At first I wanted a GFIV but after I think about it doing a GFIV would be bad either way. Centering around vincent and his generation would be boring and not carry the cool vibe of the classical gangster that we felt in the first 2 films. Centering it around Sonny and Vito in the golden days with new actors playing the major characters roles would just seem tacky and not even the same story. The best idea for part IV would be between part II and PArt III which would be Michael in the 1960's striving for legitimacy but having to go through one last major war to get there. It could start with the End of part II(michael sitting on a his chair thinking) and the alternate beginning of part III that is shown on AMC. Michael would be his normal badass self and the major emotional plot would be him regretting what he did and how he lost everything and not in the stupid way he did it in part III by crying to priests and dead corpses. Unforutnately Part III has already been made and making a GF IV that would take place between II and III would be tacky. Ideally my idea for part IV would have been best if it were part III and had been made in the late 70's or early 80's and Al Pacino were as soft spoken as he was in part I and II and not as raspy and lound as he is in PartIII

It would be tough to do now, because Pacino and Duvall, and Talia Shire, are now too old to play Michael, Tom and Connie in the 1960s.

It would be good to see exactly what was the resolution of the Michael-Tom dynamic. Clearly, that was a major conflict that FFC and Puzo were setting up at the end of GF II. There are several key lines of dialogue where the loyalties of Tom Hagen are called into question.

Tom is obviously a brilliant and highly resourceful manager himself, so he would be a formidiable adversary for Michael if he ever decided to break off from the Corleone family. Whether he ever would or not, would be a huge quesion to be answered.

Perhaps, "The Godfather Returns" is the first example of officially-sanctioned "Corleone Family" derived material - much in the fashion of Star Wars, Star Trek, etc., where complete lines of books, etc. have been based on the canonical characters, concepts, etc.

There are hundreds of Star Wars and Star Trek books, but the only ones that "really count" are the officially released movie versions - those are considered absolute canon. All the peripheral stories are considered "alternative realities."

I agree. It is very sad that GF III was done so forward into the present, that it really could not connect the dots of the past. Most certainly though, you could use the book to complete the rise of Vito Corleone, and that could be a separate title.

I also do not think that anyone can really do the justice that these actors, Pacino, Shire, Duvall, DeNiro, Brando, Caan, and even Cazales to make these films such classic genre.

I have to agree with you guys as well. When I first joined here, I thought it would be a great idea. Now,as I continue to hang around a apperciate the films even more, I think another sequal would hurt the series even more. Sure I'm writing a scritp, DBCH and UB are writing a script, millions of scripts probably exist, but actually going through and making it into a fourth movie will be a big mistake. It is my feeling that there are no actors who can fill the Corleones shoes.

Nice topic. I agree with you 100%.

If they had filmed a third Godfather film, in say.. 1976, rather than waiting a whole 16 years after part II, the whole cast would still be relatively young and the audience would still feel like they were actually seeing a Godfather film.

Rather than this melodramatic nonsense of a dying family like we constantly see on AMC, FFC could've really set the most perfect trilogy of all time. Heck, they could even have added some Brando and Caan flashbacks in the third movie to make it more lively. The John Cazale flashback doesn't fit at all in the third film as it is and the story of Michael and Fredo seems left untold.

For this reason, a lot of people love the LOTR movie trilogy, due to it being filmed in one long stretch and released within a fairly short period of time. Well.. this is just a lesson to be learned in the history of movies.. I'll always be in debted to FFC and Mario Puzo for constructing a great story, but perhaps this issue will be solved in the future with other films.

good points i agree

Why wasn't Duval in GFIII? Were there some sort of contract problems or something. I think that the biggest problem in GFIII (and don't get me wrong, they were very, very numerous) was the lack of Tom Hagen, who is without a doubt my favorite character from the trilogy.

I would love to see some more backstory between Michael and Tom, however, like someone else said, the actors are both too old to do this now. I think this would be excellent fodder for a book, and I hope The Godfather Returns addresses this issue tacitly.

Robert Duvall just wanted more money... :rolleyes:

Money he SHOULD HAVE received.

The more correct answer is the producers didn't want to pay him enough!

That could also be true.. that's exactly why they don't ever release the actual figures of money in question to the public.