The Godfather’s CURSE
9 times out of 10: When someone is asked to list their top ten movies of all time, at least 1 of the Godfather movies comes up, sometimes even 2 of them. Hardly anyone mentions The Godfather III movie when these lists come up, most just pretend it never existed. It’s not that it’s a completely horrible movie, it’s just that when compared to the first 2 movies, which were arguably masterpieces, few movies could match. One could argue after a 15-year time lapse between films: why even try? Still, it’s really an epilogue to a great movie series and is an essential part of the saga.
As great as the Godfather movies were, the consequences of appearing in these movies were often devastating to the careers of any actor who came close to them.
Al Pacino (Michael Corleone)
As big as Pacino was in the Godfather movies, Serpico, and dozens of others: He once won an Academy for his role as a blind, retired army officer who liked to yell “Hoo-Ahh” at the drop of a hat. eyes, she quickly turned that exaggerated style into her career. What was once great quickly became annoying, just like his movies.
Marlon Brando (Don Vito Corleone)
Playing the aging patriarch of the Corleone family, Brando gave the performance of a lifetime, in a lifetime already packed with great performances. Most of the work he did after that was overpaid cameos in which he didn’t even read the script and improvised under the “influence”. Sure, he was great in Apocalypse Now, but did you know they cobbled together that 16 minute ramblings of 3+ days of Brando rambling out of his fucking mind? The real talent was in editing, not acting. There’s also the matter of Brando gaining so much weight in movies that he’s often only filmed from the chest up.
Robert Duvall Tom Hagen
Fantastic actor, and he’s done some great movies, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a movie he’s done in the last 20 years that he’s not wearing a cowboy hat. Like Pacino, once he found something that won him awards (in this case, Emmys for things like Lonesome Dove), he stuck to it and did nothing else on most of it. For a great actor, it’s a shame to be pigeonholed like that.
Talia Shire (Connie Corleone Rizzie)
Other than starring in popular movie franchises like the Godfather saga and the Rocky movies, he hasn’t done much. Then again, getting her the part may have been as much because of her nepotism (she was the director’s sister) as because of her acting ability.
John Cazale Fredo Corleone
He gave a masterful performance as Michael’s dorky brother Fredo and followed it up with some excellent features including The Deerhunter and Dog Day Afternoon. Unlike the others, Mr. Cazale has a good excuse for not making more great movies: he sadly died in 1978.
Bruno Kirby (Pete Clemenza – as a young man)
He was a great character actor, who acted in both film and television, he was everywhere. You would almost have to go out of your way to NOT see his work anywhere. Unfortunately, his career was cut short after he passed away from leukemia a few years ago.
And while it’s almost unfair to include people who only made The Godfather III, the curse seems to be attached to them as well. Here are some cases.
Andy Garcia Vincent Mancini
At one point, Andy Garcia was considered to be THE NEXT BIG THING in Hollywood. His roles in movies like Black Rain, Internal Affairs and The Untouchables seemed to suggest he was surely a contender, but a lackluster descent into B-movies and direct-to-video productions seems to suggest otherwise. His last great masterpiece, appearing in the second of Steve Martin’s attempts to destroy the Pink Panther movies.
Bridget Fonda (Grace Hamilton)
Another up-and-comer, which is part of the movie, unfortunately ended up mostly on the cutting room floor. It seems like most of her screen time was spent on Sofia Coppola’s “performance” *sigh* She did fine in a small role in Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, and was offered the lead in Ally McBeal (she later got it). to Calista Flockhart) but turned him down to focus on his film career, which has ended up being a very bad decision since he hasn’t done anything of note since 2002.
AND FINALLY… the DAMN part of Mary Corleone…
The role was actually written for a young Julia Roberts, but she escaped the curse by dropping out due to scheduling conflicts. Madonna also begged for the part, but she lost it because Coppola thought she was too old to play the part. Winona Ryder actually signed on for the role, but apparently backed out because Johnny Depp broke off her engagement and she may have (supposedly) had a nervous breakdown. Winona, who was another successful NEXT BIG THING in roles in movies like Heathers and Beetlejuice, is sadly now better known for being caught on video for shoplifting.
The only good thing that came out of The CURSE of the Godfather is that it destroyed any chance of Sofia Coppola ever acting in a movie again. She ended up leaving acting to pursue directing, where she ended up putting together a masterpiece like Lost in Translation.