However, Harrison could have worked. Pentangeli's character flourished in Part II, the same could have happened in Part III. Who knows, Harrison could have been fleshed out and been against the family and then Michael could have been like "Tom would have never done this to me... and I pushed him away..." Another scene of regret when he talks to the cardinal.[/QB]
Well, maybe, but in order to make Harrison a character anybody cared about, there would have to have been some script time invested in some kind of back story explaining how he rose to a trusted position in the family.
Otherwise, the character is just what he ended up being: just kind of a smiling face standing there. Can Michael trust him? Who knows, who cares?
The GF III plot was convoluted enough, with the kitchen-sink approach to the Vatican-Immobliare story line, I can't see they could have spent a half-hour MORE screen time setting up why we should care about B.J.Harrison.
I still betcha the original concepts for GF III were mainly centered on Michael and Tom's clashing ideas of how to move the Corleone family into legit business - and ultimate pressures on Tom by both the feds and other families, to finally roll over on Mike.
