The Godfather Part III (1990) Full Plot Spoilers & Detailed Summary: The tragic conclusion to the Corleone saga follows an aging Michael as he attempts to legitimize the family business and seek redemption, only to be pulled back into the violent underworld by new enemies and old sins.
Synopsis
Decades after ruthlessly consolidating his power, an aging and diabetic Michael Corleone seeks to fully legitimize the family name and divest from all criminal enterprises. As he maneuvers to purchase a major stake in an international real estate conglomerate controlled by the Vatican, he attempts to reconcile with his estranged family and find spiritual redemption. However, the criminal underworld refuses to let him go quietly. With his hot-headed nephew Vincent Mancini rising through the ranks and a conspiracy brewing among his trusted associates, Michael discovers that escaping his past may be impossible.
Information |
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Language |
English Italian |
Country |
United States |
Premiere date |
December 25, 1990 |
Running time |
162 minutes |
Genre |
Crime Drama |
Budget |
$54,000,000 |
Box Office |
$136,766,062 |
Crew |
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Directed by |
Francis Ford Coppola |
Produced by |
Francis Ford Coppola |
Written by |
Mario Puzo Francis Ford Coppola |
Music by |
Carmine Coppola |
Cinematography |
Gordon Willis |
Edited by |
Barry Malkin Lisa Fruchtman Walter Murch |
Production Co. |
Zoetrope Studios |
Distributed by |
Paramount Pictures |
Top Cast |
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Official Trailer |
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Movie Collection |
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Movie Order: #03 in The Godfather Collection
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The Plot
The Burden of Legitimacy
In 1979, nearly two decades after the events of the previous era, Michael Corleone approaches his sixtieth year, weighed down by tremendous guilt over his ruthless rise to power and the fratricide of his brother, Fredo. The Corleone compound at Lake Tahoe stands abandoned, a relic of a darker time. Michael has returned to New York City, determined to whitewash his family's name and legacy. He has divorced Kay, who remarried, and has largely purged the violent elements from the family business, transforming the Corleone interests into legitimate global enterprises. His primary motivation now is the protection and reputation of his children, Anthony and Mary.
In a grand public gesture to cement this new respectable image, Michael establishes the Vito Corleone Foundation. At a solemn ceremony in St. Patrick's Cathedral, presided over by Archbishop Gilday, Michael is invested as a Commander of the Order of St. Sebastian. However, the shadow of his past looms large; during the lavish reception that follows, Kay confronts him, calling the ceremony a "shameful display" given his history. Tensions rise further when Anthony reveals he intends to drop out of law school to become an opera singer—a choice Michael initially resists but eventually accepts.
Bad Blood and The Bastard
The reception also marks the arrival of Vincent Mancini, the illegitimate son of Michael's late brother Sonny and Lucy Mancini. Vincent is embroiled in a violent feud with Joey Zasa, a flashy and arrogant enforcer who now runs the remnants of the Corleone criminal empire in New York's decaying Lower East Side. In Michael's private study, the conflict erupts. Vincent accuses Zasa of being a traitor who insults Michael behind his back. Michael, insisting he is out of the underworld, demands they make peace. Zasa embraces Vincent but whispers a slur, calling him a "bastard." In a flash of his father's temper, Vincent bites off a piece of Zasa's ear. Though Michael scolds Vincent for his lack of discipline, he is secretly impressed by the young man's fierce loyalty and agrees to take him under his wing.
The violence follows Vincent home. That night, after a tryst with journalist Grace Hamilton, two hitmen break into Vincent's apartment. Vincent brutally turns the tables, killing one to interrogate the other, who reveals Zasa sent them, before ruthlessly executing the second man. This incident signals that the peace Michael seeks is fragile at best.
The Vatican Connection and The Helicopter Attack
Michael attempts his most ambitious move toward legitimacy yet: buying a controlling interest in Immobiliare, a vast international real estate conglomerate partially owned by the Vatican. The Holy See, managed poorly by Archbishop Gilday, is in massive debt. Michael negotiates a $600 million transfer to the Vatican Bank to secure the shares. However, the deal faces opposition from powerful forces within the Vatican who refuse to do business with a former mafia don, complicated further by the failing health of Pope Paul VI.
Matters worsen when Don Altobello, an elderly mafia chieftain and family friend, informs Michael that the other New York Dons on the Commission want a cut of the Immobiliare deal. Michael organizes a meeting in Atlantic City to pay them off with proceeds from his casino divestments but refuses to include Joey Zasa. Furious, Zasa declares Michael an enemy and storms out. Altobello follows him, ostensibly to mediate. Moments later, an attack helicopter hovers over the conference room, raining machine-gun fire through the glass ceiling. The massacre leaves nearly all the bosses dead. Michael, Vincent, and faithful bodyguard Al Neri barely escape. Back in New York, the stress triggers a diabetic stroke in Michael. As he collapses into delirium, he screams the name "Fredo," his guilt piercing through his subconscious.
Vendettas and Atonement
While Michael recovers, Vincent and Mary begin a romantic relationship, despite being first cousins—a bond Michael strictly forbids. Impatient with Zasa's survival, Vincent, urged by his aunt Connie, plots revenge without Michael's permission. During a street fair, Vincent disguises himself as a mounted police officer and assassinates Joey Zasa. Michael is furious upon discovering the unauthorized hit, warning Vincent that his actions put Mary in danger. To protect them, the family retreats to Sicily.
In Sicily, Michael instructs Vincent to play the double agent: he must pretend to defect to Don Altobello due to Michael's disapproval of the romance with Mary. The ruse works, and Altobello introduces Vincent to the true mastermind behind the conspiracy: Licio Lucchesi, a powerful Italian politician determined to stop the Immobiliare deal. Meanwhile, Michael seeks spiritual healing. He meets Cardinal Lamberto, a pious man who hears Michael's first confession in thirty years. Weeping, Michael confesses to ordering Fredo's murder. Lamberto absolves him but prophesies, "It is just that you should suffer." Following the death of the Pope, Lamberto is elected as Pope John Paul I and intends to purge the Vatican of corruption, which panics the conspirators.
The Transfer of Power
Tragedy strikes closer to home when Don Tommasino, Michael's oldest Sicilian ally, is murdered by a hired assassin named Mosca. Vincent returns with intelligence: Lucchesi is pulling the strings, and Mosca has been hired to kill Michael. Vincent demands the right to strike back. Michael, realizing he can never truly escape the life, makes a fateful pact. He agrees to step down and name Vincent the new Don of the Corleone family. In exchange, Vincent must end his relationship with Mary forever to ensure her safety. Vincent agrees, and Michael proclaims him Don Vincenzo Corleone.
Cavalleria Rusticana: A Symphony of Death
The family travels to Palermo for Anthony's operatic debut in Cavalleria Rusticana at the Teatro Massimo. As the opera unfolds on stage, a brutal montage of synchronized violence—orchestrated by the new Don Vincent—takes place across Europe. In Switzerland, the corrupt banker Keinszig is murdered and left hanging from a bridge. At the Vatican, the conspirators poison the tea of the new Pope, John Paul I, killing him in his sleep. In the opera house box, Connie presents her godfather, Don Altobello, with a box of poisoned cannoli; he dies silently while she watches through her opera glasses. Within the Vatican, Al Neri shoots Archbishop Gilday and throws his body down a spiral staircase. Finally, in Sicily, Tommasino's bodyguard Calò stabs Don Lucchesi in the throat with his own eyeglasses, whispering, "Power wears out those who do not have it," before being killed himself.
The Steps of the Teatro Massimo
While the Corleone enemies are purged, the assassin Mosca descends upon the opera house to fulfill his contract on Michael. After killing Vincent's men, Mosca sets up a sniper position but is unable to get a clear shot during the performance. As the opera concludes and the family exits down the grand staircase of the Teatro Massimo, the atmosphere is festive. Mary confronts her father about the forced breakup with Vincent.
Suddenly, Mosca emerges from the crowd and opens fire. The first bullet grazes Michael's shoulder. The second bullet strikes Mary squarely in the chest. Chaos erupts as Vincent kills Mosca. Michael ignores his own wound and crawls to his daughter. As Kay cradles Mary's lifeless body, Michael realizes the price of his sins has finally been exacted. He throws his head back and unleashes a silent, primal scream of agony that eventually tears into a harrowing wail of grief.
A Lonely Death
Decades pass. The scene shifts to an unspecified time in the future. An aged, frail Michael Corleone sits alone in the front yard of Don Tommasino's Sicilian villa. Memories of the women he loved—Apollonia, Kay, and Mary—flash before his eyes. He slowly puts on his sunglasses and picks up an orange. His hand goes limp, dropping the fruit. Michael slumps forward and collapses out of his chair onto the dusty ground, dying completely alone. A small dog wanders into the frame and sniffs at his body as the screen fades to black.
