Goodbye Prequels FOREVER — Page 5

Gaffer Tape said:

What's so bad about The Godfather Part III?  I think it's great!

 Godfather III suffers the same fate as Return of the Jedi, it just doesn't compare to the two previous movies.  Godfather III isn't a bad movie, but when compared to Godfather I & II, it pales.  I always go by replay value as to how much I love a film and I have seen Godfather I & II a zillion times, and I can count on my fingers how many times I have watched Godfather III. 

Same with Return of the Jedi, as a sequel it isn't a bad movie, but when you compare it to Star Wars and Empire, it pales.  I always say that I would rather have 2 classics and 1 OK sequel like the OT and the Godfather Trilogy, rather then 3 crappers like the Prequels;)

Gaffer Tape said:

I don't know.  I just don't see Godfather Part III as at all comparable to ROTJ.  Jedi is something of a rehash, something of a phone-in, where the characters fill their parts, and the only really good stuff is at the end.  It felt like an obligation:  to tie everything up.  Godfather Part III was something completely different from the first two films.  It felt fresh, while ROTJ felt a bit tired.

 I do agree that Jedi is a rehash of Star Wars, but it still has a purpose of closure because of the open ending of Empire.  Godfather III is sorta like the PT, it didn't need to be made, and Godfather II could still work as an ending to the series.

I love the ending of Godfather II with Michael just sitting there in Vegas all by himself, how ironic is that?  It is the greatest irony to every human being, your biggest enemy could be:  Yourself! 

I think the difference for me is that Jedi has great parts, and if you weigh them with the OK/Bad parts, the movie still works as part 3 of the OT.  I can't think of any memorable parts of Godfather III, other then the great line, "Every time.......they bring me back!"   

Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas both suffer from the same problem.

THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO QUIT WHILE THEY ARE AHEAD!

They create a series of masterpieces... but they have to go back to that same series and modify them, and add to them, for the worse.

The Godfather and The Godfather Part II are two halves of one fully-functional organism.

The Godfather Part III was like diagnosing that organism with HIV or cancer.

Many are on-the-fence concerning Return of the Jedi. But it should have stopped there. No more.

ATown8814 said:

Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas both suffer from the same problem.

In fairness to Coppola, he actually admits he did Godfather 3 for the money.  He was very candid and very honest in an interview a few years back about the Godfather Trilogy (something Lucas could never humble himself to do).  Coppola said he was having financial problems in the late 80's, and Godfather III was old reliable to get him some $$$.  He even said that it didn't turn out as he hoped, and understood the public sentiment towards the movie compared to the first two classics. 

The one thing Coppola doesn't do is revisionist history about the Godfather movies, as he doesn't say that Godfather III was always planned, and doesn't tell audience to watch the movies in chronological order meaning flashbacks first.  He put out the VHS version of the movies with the flashbacks first as more of an experiment for the fans, but never protested, "The movies should be watched this way or that way." 

I always liked that Coppola was a bit more humble then Lucas.

Actually, Lucas was going to make it several times.  He actually considered doing it instead of Star Wars, because it would have been easier to sell (his script was similar to Catch-22 or the 1970 movie version of MASH).  But he ended up doing Star Wars instead, and gave Apocalypse Now to Coppola, whod drastically re-wrote it.

But I agree, the Redux version is awful.

I am still trying to articulate my thoughts on the whole in light of the new. I highly recommend "Secret History of Star Wars", which is very useful in unlearning a lot of ideals that get lodged in young minds. A lot of this negative energy strikes me as a kind of Miltonian Satan's defiance against a perceived unrighteous God (better to reign in hell than serve in heaven). Some it seems want to get credit from the legions of Star Wars fans for their steadfastness and strength in the face of this late and uncloaked self-serving evil. Over at TFN the photograph of Lucas surrounded by the models of vehicles, space ships, creatures in Star Wars is a lie. Yes, pictures can lie. Lucas did not come up with all that content. He did not personally envision, devise, test, sketch, paint, handcraft, sculpt, sweat, bleed, cut himself over the physical representations of a secondary reality. His starving underpaid minions did. Lucas was just this guy with some ideas. Very good ideas. Good recombination of sources, good speciation of diverse genetic inputs. But by circumstance and happy accident, he inadvertently allowed collaboration and experienced talent to walk all over him so that the final products emerged as an excellent romp and an unwitting masterpiece. It was a tragic, happy accident. When he defends all this late offer as "Tragedy of Darth Vader", he's not really talking about the original trilogy, and he is really just speaking of himself (I became what used to hate). Poor guy. Can I see a raise of hands of those who are so absolutely underwhelmed by all things Lucas since ROTJ that they feel compelled to redeploy their negative reaction constructively into their own fiction? I can't sympathize with those who won't help themselves. Savage recriminations, eviscerating mockery, implied insult, and perhaps some clever name-calling are all welcome.