Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,666
Written 10/5/09
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Buy it... if you are primarily in search of the vocalized portions
of this soundtrack, including the Harry Connick, Jr. song or the
extensive excerpts from the opera "Cavalleria Rusticana" that dominate
half of its only album.
Avoid it... if you expect any part of Carmine Coppola's original
score to compete with the far more effective and compelling thematic
continuity that Nino Rota provided for the first two films.
The Godfather Part III: (Carmine Coppola/Nino Rota)
An offer from Paramount to director Francis Ford Coppola in regards to a
third film in the famed The Godfather franchise had long been
standing, and reportedly due to financial difficulties, he eventually
agreed to make what he termed the "epilogue" to the first two films in
1990. Completing the story of mafia king Michael Corleone, The
Godfather Part III extended the story of the Corleone family from
the late 1970's through the 1990's, culminating in Michael's victory
over his remaining enemies in the 1980's and his eventual, lonely death
more than a decade later. The structure of the third film followed the
same tragic formula as the previous two, ending in not only a series of
assassinations seen executed simultaneously on screen, but also in the
cold death of a close member of the family. Response to The Godfather
Part III was nowhere near that of the previous two films, with
significant casting problems (mostly involving Sofia Coppola as
Michael's daughter and the absence of Robert Duvall's important
character due to the actor's salary demands), a rushed script with
connections to contemporary events (related to the Pope) too ambitious
to cover, and a soundtrack that didn't continue the standard of
compelling thematic impact established by Nino Rota in the early 1970's.
Rota had long been dead by the time production on The Godfather Part
III began, though the director's father, Carmine Coppola, who had
arranged all of the original source material for the first two films and
conducted the entirety of the second, was hired once again to adapt
Rota's themes and provide a few fresh identities for new characters. The
absence of Rota's sensibilities was clearly felt in The Godfather
Part III, which diminished the role of the original score and forced
source-like material and the opera "Cavalleria Rusticana" by Pietro
Mascagni (seen performed at the famous Teatro Massimo in Palermo during
the entirety of the film's climax) into roles as the centerpieces. This
fact also led to Coppola's score being quite short in length and thus
not able to really develop any of the existing or new ideas to any
convincing degree. The result is a film for which the music was quite
memorable, but for which the score was almost completely
forgettable.
After nearly two decades, it was refreshing to hear
some of Rota's material in this context once again, but the adaptations
of those themes by Coppola are pedestrian at best. He concentrates most
frequently on the "Godfather Waltz," a piece that was somewhat
marginalized (along with the original love theme) in
The Godfather
Part II. The secondary phrase of this theme (famously heard on
trumpet at the outset) occupies "Main Title" and is integrated into
other thematic explorations in "Altobello" and "The Godfather
Intermezzo." The actual waltz is performed on its own in concert-like
arrangements in two different "The Godfather Waltz" variants (the first
barely audible at the start and the latter utilizing the familiar
accordion, mandolin, and the likes) and in extended form on solo violin
in "Coda: The Godfather Finale." The love theme is, at least in the
major cues, lost completely. The theme for Michael, which had slowly
taken over the personality of the first two scores, is referenced a few
times, including "Michael's Letter" and as an appropriate conclusion to
"Vincent's Theme." The melancholy theme for Kay finds no redemption
here, relegated to fragmentary positions such as the fleeting, secondary
phrase heard at the end of "Michael's Letter" and slight references in
"Altobello." The powerful immigrant theme for Vito Corleone is given one
blatantly token performance in "The Immigrant & Love Theme from The
Godfather Part III," though it prematurely dies in unsatisfactory
fashion within thirty seconds. One of Coppola's two new themes debuts in
that track, and it is this idea that accompanies Mary Corleone on her
whimsical but doomed association with Michael's illegitimate nephew,
Vincent. He receives his own theme, a somewhat morbid cello identity in
"Vincent's Theme" that doesn't at all address the character's ambition.
It is this intangible failure that causes Coppola's score to be mediocre
at best, relying on Rota's material to scratch out even an average
rating. The theme for Mary and Vincent's somewhat sick and tragic love
affair especially flourishes in "The Godfather Intermezzo," where it is
quite lovely in an awkwardly airy atmosphere, but this theme accesses a
set of classical structures that address neither the character's Italian
roots or her American culture, thus becoming a pretty idea with no real
purpose. As a musical orphan in tone, it lacks any punch.
Coppola's new love theme for
The Godfather Part
III is adapted into the vintage jazz piece "Promise Me You'll
Remember," performed by Harry Connick, Jr. and arranged by Lennie
Niehaus in such a way to badly reinforce the disconnect between the
setting of the film and its musical personality. The absolutely limp
nature of Vincent's theme is the other crucial mistake, for his forceful
entry via rogue behavior into the trust of Michael is provided neither a
conniving or brutal representation. It also suffers from the lack of a
modern identity; if any character in this overarching story was to
receive a contemporary brass or electronic instrumental performance,
Vincent would be it. The absence of the original love theme as a part of
this next generation of Corleones is a disappointment, especially with
the lengths to which Rota had adapted the theme into the immigrant idea.
Rota had so beautifully wrapped up his thematic material in the funeral
scene for Vito's widow in the second film that everything thereafter by
Coppola seems token (then again, many viewers say that about the entire
production). With the exception of one notable cue, Coppola fails to
develop or reinterpret Rota's material in any context other than its
original concert form. That exception is "Altobello," a breath of fresh
air that not only merges the traditional instrumentation with a hint of
brass muscle, but also overlays the trumpet figure of the title theme
with Michael's frightening theme and the descending woodwind phrase
representing fear in Kay's theme. This one cue is the only bright spot
in an otherwise disappointing score. Coppola wins points by ensuring
that Rota's musical identity for the franchise endures, but he does so
in lazy methodology and fails to generate new themes of convincing
character. Most casual listeners will seek the album for the 24 minutes
of performances from the opera "Cavalleria Rusticana" that dominate the
product's second half. Only about 20 to 25 minutes of score material
exist on that album, about half of it concentrating on regurgitated
performances that don't always ensure superior sound quality compared to
the 1970's recordings. Coppola was never the less nominated for a Golden
Globe and Oscar for the song based on his love theme, and his Golden
Globe score nomination was likely due to sentimentality about Rota. Like
the score, the film won practically nothing, shut completely out of the
Oscars despite seven overall nominations. Echoes of the past greatness
will satisfy some, but even those echoes are faint in the final chapter
of this otherwise solid franchise.
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