I understand GF3!(Warning This may contain spoilers) For at least 5 months I was in the fog about GF3.There were a lot of old men trying to kill Mike for various reasons.I could never tell which old guy was his friend, or which was his enemy. At the end, a bunch of the old guys got whacked. And then there was that horrible Immobliere/Vatican deal.
I figured as a fan of the trilogy, I would at least have to figure of GF3.So this weekend I watched it again, paying close attention to names, and I figured it out!Correct me if i'm wrong, but this is my take on it.
Altobello made a deal w/ Joey Zasa, which is why he left before the hellicopter, and why Connie(I still hate that part)killed him. Archbishop Guilday and Kenzing were in together to scam Mike oput of the 6 million, or however much it was, because they knew the pope was gravely ill.Kenzing then turned around and scammed Guilday.But at the head of the whole thing was Lucchesi(I'm wondering if he has any basis on Tommy Lucchese)Who for some reason did not want Mike to get in on Immobliere. I thought it might be because the other NY Dons wanted a cut, but Mike wanted it legit, so they took thier complaints to Altobello, who in turn took them to Lucchesi, but I'm not sure on that part of the plot.
Ahgain, correct me if I'm wrong, but I can walk higher knowing that I understand GF3

FFC's commentary track on the DVD seems to hint strongly that Lucchesi was based on the former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti.

Like Lucchesi, Andreotti wore distinctive thick-rimmed glasses, and was known for the phrase 'Power wears out those who don't have it'.

i think the archbishop knew all along the money was never going to get used for what michael intended it for. the archbishop,keinzig, and lucchese have been taking money from the church for a long time, which is where i think there debt came from. when the archbishop asked michael to pay off this debt, i dont think the archbishop had any intention on putting it back into the church, just more money for them. which is where the whole controversey is, michael was asuured that after he paid off the debt he would get the vatican's vote for full control of immobliare. though, the pope has the final say.
the pope suddenly is ill and it looked like michael, who had given the church millions of dollars to buy his vote from the vatican, had lost all his money.

robert

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I am obsessed with the godfather trilogy and I learn new things every time I watch the movies but I could never really understand GF4 too much. Too many new people and the names got confusing. But thanks you cleared it all up for me DCC!

your summary of it, made me understand it a little better. grazie!

good job Don Sonny Corleone, I understood the plot before, but it's the most simple story to follow. We should have created a topic long ago to summarize The Godfather Part III.

now its easy to understand why Archbishop Gilday wanted Cardinal Lamberto dead, (had him killed anyway) because Lamberto sided with Michael and had Gilday cleaned out as soon as Lamberto got named Pope John Paul I.

now the only question still remaining is if Vincent, with shades of his dad Santino, is fit to run in Michael's reign?

So, who killed Cardinal Lamberto (after he become the Pope)? And which interest?

I agree with the previous post. I think it was Gilday - notice how he looks down into his own tea before the shot of the tea being delivered to the Pope. If Gilday didn't poison the Pope, he still knew about it. If not Gilday, it was a button man from Don Lucchessi.

Technically, its supposed to be unknown-FFC doesn't even know considering that it was based on the actual mysterious death of Pope John Paul I.

FFC's commentary track mentions that Lucchesi is based on a powerful real-life character, but refrains from mentioning his name.

I have assumed that Lucchesi was based on Michele Sindona, who was a Sicilian banker that handled the finances of The Vatican, P2 and the Cosa Nostra.

Can anybody shed some light on this?

It is such a compliment to FFC that, as the Trilogy progresses, he bases more and more of it on historical events. Like GF II and the Kefauver Hearings, and Cuba and Castro, GFIII uses the Vatican banking scandal as the fodder for the storyline.

i wonder if there is a godfather 4 what story lines there will be

Gilday definetly knew about the pope being poisoned, although I believe it was Luchessi's idea. However, my personal opinion is that when Gilday looks at his tea he is actually fearing for his own safety, considering how much double and triple crossing is going on in the deal and wondering if perhaps Luchessi will try and kill him . But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.