I read The Godfather today. I had convinced myself that it was an exercise in screenwriting adaptation-I just finished the trilogy for the umpteenth time yesterday, and wanted to check in on the differences. And there's one GLARING problem:
The third movie was not in the book. Now we know why it sucked so bad. Kay never divorced Michael or had an abortion. Fredo never betrayed his brother, and thus was not killed by him. All of these impossibly out of character things never happened. Vincent Mancini didn't exist, nor did Joey Zasa, or any of that Cuba bullshit. That third movie was just a commercial endeavor intended to cash in on the brilliance and poularity of the first two movies. Mario Puzo is listed as a writer, along with Coppola, but I'm betting it's just because his characters were used.
It kinda makes me doubt the integrity of the whole franchise. Every time I sit down to watch I am completely transfixed until the third installment. Then I end up leaving it on as background noise while I clean or something. I always thought that they had just missed the mark, but in reality that movie was made because they were paid to make it, rather than in order to create a beautiful piece of art. This is also the reason so many 2nd records never measure up to the debut--art made for the sake of art, of expression or love of the art, will ALWAYS be truer and more, well, artistic, than any artistic endeavor that is commissioned.
That's my take anyway. And due to the reading of the book and an unexpected need to reinstall my OS, not much exercising has been done. Yay for weight loss goals.
The third movie was not in the book. Now we know why it sucked so bad. Kay never divorced Michael or had an abortion. Fredo never betrayed his brother, and thus was not killed by him. All of these impossibly out of character things never happened. Vincent Mancini didn't exist, nor did Joey Zasa, or any of that Cuba bullshit. That third movie was just a commercial endeavor intended to cash in on the brilliance and poularity of the first two movies. Mario Puzo is listed as a writer, along with Coppola, but I'm betting it's just because his characters were used.
It kinda makes me doubt the integrity of the whole franchise. Every time I sit down to watch I am completely transfixed until the third installment. Then I end up leaving it on as background noise while I clean or something. I always thought that they had just missed the mark, but in reality that movie was made because they were paid to make it, rather than in order to create a beautiful piece of art. This is also the reason so many 2nd records never measure up to the debut--art made for the sake of art, of expression or love of the art, will ALWAYS be truer and more, well, artistic, than any artistic endeavor that is commissioned.
That's my take anyway. And due to the reading of the book and an unexpected need to reinstall my OS, not much exercising has been done. Yay for weight loss goals.