Opening

87% Star Trek Into Darkness May 16
24% Erased May 17
91% Frances Ha May 17
41% The English Teacher May 17
42% Black Rock May 17
77% Pieta May 17
—— Populaire May 17
21% 33 Postcards May 17

Top Box Office

78% Iron Man 3 $72.5M
50% The Great Gatsby $50.1M
47% Pain & Gain $5.0M
37% Peeples $4.6M
77% 42 $4.6M
56% Oblivion $4.1M
69% The Croods $3.6M
98% Mud $2.5M
8% The Big Wedding $2.5M
60% Oz the Great and Powerful $1.1M

Coming Soon

—— The Hangover Part III May 23
77% Fast & Furious 6 May 24
—— Epic May 24
94% Before Midnight May 24

The Godfather, Part III (1990)

tomatometer

70

Average Rating: 6.4/10
Critic Reviews: 10
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 3

No consensus yet.

audience

79

liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 273,375

My Rating

Movie Info

After a break of more than 15 years, director Francis Ford Coppola and writer Mario Puzo returned to the well for this third and final story of the fictional Corleone crime family. Two decades have passed, and crime kingpin Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), now divorced from his wife Kay (Diane Keaton), has nearly succeeded in keeping his promise that his family would one day be "completely legitimate." A philanthropist devoted to public service, Michael is in the news as the recipient of a special

R,

Drama, Action & Adventure

May 24, 2005

Paramount Pictures

Watch It Now

Cast

ADVERTISEMENT

All Critics (56) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (46) | Rotten (19) | DVD (31)

The film is a slow fuse with a big bang -- one that echoes through every family whose own tragedy is an aching for things past and loved ones lost.

March 28, 2011 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The movie, a heady thicket of political intrigue and double crosses, is slower, talkier, and more prosaic than the first two films, and its narrative seams sometimes show. And yet it's more than the sum of its mazelike convolutions.

December 12, 2007 Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The Godfather Part III matches its predecessors in narrative intensity, epic scope, socio-political analysis, physical beauty and deep feeling for its characters and milieu.

December 12, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Represents a certain moral improvement over its predecessors by refusing to celebrate and condemn violence and duplicity in the same breath, or at least to the same degree.

December 12, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The acting is merely passable, several characters are given nothing to do, and Michael's paranoid self-pity lends the film an absurd morality: Coppola expects us to sympathise with the semblance of virtue.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment (1)
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Most film sequels are strictly optional. The Godfather Part III is inevitable, and as such it's irresistible.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The third (and final) chapter of Coppola's epic crima saga is the weakest in terms of narrative and acting, but it still has artistic merits.

March 9, 2011 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com
EmanuelLevy.Com

The third and final Godfather saga; not for kids.

January 1, 2011 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

This hits have gotten bigger, and the violence has gotten bloodier. It's less of an examination of family and more of a character piece for Michael.

October 8, 2008 Full Review Source: 7M Pictures
7M Pictures

While it's better than your average film in a lot of respects, it simply cannot hold up to the legacy of its predecessors.

October 6, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Views

...the movie has a polished grandeur about it that is hard to deny, especially in the closing moments. (Blu-ray Edition)

September 17, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis
Movie Metropolis

...didn't live up to expectations but turned out to be a pretty good movie in any case.

September 17, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis
Movie Metropolis

Considering the way it inadvertently lampoons and nearly diminishes the earlier two films, this is nothing less than a travesty.

February 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Sun Publications (Chicago, IL)
Sun Publications (Chicago, IL)

An epic without epic scope, a muted, strained, unnatural affair that never comes into dramatic focus.

December 12, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Indeed the disappointment many of its detractors assert it to be - in the same way that some of Orson Welles' subsequent works can be called disappointments when compared to Citizen Kane.

October 25, 2007 Full Review Source: Projection Booth
Projection Booth

Very few have stepped up to bat to defend The Godfather Part III (1990), which I consider a masterpiece and the equal of Parts I and II.

October 20, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comments (13)
Combustible Celluloid

O terceiro ato da obra máxima do Cinema.

July 28, 2006
Cinema em Cena

Audience Reviews for The Godfather, Part III

After a break of more than 15 years, Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo reunited for this: the long overdue final chapter of the saga of the Corleone crime family.

And yes, while I agree that this is the weakest of the trilogy, it's not a bad movie, and not nearly as awful as everyone regards it as being. Do I wish it were better? Of course. Do I understand why this didn't match the others? Maybe. I mean, so much time passed between films that maybe it was inevitable that they'd hit a pot hole and stumble eventually. Saying that it sucks because third films have a reputation of being isn't a good excuse. I'm just happy that we finally got a conclusion, and that, despite the flaws, it wasn't worse.

The plot mixes together an aging and bitter Michael reflecting on his life, trying to finally go legitimate in the face of an oncoming mob war with fictionalized portrayals of the death of Pope John Paul I and the Vatican Banking Scandal of the early 80s. To call this ambitious is a major understatement. I do like that it tried to weave in real events, especially ones that are so fascinating. The soap operaish elements are good to, but also where the problems are, mainly the oft-mentioned casting of Coppola's daughter Sofia (before she became a director) as Michael's daughter, and the rather underwhelming way things pan out. I do think the ending is rather fitting given the big picture, though.

Sofia herself admits she's a terrible actress, and was only there because Winona Ryder was unavailable. The character, I think, was supposed to be awkward, and that Coppola's performance just happened to be so wooden and uninspired because her dad and Puzo were in a rut and couldn't think of a way to do it better. At least Keaton and Pacino elevate things. It's also good seeing Garcia appear in an interesting call back to the first film.

The production values, cinematography, etc are top notch. This is a grand epic on a grand scale. Yeah, the writing (in some areas) is troubled, but I applaud the ambitiousness. The film has problems, but I refuse to call it a bad film, because, in all honesty, it really could have been far worse.
June 9, 2006
cosmo313
Chris Weber

Super Reviewer

After two incontrovertibly classic crime films, THE GODFATHER PART III is a major disappointment, heavily plagued by the "threequel effect". I'm referring to the syndrome that left marks on films such BACK TO THE FUTURE: PART III, DIE HARD: WITH A VENGEANCE, BATMAN FOREVER, and PSYCHO III. Out of all those, though, this film must be the biggest drop in its series. In the simplest of terms, this third entry transforms what was previously a heavy-headed crime drama with touches of family, into a lighthearted family drama with touches of crime.

As the third and final film in the series, THE GODFATHER PART III closes the story of Don Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) and his attempts to improve his Sicilian Mafia empire, during the late 1970s and early 1980s. As what director Francis Ford Coppola claims is the "epilogue" to a two-part series, the film is pretty disoriented. Not until the final half an hour in this near-three-hour does this feel like a true epilogue. The majority of the film seems like a continuation on the story presented in the first two films, not a conclusion. It also feels like an introduction of newer, younger characters, as if a method to transition the film into an updated saga. Again, The Godfather: The Next Generation.

Read the rest at themoviefreakblog.com
July 9, 2011
spielberg00

Super Reviewer

    1. Michael Corleone: I made confession, Connie. I confessed my sins.
    2. Connie Corleone Rizzi: Why Michael, that's not like you. You don't have to confess your sins to a stranger.
    3. Michael Corleone: It was the man. A good man. A true priest. He changed things.
    – Submitted by Victor M (3 months ago)
    1. Michael Corleone: Thunder can't hurt! Harmless noise! Bullshit! Deceitful little fuck! Altobello! You fuck!
    – Submitted by Victor M (3 months ago)
    1. Calo: The Corleone's left drugs, so New York is weak, and Palermo is strong.
    2. Don Tommasino: Your enemies always get strong on what you leave behind.
    – Submitted by Victor M (3 months ago)
    1. Michael Corleone: Politics and crime. They're the same thing?
    – Submitted by Victor M (3 months ago)
    1. Michael Corleone: Kay. I never expected you.
    2. Kay Adams: No, I know, I know. But I'm here.
    3. Michael Corleone: I'm glad.
    4. Kay Adams: You know? This is the first time I've seen you look so helpless.
    5. Michael Corleone: Eh -- not so bad really. I feel, I'm getting, wiser now.
    6. Kay Adams: Yeah?
    7. Michael Corleone: Oh yeah.
    8. Kay Adams: The sicker you get the wiser you get huh?
    9. Michael Corleone: When I'm dead, I'm gonna be really smart.
    – Submitted by Victor M (3 months ago)
    1. Frederick Keinszig: Everything will be out in the open if Corleone dies.
    2. Archbishop Gilday: Play for time, Keinszig. A habit born of, a long contemplation of eternity.
    – Submitted by Victor M (3 months ago)

Discussion Forum

There are no discussion threads for The Godfather, Part III yet.

Latest News on The Godfather, Part III

June 30, 2008:
RT on DVD: Tarantino on Inglorious Bastards DVD, Godfather Trilogy Restored
This week in DVD news, Francis Ford Coppola brings you the Godfather trilogy (again), Quentin...

March 21, 2006:
"Godfather" Video Game Debuts Today
Variety was kind enough to remind me that the new "Godfather" video game hits the shelves...

Foreign Titles

  • Der Pate III (DE)
  • The Godfather: Part III (UK)
Help | About | Jobs | Critics Submission | API | Licensing | Mobile