Pentangeli was written in, because Clemenza was written out. That was one disconcerting thing about GF II, all the talk from Michael "I was so happy this house never went to strangers," blah blah, well if Pentangeli was such a great friend and all that, how come he wasn't at Connie's wedding or Vito's funeral, huh?
That's one structural shortcoming of the way FFC and Puzo wrote the GF episodes - at the end of each episode, almost all the Corleone nemeses have been killed off, so in any succeeding episode you have to introduce a whole new cast of characters.
I liked Pentangeli. I look at him as if he WAS Clemenza. Frankie Five Angels is the perfect substitute for Clemenza. It's like the script was written, with Clemenza as the character, then the actor doesn't agree to the contract, and they simply change the name.
Think about it... it could have easily been Clemenza.
both GF and GF2 have a great thing that is one of the best things about them. since the very begginnig of the films, you know exactly who is every charachter. in GF3, this is imposible. I've watched this movie about 10 times, and I still can't remember exactly how is the archbisp called, what the swiss banker did before getting whacked... this is why GF3 is just a good movie
Sorry but I disagree. I had to re-watch Part 1 and Part 2 to completely understand who everyone was and what their motivations are. I pick on something else each time I watch them too. Until recently, I never knew how Vito "knew it was Barzini all along." and I still am unsure why Roth tried to have Michael killed if he was trying to do business with him. The whole business with Johnny Ola, The Rosato Brothers, and lots of other subplots are very confusing to people new with the movies.
And Danny Aiello saying "Michael Corleone says hello," to Frankie before he strangles him, even though Hyman Roth gave the order, doesn't help matters either.
Even in the flashbacks, I wasn't sure who was who. the actor playing Genco looked more like a young Tessio with the eyebrows. And then when they refered to Tessio, I was like, is that a different actor then before?
I think FFC and Puzo assumed that everyone would know who was who, or that they knew that people would come back to these movies because of all the details and subplots.
Throughout the entire series, yeah we might have a feel of the secondary characters, who they are, and what their motives are, but we never fully understand the entire workings of the deals and why they want people dead.
I still don't know who ordered the Atlantic City hit and why...
Part 3 is definitely the most convoluted of them all though, but I still think it's a good movie.
Part 1 - **** (out of 4)
Part 2 - ****
Part 3 - ***
