Here's the first installment of my basic outline for GF IV, with more to come:

First scene is Michael's funeral in Sicily. All remaining family members are there, including Vincent. Vincent has charges piling up against him in court back in the states, and he's lost now without Michael. The Corleone Family is in disarray. One by one his uncle's old associates were either killed or sent to jail. He reflects on the stories Michael told him over the years about growing up with Vincent's father, Sonny...

(We hear a voice-over of Al Pacino starting his story, and then we cut to...) a young Sonny Corleone, in the 20's. We have the scene where Sonny finds Tom Hagen in the street and brings him home. Vito takes pity on him and adopts him as his own son. A storyline concerning Vito taking care of the people who ruined his newly-adopted son's life ensues.

Cut back to 1997. Vincent is on trial for some mafia-related charges. The trial is begins smoothly, and then his half-brother Santino Jr. shows up. Santino Jr. had always resented Vincent, but now he came to Vincent for his help. He had made some bad deals with the Cubans down in Miami, and now turns to Vincent to bail him out. Vincent doesn't completely trust him, but decides to take his half-brother under his wing and teach him the finer points of the family business.

Cut back to a teenage Sonny, sometime around 1932. The Don has been building up his power slowly, but it soon appears that there will be a full-scale mafia war. Vito decides that it is now time to tell his oldest son about the family business. He explains the essence of the Corleone Family, and starts him out by giving him a small-time job, tailing a powerful member of another family, to try to pick up any information about his associates, hangouts, etc. He tells his father that the man liked to frequent a certain restaurant in the Bronx. The Don thanks and congratulates his son on a good job. The next day, Sonny watches as the man is killed outside this restaurant. He realizes that he helped kill this man, and comes to terms with it. He is now a cold-blooded killer.

Thats not a bad idea. I am still opposed to a GF4, but that would make a good storyline for a movie, I think if you can write a good story like that for GF4 you would do a great job writing other movies. So keep it up.

I have begun writing a GF4 script (along with half of this board) and I like your approach,mine's a little diffrent, I'm not including Vinnie, mine will focus on the first true Corleone generation. Good ideas though

Second installment of my GF IV outline:

Cut back to 1997. Vincent goes to Miami to try to bail out Santino Jr. Vincent, Santino Jr. and Vincent's men arrive at the hotel (I'd like it to be the Sheraton Bal Harbour) and Vincent and his men retire for the night. But Santino Jr. sneaks out into the night, and calls a cab to take him into downtown Miami. We do not see where he goes, as we cut to Vincent waking up with a start, very obviously alone in his bed, right before dawn. He weeps for Mary, closes his eyes, and a series of flashbacks from GF III are shown, such as parts of the "Hey cuz" scene and the scene in Vincent's kitchen. He opens his eyes with the sun now coming over the horizon, and says a few lines as if he were talking to Mary about how he had always loved her and never cared for another woman, that there was a hole in his heart that nothing could fill.

I'll have more soon, but already have come up with a perfect ending, at least in my opinion- Vincent is sent to jail, to life in prison, and the final sequence shows Vincent looking out of the window of his high-security prison cell (the cell has four walls and a door, no bars except on the window), the light on his face, with the music of Michael's Theme playing, and cutting to a view behind Vincent, directly outside of his cell, as the door is slowly closed, a la the end of GF I, and right before the door is shut, we cut back to the previous view of Vincent, who bows his head when the door is closed, and then black. Roll credits. I'll be writing the rest of the outline at least over the next two weeks, so stay tuned.

Nice work so far, but remember - one of the most intriguing aspects of GF I - III is that real mafia history is incorporated into the fiction of the Corleone story. Without that, any GFIV version will not fit with the others.
Keep up the good work.

if i were you i would write a full script for your idea and give it to hollywood you never know

Valadius. That really is great exactly how i'd of done it. i'd love to play the young sonny.

Hey, Valadius, you have an excellence 5th sense for making The Godfather part 4. Everything you have typed makes perfect sense and is a perfect plot. However, there's just one small thing that I, as well as numerous family members, personally just wouldn't care to see:

If it is possible, not to incorporate any more of Vincento's and Mary's "fling" for each other. I use the word, "fling", because many believe that Vincent's desire for Mary was no more than that. No where in the Godfather 3 did it even make it appear that Vincent was DEEPLY in love with her. "Confused", "horny", "disrespectful", but not "in love". I mean, he didn't say too much when Michael made him the offer of "Mary or Mafia". Mary, on the other hand, could very well have been, because she was young and naive. She, however, displayed her affection more as a childhood crush.

Plus, I think the whole thing with first cousins/any cousins, is just disgusting. I mean, it's just as disgusting as if it was brother/sister.
Then again, it is hollywood, and anything to bring drama to a movie will do just that.
I KNOW THIS IS SUCH AN INSIGNIFICANT POINT I AM MAKING, but weren't you disgusted, too?
I don't know, it's just me venting.......

By the way, send your script into Hollywood, you never know! It sounds like you would do a better job at writting a PASSIONATE storyline for GF4 than the fools in Hollywood!

I like what I am reading!! This is my FIRST time here so i hope no one mines my posting. But i have been thinking about the possibilities of a 4th installment for over a year now. This is an excellent premise and great continuity so far...
HELLO ALL!!

I think I'm reserving the part of young Sonny for myself, but... I have written out a full scene between Vincent and Lucy Mancini that I will post shortly.