The Godfather, Part III (1990)
71%RT Audience Score: 62%
Awards & Nominations: Won 6 Oscars
17 wins & 20 nominations total
The final installment of The Godfather saga recalls its predecessors’ power when it’s strictly business, but underwhelming performances and confused tonality brings less closure to the Corleone story
The Godfather, Part III has been hailed as a classic by some and a disappointment by others, but one thing is for sure: Sofia Coppola’s acting skills were not up to par. Despite this, the film still manages to captivate audiences with its intricate plot and stunning art direction. And let’s not forget the iconic performances by Al Pacino and Andy Garcia. Overall, it’s a mixed bag, but worth a watch for fans of the series. Just don’t expect it to live up to the first two films.
Production Company(ies)
Apple Corps Aimimage Productions, Diamond Docs
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Kaiser Estate, 4000 W Lake Blvd, Homewood, Lake Tahoe, California, USA
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1990
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Mono
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:2h 41m
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Language(s):English, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Sicilian
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Dec 25, 1990 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 23, 2008
Genre(s)
Crime/Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy Garcia, Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, Sofia Coppola, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Francis Ford Coppola, Mario Puzo, Crime, Drama, R, box office, $64.6M, reviewed by Jake Cole, Zaki Hasan, Noel Murray, Richard Corliss, Owen Gleiberman, Variety Staff, Fico Cangiano, Matt Brunson, Quentin Crisp, Mike Massie, Bruce C Steele, The Godfather, Part III, mafia, family, power, corruption, tragedy, legacy, redemption, violence, language, epic, art direction, Vatican, opera house, Palermo, 70mm, Dolby SR, Magnetic Stereo 6 Track, Surround, Paramount Pictures, produced by Francis Ford Coppola
Worldwide gross: $47,961,010
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $317,808,498
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 471
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 34,657,415
US/Canada gross: $47,834,595
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $316,970,822
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 173
US/Canada opening weekend: $171,417
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $1,135,876
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,263
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $13,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $86,143,108
Production budget ranking: 482
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $46,388,064
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $185,277,326
ROI to date (est.): 140%
ROI ranking: 800
Diane Keaton – Kay Adams
Talia Shire – Connie Corleone-Rizzi
Andy Garcia – Vincent Mancini-Corleone
Eli Wallach – Don Altobello
Joe Mantegna – Joey Zasa
Director(s)
Francis Ford Coppola
Writer(s)
Francis Ford Coppola, Mario Puzo
Producer(s)
Francis Ford Coppola
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 6 Oscars
17 wins & 20 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (65) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (44) | Rotten (21)
The Godfather films have set home-video standards for decades, and that trend continues with Paramounts astonishing 4K restorations.
March 18, 2022
Jake Cole
Slant Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Allows us to take in the full scope of Michael Corleone’s (Al Pacino) tragic journey – from optimistic military veteran to cruel crime boss to emotionally shattered old man.
January 10, 2020
Zaki Hasan
San Francisco Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
[…] a crushing disappointment. It’s a sluggish movie with nothing to say about the moral rot of the powerful that the first two parts didn’t say much better […]
May 12, 2014 | Rating: 2.5/5
Noel Murray
The Dissolve
TOP CRITIC
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
Richard Corliss
TIME Magazine
TOP 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 | Rating: A
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
TOP 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
Variety Staff
Variety
TOP CRITIC
Nowhere near as good as the first two installments of the trilogy, but Part III does enough right to close out the Corleone saga in solid fashion. Full review in Spanish
April 29, 2022 | Rating: 3.5/5
Fico Cangiano
CineXpress Podcast
It’s a mixed bag of a movie, with some strong sequences and several potent performances (particularly by Al Pacino and Andy Garcia) competing against a meandering storyline and the absence of Robert Duvall and Winona Ryder.
April 9, 2022 | Rating: 2.5/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
Offsetting its convoluted story line, the film has two outstanding assets. Its art direction is faultless; its locations are monumental — especially the Vatican and an opera house in Palermo.
April 6, 2022
Quentin Crisp
Christopher Street
Sofia Coppola, making a horrendous leading-role debut, is perhaps the single most significant reason why this film was not nearly as well received as the previous two entries.
September 14, 2020 | Rating: 5/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
Countless set-pieces, both intimate and explosively violent, build intoxicating tension.
May 19, 2020
Bruce C. Steele
OutWeek
That The Godfather, Part III works up any grandeur at all is a tribute to the luridly baroque plotting of Coppola and Mario Puzo and the fierce and apparently ineradicable residue of artistic honor still left inside Coppola.
December 5, 2018 | Rating: 3/4
Jeff Simon
Buffalo News…
Plot
The continuing saga of the Corleone crime family tells the story of a young Vito Corleone growing up in Sicily and in 1910s New York; and follows Michael Corleone in the 1950s as he attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Sofia Coppola’s leading-role debut in The Godfather, Part III was not well received by critics.
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