppola, Raf Vallone, Helmut Berger, Franc D’Ambrosio
Screenplay by: Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola
Production Design by: Dean Tavoularis
Cinematography by: Gordon Willis
Film Editing by: Lisa Fruchtman, Barry Malkin, IIIWalter Murch
Costume Design by: Milena Canonero
Art Direction by: Alex Tavoularis
Music by: Carmine Coppola
MPAA Rating: R for violence and language.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: December 25, 1990
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