The Godfather Part III

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Francis Ford Coppola directs. Gordon Willis behind the camera. Carmine Coppola scores. Lisa Fruchtman cuts. A long sit — settle in. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Italian, German, Latin.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Clocks in at 162 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
• 2Mid-budget at $54M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
• 336 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
• 4Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, Italian, German, Latin.
• 5Part of the "The Godfather Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
• 6400+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
• 7Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, shot by Gordon Willis. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 8Original score by Carmine Coppola. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 9Editor Lisa Fruchtman shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 10Al Pacino and Diane Keaton and Talia Shire carry the top of the cast.
• 11Marketing tagline: "All the power on earth can't change destiny.".
• 12IMDB entry: tt0099674 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 13Classified under 14 themes, including "daughter", "new york city", "helicopter", "assassination".
• 14Released under 47 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Gordon Willis

Original score

Carmine Coppola

Editing

Lisa Fruchtman

Production design

Dean Tavoularis

Costume design

Milena Canonero

Makeup / hair

Fabrizio Sforza

Sound

Marian Wallace

Stunt coordinator

Buddy Joe Hooker

Runtime

162 min · 2h 42m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$54,000,000

Box office

$136,766,062

Return

253% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

The Godfather Part III (1990) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

67% 🍅 Fresh

Metacritic

60/100

IMDB rating

7.5/10 · 454,746 votes

MPAA

R

Part of

The Godfather Collection

Francis Ford Coppola’s trilogy films about the everyday life of a New York mafia family. With its star-studded cast these films would go down in history as some of the greatest Hollywood has ever produced.

• 
  The Godfather

  1972
• 
  The Godfather Part II

  1974
• 
  The Godfather Part III

  1990 · this one

Also by

Francis Ford Coppola

• 
  The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980

  1992 · ★ 8.9
• 
  The Godfather

  1972 · ★ 8.7
• 
  The Godfather Part II

  1974 · ★ 8.6
• 
  Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television

  1977 · ★ 8.6
• 
  Apocalypse Now

  1979 · ★ 8.3
• 
  Faerie Tale Theatre

  1982 · ★ 8.1

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

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Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Josh Groban Stuns with “Brucia la Terra” from THE GODFATHER PART III

  Featurette · Official
• 

  ▶
  Trailer

  Trailer · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• CinemaSerf2022-04-04
  ★ 6/10

  Wow, this is a really poor cousin of the first two films. Centring on the later life of "Michael" (Al Pacino) this has much more of an episodic, almost soap opera, feel to it. He is determined to become legitimate, to look after his family and to stay alive despite the conspiring of Eli Wallach's "Don Altobello" and some of his cohorts who are trying to assassinate him and claim the Corleone crown. Talia Shire is quite effective as his sister "Connie" but Andy Garcia's smarmy "Vincent" (the son of the gunned down "Sonny") just made me squirm. This film really does miss the previously strong supporting cast too. No Robert Duval; Diane Keaton (with some simply hideous jewellery) features but sparingly and the whole thing just plugs along until a rather downbeat ending that just didn't seem to do justice to the excellence of Puzo's story or to the previously established, captivating, characterisations. It looks great, the production is first rate but this is just not a story to compare with the others.

  Read full review ↓
• Wuchak2023-07-09
  ★ 7/10

  Michael Corleone seeks redemption while a young buck takes over the shady business RELEASED IN 1990 and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, "The Godfather: Part III" stars Al Pacino as aging Mafia don Michael Corleone in 1979, who seeks to legitimize his work in New York and Italy and avow for his sins. He mentors his bastard nephew, Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia), while trying to steer his teenage daughter, Mary, away from him (Sofia Coppola). MAIN CAST: Diane Keaton returns as Michael's ex-wife, Kay, while Talia Shire reprises the role of sister, Connie. Franc D'Ambrosio is on hand as Michael's son, Antonio, who wants to leave law school and become an opera singer. George Hamilton co-stars as B.J. Harrison, essentially taking the place of Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) as Michael's chief financial adviser and attorney. Eli Wallach plays an aged don and Joe Mantegna the gangster Michael put in charge of Little Italy after semi-retiring. Raf Vallone plays a dubious Cardinal and Bridget Fonda a fornicating reporter in a small role. Part III is on par with Part II in tone and quality, but I give this one the edge in overall entertainment value. Michael (Pacino) has much more human dimension here as opposed to his one-note grim depiction in Part II. His scenes confessing his sins to a priest in a Vatican City garden and, later, with Kay in Sicily are good examples. There are several other highlights amidst the drama, like the break-in scene at Vincent's abode, the Atlantic City massacre, the street festival hit, the entire closing opera sequence that juxtaposes the performances of the play with various violent attacks and the aftermath. Andy Garcia brings fresh blood and vitality to the trilogy in a pretty significant role, as does Sofia in a relatively small part. Winona Ryder was originally cast for the part, but she was too sick to perform and so Francis chose his daughter at the last minute and she's fine in the role. Does anyone seriously think Winona Ryder would have taken this peripheral part and done it any better? I heard all the ridiculous criticism over Sofia's performance before viewing the film and therefore kept waiting for a serious train wreck, but it never happened. She did a fine job for a side character who's an unseasoned, slightly self-conscious (i.e. wooden), flirty teen. To those sheeple who have joined the idiotic critical feeding frenzy: Shut the fudge up and get a life! The moral of the story rings loud and clear: Choosing the life of organized crime will result in a grim life of constant heartache and premature death all around you. Needless to say, Life's hard enough without taking that foolish route. Bottom line: This is a worthwhile crime drama with several highlights, but it doesn't rank up there with the first movie, which stands alone. If you're a fan of the first two films it's almost mandatory that you watch this one. It lacks the thrilling greatness of the first film, but it's about equal to the second, although I favor this one a little. THE FILM RUNS 2 hours & 42 minutes (or 2 hours 50 minutes, the longer version) and was shot in Sicily and numerous places on mainland Italy, including Vatican City; the New York City area; Atlantic City, NJ; and Lake Tahoe, California. WRITERS: Coppola & Mario Puzo. GRADE: B+

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Paramount Pictures

  US

• 

  American Zoetrope

  US

Key crew

• CastingRoger Mussenden
• EditorLisa Fruchtman
• CastingJanet Hirshenson
• EditorWalter Murch
• EditorBarry Malkin
• CastingJane Jenkins
• Production DesignDean Tavoularis
• ProducerFrancis Ford Coppola
• Costume DesignMilena Canonero
• Music EditorMark Adler
• Stunt CoordinatorBuddy Joe Hooker
• Special EffectsGiovanni Corridori
• SongsFrancis Ford Coppola
• Script SupervisorWilma Garscadden-Gahret
• Assistant Art DirectorFranckie Diago
• Wardrobe SupervisorWilliam A. Campbell
• Special Effects CoordinatorLawrence J. Cavanaugh
• Music SupervisorStephan R. Goldman
• Sound MixerClive Winter
• Assistant Costume DesignerRichard Shissler
• Dialogue EditorStacey A. Foiles
• Sound Effects EditorJohn Verbeck
• Sound RecordistAndy Aaron
• Foley EditorDiana Pellegrini

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• daughter
• new york city
• helicopter
• assassination
• italian american
• italy
• gangster
• confession
• symbolism
• sequel
• revenge
• organized crime
• mafia
• lawyer

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere1990-12-20R· Beverly Hills, California
• Theatrical (limited)2020-12-04R· Re-release (The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone)
• Theatrical1990-12-25R

Also known as

International titles

• El Padrino IIIES
• Le Parrain, 3e partieFR
• The Godfather Part 3US
• Gudfadern 3SE
• El Padrino Parte IIIES
• The Godfather 3US
• 教父 IIICN
• Крёстный отец 3RU
• El padrino parte IIIMX
• O Poderoso Chefão: Parte IIIBR
• Le Parrain - 3ème partieFR
• 대부 3 - 재편집판KR
• The Godfather - Part IIIUS
• Крестный отец 3RU
• Baba 3TR