Just finished watching Part III, and was wondering does anyone know what happened between the time Mary got killed and when Mike died? I havent read the book so i was thinking maybe there is more in the book?
Cheers.

Well no one knows for sure totally. Basically the book only deals with Godfather Part I and the flashback scenes of Part II with young Vito. It's purely up for interpretation what Michael does with the rest of his life after Mary's killing. I presume Kay would have not wanted anything to do with him - maybe even Anthony too. He dies in Sicily at an old age which is said to be 1997 - 17 years after Mary's murder.

Where abouts in the UK are you from mate?

Im at canterbury uni at the mo.
Live in a place called east grinstead (west sussex)

whereabouts you from?

Sunny Scunny, the place to be. North Lincolnshire

GF III has no direct connection with the novel. It was all pretty much written from scratch.

Presumably what happened to Michael between 1980-1997 might be the basis of at least part of a possible GF IV storyline.

I've seen GF III. How did they indicate that it was 1997 when Michael died? I must have missed something.

The GF DVD Collection contains a timeline in which it is stated that Michael dies in 1997, but there is nothing directly stated on screen in any of the movies that makes this "established fact" in the GF canon. Accordingly, if a GF IV is made, they could change the "date" of Michael's death to any time which suited their story line.

In GF III, Michael, in appearance much older than the final scene in which Mary dies in 1980, dies in a deserted courtyard. No other characters, no props, nothing else to indicate when this actually takes place.

It could have been anywhere from about 1983-84 (Michael was already in poor health in GF III and it would be very feasible to explain that he 'aged rapidly' after Mary's death), to ... I dunno, maybe 2010 ... Michael was supposedly born in 1920, he could have conceivably lived to be 90 ...

I think that FFC very deliberately gave no direct indication in the movie as to when exactly Michael's death scene took place, to leave some 'wiggle room' in case he did want to do any further chapters of the saga.

I would have to say he basically fell out of touch with everyone he was involved with. he probably lost any chance of reconciling his relationship with kay and anthony because they blamed him for the death of mary. he probably didnt have very close ties with vincent or that end of the family because he blamed himself for marys death and he just didnt have the heart for that type of business anymore. in the end michael is all alone which is supposed to bring out the irony that he lived his whole life doing things that he thought was "protecting his family" and shielding them from "the horrors of this world", when in fact he was doing everything to consolidate his own power and wealth. he dies alone to show that his struggles were all for nothing.

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Could there really be a GF without Michael??? As I see it all the GFs are basically Michael's story (GF1 is about who he was and how did he become to be the Godfather)

You can bet that if -- IF -- a GF IV is ever made, the story line will at least in part deal with what happened with Michael between the end of GF III and his later death.

They can write Hagen or Clemenza out of the story line just by saying, "Tom Hagen? Oh yeah, he died," or "Clemenza? He had a heart attack," but you can't just write Michael Corleone out of the story line.

It's true that nobody knows for sure what was suppose to happen, but Francis Ford Coppola talks about their plans for a possible Godfather IV...basically it would be two intertwined stories, one in the past, based around Sonny during the Olive Oil war, and the other would revolve around Vincent as Don of the Corleone family. The Corleone family were to have declined, and were to be mixed up in sleazy businesses such as narcotics. The plot was to be about troubles they were having with other gangs (I think Columbians or something) based around the narcotics business. But it doesn't look like Godfather IV will be made

Hmm...there is gonna be a Godfather video game, perhaps it could restore enough hype and interest (with more than just people like us) to provide some momentum for serious GF IV discussion.

I actually watched the DVD Extras disc all the way through for the first time, and in the "Coppola and Puzo Talk About Screenwriting" section, Puzo is adamant that he DOES want a GF IV to be made, and that he had already done about half of it.

Presumably this is based on "The Happy Years" section of the GF novel, which deals with the time frame of 1927-1941 when Vito moves from a neighborhood tough guy to a true underworld kingpin, and Sonny's early years as a wild man who would kill anyone who got in his way.

I have seen quotes from FFC leaning both ways on the matter. Lately he's said 'no way,' but I've also seen quotes where he's more tolerant of the idea. He's also said that ultimately, Paramount owns the rights to the characters, so in the end it really wouldn't be up to him.

I think a GF IV could be done well if the "prequel" segment was developed consistently with the rest of the series, and the "sequel" segment devoted mainly to extending the story lines of already-known characters - that is, no more magically-appearing new illegitimate sons of Sonny, no Cuban sons of Fredo suddenly popping out of nowhere, etc etc.

There are already several known legitimate sons of Sonny and Tom Hagen, Connie's kids were remarked to be getting involved in criminal activity in GF II in 1958, and I think it's plausible in GFIV that Anthony Corleone would re-think his opposition to getting into the "family business" after seeing the death of his sister.

There are plenty of existing characters which could be used, there's no need to bring in some guy and say, "Oh yeah, he's Fredo's illegitimate son from Las Vegas, we just learned about him last year." BS on that.

A GF IV could be done well, if enough time is taken to really develop the script so it makes sense in the context of the rest of the series. That was the Achilles heel of GF III.

I know this isn't really a GFIV thread, but I'll throw in my thoughts on that really quickly. I'd like a GFIV if it was more of a "Tales from the Godfather" type deal that talked about less-known characters. If anyone's read the Star Wars "Tales from [insert location]" series, that's basically what I'm talking about.

They could easily use the Vito rise to power/Sonny's advancement plots, throw in the Lucy/Jules stuff (hell, to tie it in to GFIII have Jules find out she's pregnant already or something), and do some other cool stuff like show us the Luca scenes with Capone's guys and his baby, so we know WHY he was the most feared man in the underworld.

I would hate a GFIV if it's like most of the suggestions I've read here (no offence to anyone who came up with those suggestions), and involves drug trades with Cubans and all that garbage. That's more like GTA: The Movie, not The Godfather.