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Literature/Film Quarterly
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The Tragedy of Michael Corleone in
The Godfather: Part III
The Godfather: Part III (1990) is often viewed not as the epic conclusion to director Fra
Ford Coppola's "chronicles" of the Corleone Family, but as a major disappointment, an endi
inferior to its beginning. Released sixteen years after its predecessors had assumed the sta
of "classics," the third film was inevitably measured against the quality of the earlier film
Godfather III was dismissed as a failure - "a discordant and unnecessary coda to a symphon
of films that long ago reached an eloquent and satisfying crescendo" (Jardine par. 5).
Widely construed as a directorial "after-thought," the film is nonetheless perceived by so
critics as an appropriate conclusion to the trilogy.2 If the film seems to lack the originality of
previous narratives, this is because Godfather III was not designed to be an act of innovati
but an act of commemoration, which stands apart from its predecessors as a kind of epilo
Coppola personally did not want audiences to read the film as constituting a trilogy in wh
the last installment becomes a culmination of past achievements. In his DVD commentary
Part III , the director reveals that he originally intended to call the film The Death of Mich
Corleone , but the Paramount executives refused to countenance anything other than T
Godfather : Part III (Coppola quoted in "Commentary by Francis Ford Coppola"). Coppo
preferred title is perhaps more commensurate to its quality as an epilogue.
64
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The Tragedy of Michael Corleone/65
Altobello, an old friend of Michael's father Don Vito Corleone, tries to assassinate Michael,
and several corrupt church bankers do their utmost to thwart his securing control over the
Vatican-owned company "Immobiliare," the vehicle through which Michael hopes to redeem
his Family's criminal legacy. Although Michael succeeds in destroying all his enemies in the
same ruthless manner as before, his dream of redemption is abruptly shattered when an assassin
kills his daughter Mary.
The theme "The Corleones go 'legit'" understandably did not appeal to viewers, who were
essentially "cued" by the previous narratives of The Godfather to expect a dramatic denouement
in which Michael destroys his enemies without fear or remorse. From one perspective, the
audience had a right to expect such a finale; and the radical transformation of the established
pattern of events from Michael's victory to his defeat would appear to have transgressed not
just a narrative paradigm, but a more significant generic convention that made the trilogy so
captivating. From another perspective, a major criticism of Part III is that the film repeats the
generic conventions of its predecessors so slavishly that it exhausts a thrilling "sub-genre"
into an over-reproduced "formula." For example, the scene where Vincent Mancini kills Joey
Zasa combines elements from both the murder of Don
Barzini by Al Neri (dressed as a policeman) during the
famous baptism sequence in Parti , and the shooting of
Don Fanucci by Vito Corleone during the Italian festa
in Partii. Although Coppola adopts the same dynamic,
cross-cutting techniques to merge sacrilegious violence
with religious ritual, Part IIT s self-conscious "replay" of
the visual effects seems to reduce the original scenes to
the level of cliché. Intertextual repetition is unavoidable
for a film titled " The Godfather ." However, the murder of Joey Zasa is a case in point of how
Part III replicates the patterns and motifs of the earlier films, but lacks the same degree of
intensity or epic scope.
The purpose of this essay is not to deny the existence of flaws in the final saga, but to reconsider
its status as a " Godfather film," or rather, a "film made in the tradition of The Godfather ." I
suggest that it may be more helpful to read it as a "post -Godfather film," or a departure from,
rather than a continuation, of its predecessors. In contrast to the conspiratorial tone that dominated
the earlier dramas, the mood of Partili is confessional, and as its main concern is Michael's bid
for redemption rather than another triumph over his enemies, the film represents a significant
expansion of the moral parameters of its predecessors into a more spiritual dimension.
Both Godfather I and II ended with the consolidation of Corleone power, and hence the
establishment of Michael's invulnerability. No matter how devious the plots woven against
him, he inevitably outwits his rivals. He forces them to betray their emotions while he keeps
his own closely guarded from their scrutiny. His words are few, but it is his very silence and
repression that manipulates them into exposing their hidden motives. Although his methods
are indiscriminately evil (particularly in the second film), the opacity of Michael's criminal
psyche is what keeps the audience captive. "Never let anyone know what you're thinking," he
counsels his fiery nephew Vincent Mancini.
From the beginning of Partili, it is clear that Michael in 1979 is very different from Michael
as he was in the 1 950s. In the opening prologue, the camera pans slowly over the derelict remains
of the Lake Tahoe estate where the Family had previously lived, conjuring up ghostly memories
of Part II. A voice-over of Michael reading aloud a letter addressed to his children, Anthony
and Mary, is heard over the familiar strains of Nino Rota's musical score: "The only wealth
in this world is children, more than all the money and power on earth. You are my treasure."
He asks them to attend his papal award ceremony and to prevail upon their mother to come.
His contemplative manner of speech and conciliatory attitude toward his family is surprising
considering his former persona as the hard-hearted father, who had separated his children from
Kay so many years ago.
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66/The Tragedy of Michael Corleone
The prologue dissolves into the first major scene of the film, and Michael's voice-over is
replaced by the Latin chant of a Catholic priest. The protagonist finally appears in person,
looking aged and tired as he steps forward to be inducted into the Order of St. Sebastian, a
papal reward in honor of his charitable donations to "the poor of Sicily." Inter-cut within this
scene is a brief flashback to the silhouette image of Fredo reciting "Hail Marys" just before
he is killed on Lake Tahoe in Part IF s
conclusion. Having never shown remorse
for his brother's murder, Michael now
seems haunted, even traumatized, by the
memory of Fredo. His increasing insecurity
resurfaces in a scene after the helicopter
shooting in Atlantic City. The realization
that Don Altobello is the orchestrator of the
shooting places him under such emotional
strain that he suffers a severe diabetic stroke.
Losing mental coherence, he suddenly cries
out, "Fredo! Fredo!" conflating the past with
the present betrayal.
The shift away from the conspiratorial atmosphere of the earlier films is particularly mar
in the scene where Michael confesses his
sins to a priest, Cardinal Lamberto. Initially
reluctant to expose himself to a stranger,
he eventually succumbs, condensing his
entire criminal career into a series of short,
blatantly honest statements:
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The Tragedy of Michael Corleone/67
Goodbye, my old friend. You could have lived a little longer. I could be closer to my dream.
You were so loved, Don Tommasino. Why was I so feared, and you so loved? [. . .] I tried to do
good. What betrayed me - my mind, my heart? Why do I condemn myself so? I swear on the
lives of my children - give me a chance to redeem myself and I will sin no more.
The hubris which previously blinded Michael from recognizing his own faults now disappears,
as he undergoes an experience similar to an Aristotelian "reversal" or peripeteia (Muir 370). In
the past, Michael had always implicitly justified his violent acts in the name of the Family, but in
this moment of complete privacy, he no longer hides behind a facade of self-righteousness and
takes responsibility for his crimes. Ironically, at the very moment he vows never to sin again,
Vincent enters and requests to be made the new Don. No matter how hard he tries, Michael
cannot quash the rituals and traditions of the life he had chosen. After observing the caporegimes
pay their respects to his nephew, he retires from the room with Connie, and symbolically shuts
himself out of the proceedings that the new godfather will continue to conduct within.
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68/The Tragedy of Michael Corleone
The scene at the coffin of Tommasino not only shifts the focus of the audience's attention
from "conspiracy" to "confession," it also begins to focus on the individual tragedy of Michael
Corleone. In the first two Godfather films, the director had envisioned Michael's character as
representative of a larger, modern American tragedy.3 Particularly, in Godfather II, Coppola saw
the "cold and self-righteous" Michael as similar to "America [. . .] in that period [when the film
was made]: paranoid, suspicious and violent, as we perhaps experienced with the presidency
during Watergate" (Bahiana 18). A recent reviewer of Joseph McBride's Searching for John
Ford: A Life , supports this reading of the film, saying, "Nixon was every part in The Godfather
rolled into one" (O'Hagan 22). Although the analogy of "Michael as America" is maintained,
(the Mafia leader is as much the suave capitalist as he was in the earlier films), Godfather III
relates primarily the tragic fate not of the social but of the individual.
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The Tragedy of Michael Corleone/69
has lived within a more spiritual, even Biblical, framework. He previously justified his crimes
in the belief that he was performing a moral duty as protector of the Family. However, as he
grows ever more conscious of his mortality, the film invites us to reconsider the rectitude of
his old assumptions, and to acknowledge how far his perverted and fallible human morality
has fallen short of spiritual redemption. At the same time as Coppola narrows our focus on
Michael's tragedy as an individual, he also extends the boundaries of our understanding of
the protagonist's morality to encompass his spirituality. This is the essence of The Godfather:
Part III that distinguishes it as a "post -Godfather" film rather than a continuation of a previous
history. Although it has never achieved the same aura that a " Godfather " film ought to possess,
the final chapter of the Corleone chronicles suffers less by comparison with its predecessors if
we only allow ourselves to consider its quality on its own terms.
Phoebe Poon
University of Sydney
Author's Note: The author wishes to thank Dr. Simon Petch (Senior Lecturer in the Department of English,
University of Sydney) for all his advice and encouragement, and moreover, for teaching her how to be a
scholar. The author also wishes to thank Elizabeth Pender for her constructive comments on this paper
prior to its submission.
Notes
1 As early as 1976, John Hess called Godfather II "the greatest Hollywood film since Citizen Kane and
one of the three or four best Hollywood films ever made" (Hess 82). This sentiment still has resounding
acceptance in the current film industry as shown in August 2002 when 144 critics, participating in the
British Film Institute's "Top Ten Poll of the Greatest Films of the Century," voted The Godfather I and II
(the first two parts are usually rated equally) into fourth place. The directors' poll went so far as to rank the
films in second place {British Film Institute , "The Sight and Sound Top Ten Poll 2002").
2 Janet Maslin, a reviewer for the New York Times , has argued that Part III is a "valid and deeply moving
continuation of the Corleone family saga, [which] daringly holds forth the possibility of redemption" (par.
1). See also Thompson par. 9.
3 "For me, the tragedy of The Godfather , which is the tragedy of America, is about Michael Corleone"
(Coppola quoted from "The Godfather Family: A Look Inside").
Works Cited
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of 'The Godfather Part III')." Cinema Papers 82 (1991): 14-20.
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Duvall, James Caan, Talia Shire, Joe Mantegna, and Eli Wallach. 1991. DVD. Paramount and
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