Say what you will about the film's many flaws. I don't want to have that discussion again. I just want to know if you think it was an unnecessary film.

By the end of Part II, we already see that Michael has lost his family and while the final scene of Michael sitting alone can be taken many ways, I think it shows that he already regrets Fredo's murder.

So Part III really doesn't expand on this. Sure, Mike becomes a little softer, but still has his hands in some illegitimate activities. Maybe it shows us that Mike was able to "let go" of the business by giving it to Vincent and allowing Anthony to pursue a singing career, but I wonder if he ever would have really been out of the business.

What do you think? Was Part III an unnecessary film?

I think the question is, Was Part III necessary. It wasn't necessary from a story aspect, but there are many lateral stories that could be explored. I suppose we might want to know what happened to Michael, but the family goes on, so where does the story stop?

Necessary? No. Potentially valuable? Yes. As filmed? III worked as the denouement of Michael Corleone's life. Just wasn't brought off with anywhere near the same quality as GF and II.

Ofcourse it was. I didn't care for Mary's relationship with Vincent or Tony wanting to become an opera singer.

I agree 100%. Paraphrasing Brando, "Godfather Part III could have been a contender."

I agree with both DT and TB. III wasn't necessary, but it was for me epiphanic. Puzo's and FFC's manipulation of I&II's (as well as the novel's) content could have been handled better as could some of III's original content. But what makes it epiphanic for me is the silent scream. I've posted several times before just how that scream embodied the pathos of the Trilogy. It really cements how the entire Trilogy is Michael's story, an ultimately tragic story, how I&II are a setup for III. I like III if only for that reason.

I do believe that, in most cases, we reap what we sow. The tragedy of the Trilogy is not so much what happened to Michael, but what happened to those around him.

Yeah, they get killed. Pretty darn epiphanic for them.

In that other people paid the price for Michael's life of greed and quest for power.

Exactly. And that's why I say that the Silent Scream is epochal and epiphanic. In that moment the path taken and the path not taken all coalesce.

They say that at the moment of death, one's life flashes before you. I beleive that happened to Michael in the seconds before the Scream.

Just noticed that in Scarface DePalma uses the same device with Gina after Tony shoots Manny.