As to the publicly embraced truth – if the novel is truth, and it must be, because this book is the original work, and the only made by Puso himself for sure, than the first film even contradicts some aspects of the truth. Still more does the second one. If we embrace the book, we must write the sequel to it correcting the movies in details, like the second son etc. But I agree with DonP. That there are facts embraced as truth in the second movie also. Moreover, they are really embraced by public; - the IMDB base is the best proof.
But then we must say the obvious thing, that the 3-d movie denies the publicly embraced truth – the 1 two ones. And it has much more principal inconsistencies with them than they have with the book. I can’t say that I saw as much public ready to embrace it as well. If we want to return to the publicly embraced truth, we must contradict the 3 movie and write a sequel to the 1-st two. As far as I understood from the “Spoiler Topic”, even Winegardner does it partly, writing some things that are contradictory to the GF3 plot. He simply couldn’t help it, there’s absolutely no way to reconcile the facts of those parts, no logic is able to connect them.
And not only because of the unbelievable facts, but because of want of The Godfather spirit in GF3.
We know too well how it was done. Neither Puso nor FFC ever wished to continue GF, they felt very well that it was not necessary. They hated the very thought about it. But the studio made FFC an offer he couldn’t refuse, so he and MP began to squeeze something out of themselves, and I believe that they didn’t know what they want, and didn’t care much for the result. If they thought a little more about the things they write, they might correct the most obvious faults at least. I heard or read somewhere that there were many versions, and one of the main ones was to this effect: Anthony, who is recruited by FBI, takes over the Corleone empire and throws its forces to fight some Latino-American dictator.
The GF3 plot was not a work of art, result of inspiration, achieved by suffering. It was written despite the will of authors, and only because it was inevitable for some financial reasons.
They might say Vito’s words from the book: “I’ve done my share in life, I haven’t got the heart any more. And there are some duties the best of men can’t assume.”
I want to say that there is no violation of authors’ will in ignoring GF3, because its very existence was the worst kind of such violation.
Besides, I believe that if GF2 was already more Coppola’s production, than that of Mario Puso, still more so was GF3. I think so because the didactical spirit that we could sense in GF2 already, strengthened in GF3 to become unbearably unnatural. If you read Puso’s book, you must have perceived that it is absolutely free from any moralization whatever. In many respects, it is rather cynical. Sometimes he gives us as much as ironical hint at the nature of things, but never more. He stays close to the real life, and life is rarely moralizing. It is seldom that we see the real possessors of guilty power punished or suffering in this world. No, they live long, happy, successful life and die surrounded by living children saying, “Life is so beautiful”…
Of course, it was just that Mike had to suffer. However, the way FFC chose was so artificially melodramatic, with such a forced pose of teaching and preaching masses, that it has, for me, a strong stink of bad taste, which I would never believe of FFC . He was old enough to know that real art has nothing to do with a didactical church brochure telling us “The story of a bad guy N, and how he was severely punished by God.”
So ,
My offer is this: no GF3 . If GF3-gefenders will put up personally , we may save his soul by leaving the fact of confession. But why should we ever consider leaving more?
After all, we really need not to quarrel about this.
Who says that we cannot have two different books?
The GF3-embracers may write a sequel to it, from modern history. The part of public that has no wish to embrace GF3 as truth may write a sequel to book or the 1 two parts, possibly with flashbacks, and it really has not to interfere with the rest, because we need not really to extend it so far as 1980.

Of course, everything written above is valid only if we honestly think it worth trying to write ANY sequels after two (GF3&GFR) highly unsuccessive efforts... :rolleyes: