FILM REVIEWS

Paramount

Coppola Company Productions

This is the third (and final) installment of the “Godfather” saga, one of the few series, in which each of the three chapters received Best Picture nomination.  It’s also the weakest of the trilogy, though it has some artistic merits.

Main problem is that  the story of the younger generation of the crime dynasty is not as interesting as that of the older one in “The Godfather” and “The Godfather, Part Two,” not to mention the mediocre acting of Andy Garcia (who is not a leading man) and the poor performance by Coppola’s own daughter, Sofia Coppola, who was a last moment replacement for Winona Ryder.

That said, Coppola is a terrific director when it comes to mise-en-scene, and as sharply uneven as this picture is, there are at lest half a dozen impressive sequence that justify its making and viewing by us.   It could be that Coppola had waited for too long, 18 years, between the second and third chapters of this epic saga.

Oscar Nominations:  7

Picture, produced by Francis Ford Coppola

Director: Coppola

Supporting Actor: Andy Garcia

Cinematography: Gordon Willis

Art Direction-Set Decoration: Dean Tavoularis, Gary Fettis

Film Editing: Barry Malkin, Lisa Fruchtman, Walter Murch

Song: “Promise Me You’ll Remember,” music by Carmine Coppola, lyrics by John Bettis

Oscar Awards:

None

Oscar Context:

In 1990, Coppola’s Mafia movie competed with Scorsese’s crime-gangster “GoodFellas,” which received 6 nominations; two melodramas, “Awakening,” with 3 nods, and “Ghost,” with 5.  The big winner was Kevin Costner’s epic Western, Dances With Wolves, which was honored with the largest number of nominations (12) and Oscars (7), including Best Picture and Best Director.

“Godfather, Part III” and “Awakenings” emerged as the big losers, since each film failed to receive a single award.