What I have always found interesting about Connie was her transformation from the sweet young girl we first met when Carlo was brought to the house to the bloodthirsty femme fatale in GFIII. Wasn't it really rare for the females to get involved in the family business?

Well, she did witness an attempt on her father's life, the near murder of her brother, the murder of another brother, the fratricide of another brother, and the murder of her husband. She was inured to violence. Also, she was Vito Corleone's daughter; those genes don't discriminate.

Actually, her involvement in the family business was quite limited, but maybe unavoidable.

All makes sense. The only thing I would add. In GFII after the murder of Sonny and Carlo. It appears as though she turned into a loose woman. Her only connection to the family is when she needed money.

I think it was a script device, to make Connie (and Kay, in her scene with Michael at this party) look more assertive. GF ends in '55, II ends around 1960, when women were expected to behave more passively. But, III starts in '79, when women's lib was in full bloom.

I think at that point Michael was very wary of who he could trust and Connie was one of those people (even if she went behind his back when he was in the hospital).

She did clean up her act from the woman she was in GFII and I believe Michael respected the fact that she came to live with the family and be with them (something Michael asked her to do when rejecting her lover).

I also believe Michael had a soft spot for her because of how Carlo treated her and the fact that she was introduced to Carlo by Sonny.

Obviously, Michael wouldn't have been celibate for 20 years, and I've wondered sometimes if there wasn't a Michael-Connie relationship hinted at in GF3. I recently rewatched it just to see if anything was there, but didn't notice anything.

Pete, if you are hinting at a physical relationship, I say most definitely NO(uggh! That stuff in III is enough to last me a lifetime).

As someone opined above, Connie's reaction to Carlo's and Sonny's murder as well as her father's death may have propelled her into a life that sought relief through an array of relationships with men.

Connie’s transformation in Part 3 is one of the best things about that movie

Michael seemingly had little or no fight left in him
So Connie stepped in! She ordered men to be killed and she killed men

Happy New Year! from Down Under, the Great Southern Land

Agreed. I really liked that move from Coppola.

To me, she is the most interesting character in 3.

My favorite scene is when Michael discovered that Connie ordered the killing of Joey Zasa. The way he looks at ther and the way she looks at him. Great acting.

It's almost as if she was Michael's Consigliere in 3.