i consider it a smart marketing move because like it or not, much of GF III's marketing potential was surrounded by controversy-Sofia in particular. At the time Fonda was a hot up and comer and Hamilton was a decent sized name-you must remember that at this time i'm sure they were still trying to lay groundwork for a Fourth film and they needed to establish possible characters. Not to be disrespectful, but Duvall is getting up there in age, and besides the character, no matter how it was rewritten for Hamilton, didn't warrant that much money. Whether people percieved this movie to be good or not was subjective to the person, but good or bad, Paramount had people talking incessantly about this picture. I would also like to note that if a Part IV is ever made, expect Fonda and Hamilton to have large parts.