Jeeeze Louise, why don't y'all just pitch out that third DVD if you hate the damn thing that much???

I think GF III gets unfairly ripped all the time because it isn't as good as I or II. And no, it isn't. But i come on here all the time and read lengthy threads from people who just want to get their rocks off about how horrible III is. Good god, give it a break if you hate it that much.

All that said, GFIII is indeed better than many many other movies out there these days.

I agree with a lot of the complaints. My A-Number One complaint was the absence of Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), because clearly in retrospect towards the end of GFII, it was being set up that Tom and Michael would ultimately battle over the fate of the family, which would have been the main story line of GF III.

A lot of you seem to get really cranked up over George Hamilton - I can't generate enough emotional energy to get upset by him. He was barely there at all - just a smiling pretty boy in the background. They just wrote in his chracter to mouth some of the lines that would have gone to Hagen and otherwise he was just along for the ride.

The Vatican/Immobliare plot line was too involved and nebulous, and didn't involve anybody you recognized.

The gangland war/Joey Zasa subplot had potential to be a lot more meaningful - if we had found out, for example, that some of the other families had ties going back, say, to Hyman Roth, Barzini, Tartaglia, etc, - then we would understand their motivations better. (Hell, think about this: what if it turned out, for instance, that name of the copter pilot at the hotel ambush was ..Frankie Fanucci??)

Andy Garcia was OK in his role of Vincent, but the whole illegitimate-son-of-Sonny thing never made sense to me - Sonny had two **legitimate** sons which it would have made more sense to write into the plotline as being involved in the family business - or, for that matter, maybe Connie's kids - remember when Michael tells Connie in GF II that one of her sons has been arrested for petty burglary?

It would be a lot more resonant, if those kids, or especially if Michael Francis Rizzo (the baby Michael stands godfather for in GF on the day he rubs out the heads of the Five Families) - rose up in the family business. Just think of the parallel, of Mikey Rizzo Corleone, the innocent baby whose baptism was stained by the blood of all those murders - eventually becoming the Godfather himself?? (Now THERE'S a GF IV idea... )

(After Connie found out that Carlo really was responsible for Sonny's murder and that Michael had a perfectly good reason for having him killed, Connie would have changed the kids' name back to Corleone. She wouldn't have wanted any reminder of Carlo.)

Now to the women. Bridget Fonda was kinda-ok in her role, but it was so brief there wasnt' much she could have done good or bad with it. Her character Grace was clearly intended to be a counterpart to Kay as a "WASP" outsider marrying into the family.

Sofia C. as Mary. Ahh my god, here we go. I do not actually think she was really that horrible - some of her wooden performance was the way her character was written - as a spoiled, isolated, pampered mama's girl who had been kept away from her family most of her life. So of course Mary comes off as a semi-zombie. Sofia's performance was not great, but considering she was an amateur fill-in thrown in literally at the last minute, it was adequate. Marisa Tomei would have been my pick to cast as Mary.

The final female character in GFIII worthy of mention is in my view the most intriguing one in the entire trilogy - Talia Shire as Connie. In the first two episodes Connie comes off as pampered, spoiled, naive, almost irrelevant to the family. But in GF III Connie breaks out of that mold and actually seizes control of the Corleone family. Michael is waffling and indecisive even before his diabetic stroke, and his dithering leaves the family in danger of collapse.

Somebody needs to step up and make a decisive move, and Connie knows that Michael is physically not in shape to do it, and emotionally he isn't focused enough either. She knows Vincent has the ability to do it and she steers Michael into handing over control to him. In GF III, even if there is nobody with that actual title, Connie clearly becomes the consigliere to both Michael - and Vincent after he takes over.

Then, the final scene at the opera, very similar to Michael's decision to take part in getting rid of Sollozzo and McCluskey. Before then, Michael didn't have blood on his hands. Once he pulls the trigger, he's in - there's no going back.

In GF III Connie knows Don Altobello has to be gotten rid of and she knows she is the only one he trusts enough to get close to him and get rid of him. We also find out that Altobello is actually Connie's own godfather, but she is ruthless enough to get rid of him with no hesitation. Once she's killed Altobello, she's in, too.

That also gives her legitimacy in the Mafia culture - she "earns her bones." Once somebody rising in the family hierarchy "earns his bones" by killing somebody, you don't f**k around with them any more - you know if you do they'll snuff you out like a candle.

If and when a GF IV is made, I would bet one of the first scenes would feature Connie capping somebody with a pistol. But she's already "made her bones" -- anybody in the gangland world already knows you better not F-around with Connie Corleone.

So overall, GFIII definitely has some major flaws, but so do GF I (we never meet Genco) and GF II (where the hell did Roth and Pentangeli suddenly come from?? They just appeared out of nowhere.)

Anyway, if GF I and II are, say 95 and 98 on a 100 scale, and GF III is, say, 85, then GF III is clearly the "worst" of the series, but that doesnt mean it sucks. It's not as good as the others, that's all.