It should have been made more timely instead of Coppola hemming and hawing for sixteen years. For those of us old enough to remember, those sixteen years felt like an eternity. It's not like today where you get a sequel in a series every two or three years. Plus, I think it would have behooved them to set the film in the sixties rather than the late seventies. Throw in a different plot, maybe something akin to the Colombo war (the Rosatos, who were loosely based on the Gallo brothers, seemingly survived Part II), and let the Corleones win decisively. Pacino was quoted as saying that no one wanted to see a weak Michael, let alone lose his daughter. And he was right.