***This review contains SPOILERS***

Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone vs. The Godfather: Part III

I would argue, in my humble opinion, that the only improvement between in the Coda vis-a-vi the Original Cut (OC), is opening the film with the “sit down” or audience between Michael and Archbishop Gilday where he asks him to deposit 600 million dollars in the Vatican Bank. The argument in favor of opening with this scene is two-fold:

First, it evokes the opening of The Godfather were patriarch of the Corleone family, Vito Corleone, is asked for favors on the day of his daughter’s wedding, but in this occasion, he is dealing with one of the most powerful intuitions in the world and in human history: The Catholic Church. It is meant to illustrate the depth and breadth of the power the Corleone family wields now roaming the sacred halls of the Vatican itself, several steps up from being asked to arrange murder in the name of justice or an argument over a casino license with a U.S. Senator. In 1979 Michael Corleone deals with the self-appointed representatives of God on earth themselves. Who’s pulling the strings now, am I right?

Second, it serves to accentuate the Vatican Bank/Catholic Church plotline as the main driver of the film. This is how director Francis Ford Coppola originally intended for this scene to be sequenced and it shows, because then other lines of dialogue throughout the films fall into place. For example, the exchange between Michael and Gilday after the former makes a substantial donation to the Church for the “resurrection of Sicily” during a reception:

Gilday: Michael, you've done a wonderful thing for Sicily.

Michael: Well, let's just hope the money gets to the people who need it.

Gilday: Amen.

In the OC this exchange just reads (at least to me) as Michael making a general comment on how sometimes money donated to charitable causes may not entirely serve the intended cause. But by opening with the sit-down scene it adds an extra layer of “let's just hope the money gets to the people who need it” since you and your friends already embezzled 769 million dollars for which I had to make a 600-million-dollar deposit in your bank.

It also fits better with this exchange at the reception between B.J. Harrison (Corleone’s family new lawyer) and Gilday:

Gilday: “The Vatican knows nothing of these shareholders…”

Harrison: “Good; I have a tendency to worry. We’ve increased our position substantially and naturally I worry.”

Gilday: “Come along now, stop worrying. We have an agreement.”

Ostensibly the agreement being the 600M deposited in exchange for a 25% stake in Internazionale Immobiliare.

That on the pro-side, on the con-side the Coda does away entirely with early scene where we actually see the ceremony in which Gilday bestows the order of Saint Sebastian upon Michael. To me this scene also did a good job alluding to how far the Corleone family had come and now being “validated” by the Church. It also straightforwardly established why all these family members were gathering in a celebration to honor Michael Corleone which turns out to be the first long sequence (the reception) of the film. But, as discussed earlier, showing the Gilday sit-down before the reception achieves a similar job (presenting Michael’s ascension in the legitimate world) plus helps with dialogue referencing the “agreement” so the change is a net positive, I just wish Coppola had found a way to keep both scenes in the correct sequence.

And…that is it for the list of improvements of the Coda over the OC. The rest is pretty much Coppola cutting scenes shorter than they were in the OC if not pulling them out altogether. This results in film sequences that end abruptly, leaving the viewer confused as to why the things that happen are happening. Seeing as how the bridge scenes or the extra dialogue that could help the viewer follow the plot exist already and were originally included in the OC removing them is baffling. Let’s provide some examples.

Right after the shareholders meeting scene in New York the Coda cuts abruptly to Michael saying: “Mary. Mary, this is real this foundation, it’s real. I wanted Anthony to be a part of this. I wanted -- I thought the two of you would be together on this. I won’t interfere. I’ll help, only, only if you ask…”

While in the OC the scene starts earlier and lets the audience know what the heck Michael and Mary are talking about:

Mary: Dad?

Michael: Uh huh?

Mary: Tony says that I’m a front for the foundation. That you’re using me just to pull the strings. To get the money where you want it...

Michael: Oh come on, please.

Mary: …to shine up your public image.

Michael: Mary. Mary, this is real this foundation, it’s real. I wanted Anthony to be a part of this. I wanted -- I thought the two of you would be together on this. I won’t interfere. I’ll help, only, only if you ask…

The OC is simply clearer and doesn’t parachutes in the middle of the conversation. It lets the viewer know what Mary and Michael are talking about and it brings up the point that the foundation might be farce and that Michael is using it to “wash away” his past sins which is exactly one the first things that comes to mind when the concept of the charitable foundation in the name of the Corleone family is initially introduced. It also reinforces the theme of Tony being aware of the whole Corleone family deceitfulness and how he rebels against it which mirrors Michael’s own arc in GF1: enlisting in the Marines, rejecting his father’s/Hagen’s “plans” for his future and Michael’s early insistence to Kay that “that’s my family, that’s not me”.

In another instance Coda goes from Vincent tucking in a weak and feeble Michael at the hospital to out of nowhere Michael traveling to Sicily. Why? How? We don’t know and that’s because for some reason Coppola cuts the intervening scene in the hospital in which Don Altobello talks to a healthier, but still in the hospital, Michael about retiring and then Michael stating that they should see more of each other in Sicily. Yes, that scene ends with an overdone handshake between Michael and Altobello but that in no way or form justifies cutting the scene and jumping from the hospital to Sicily. Just mindboggling.

Another puzzling choice by Coppola is to cut the scene in the hospital chapel after Michael’s diabetic stroke in which Connie gives the go ahead to Vincent to kill Joey Zasa. This scene is literally 40 seconds, I timed it. The scene serves to show the Corleone family under siege and an interesting power dynamic in Michael’s absence. We see Connie taking the lead, Neri falling in line and doing a good job illustrating Vincent’s eagerness and hot-headed streak to go after Zasa just like we know Sonny would and further solidifying the “see?, isn’t Vincent such a short-tempered guy, so this is definitely Sonny’s son!” theme that the movie oversells at other times.

Last cut that I will discuss is, after the brief montage of Lamberto taking over, promising to do “things right away” and showing Keinszig, Luchessi and Gilday being nervous it goes straight away to Don Tommasino’s funeral and Michael stating:

Michael: I swear, on the lives of my children: Give me a chance to redeem myself, and I will sin, no more.

This cut, in my estimation, the earlier part of this beautiful soliloquy:

Michael: Goodbye my old friend. You could have lived a little longer, I could be closer to my dream.

(then)

You were so loved, Don Tommasino. Why was I so feared, and you so loved? What was it? I was no less honorable. I wanted to do good.

(then, as Michael cries)

What betrayed me? My mind? My heart? Why do I condemn myself so?

(then, in prayer)

I swear, on the lives of my children: Give me a chance to redeem myself, and I will sin, no more.

To me these lines give a poignant insight into Michael’s state of mind and advances the theme of regret that permeates the film. Shows a contemplative and introspective Michael reflecting on the choices he made and how his life turned out to be.

There are other examples and I will mention some of them quickly since this post is already extensive and I don’t want Francis to get any ideas.

Cutting:

Altobello: Blessed is the peacemaker, for he can be can be called a child of God.

Lucchesi: (to Vincent, in Italian)

"Can you speak Italian well?"

Vincent: "Yes."

Coppola again truncating scenes for no other reason than saving few seconds.

Coppola also cuts a personal favorite, which, while I won’t argue that it is essential (it isn’t), it hurt my feelings to see it cut. On the helicopter hit they cut my man saying while dying: “Joey Zasa. You son of a bitch”. How dare you Francis.

And then, in one of the few scenes Coppola extended or added new footage (not sure which one is the case here) now when Lucchesi gets stab with his own glasses we get a cartoonish, volcanic blood explosion where it wasn’t there before. I don’t know if he had been hearing all these years that Lucchesi’s original wound didn’t seemed severe enough or what but this is worse and distracting.

Regarding the changes to the ending, they didn’t work for me. I understand that one of the reasons for Coppola re-editing the film is that in his original vision this film is a Coda and not “Part III”. Then, by removing the flashback scenes where he dances with Apollonia (GF1) and dances with Kay (GF2), he removes what could be seen as a wrapping up for the whole saga and instead leaves just the dance with Mary which reinforces the message that this is a standalone film. That might be fine conceptually but it was mishandled. For one, the music editing was poorly done, it was a butchering. I didn’t need to see Michael’s death depicted since I always saw “the scream” as his actual death, regardless of whether he still possessed bodily functions so that change isn’t here nor there.

At the end of the day, the movie opening with the sit-down scene provides a more coherent narration even if I wish Coppola had kept the Gilday ceremony bestowing the order upon Michael. The inner cuts to the meat of the film are not only unnecessary, they do a disservice to the storytelling of the film. To be clear, these cuts do not serve as a way in my estimation to “focus the narrative” or “cut unnecessary dialogue” or “streamline the film”. When we take stock of the cuts, they amount to 12 minutes. Coda or no Coda 12 minutes is an insignificant amount of time in the great scheme of things, the cuts aren’t worth it and end up hurting the film. The ending is badly mishandled in the audio department and I prefer the original which I find more emotionally satisfying (I specifically mean the 3 dances in sequence).

The truth is the changes made in the Coda aren’t enough for the Coda to substitute the original cut in my Godfather Trilogy viewing rotation which, let be honest, it is what this is ultimately about.

PS: Quotes from the film were obtained from http://www.thegodfathertrilogy.com/gf3/transcript/gf3transcript.html