Michael's successor as head of the Corleone family would have seemed more natural if The godfather I hadn't cut any characters from Mario Puzo's book. In your heart, The godfather is the story of Michael's evolution from mild-mannered war hero to feared boss of a mafia empire. The Godfather Part III then goes further and narrates the transfer of power from Michael to his nephew, Vincent Mancini. The Godfather Part III It infamously lacks the gilded reputation of Francis Ford Coppola's previous two entries, and featuring Vincent as a secondary protagonist is among the reasons why.
Played by Andy Garcia, Vincent is the illegitimate son of Michael's brother Sonny, who paid the ultimate price for his anger issues in the middle of the first The godfather film. Vincent almost crawls out of nowhere The Godfather Part IIIand after audiences have spent more than a combined six hours with Michael and the Corleone family, adjusting to an entirely new main character - with barely any connection to the existing narrative - is a jarring experience. Vicente's entry into The godfatherthe main cast would have felt much smoother, however, if the first film had remained authentic to the source material.
How the Original Godfather Movie Could Have Set Up Vincent as Michael's Replacement
Vincent Mancini's mother is a big highlight in the book
Viewers would be forgiven for forgetting her, but Vincent's mother, Lucy Mancini, appeared in Francis Ford Coppola's first film The godfather film. Making several brief cameos alongside James Caan's Sonny, Lucy's most notable scene occurred when she and Sonny sneak off to have sex during the opening wedding scene. However, saying that Lucy's role in The godfather It was underrated would be an understatement. Relegated to a secondary character, Lucy was as prominent as Fredo's wife or Michael's bodyguard.
Audiences could appreciate how Vincent taking control of the Corleone family is a continuation of Lucy's story.
In Mario Puzo The godfather book, however, Lucy Mancini becomes a relatively important secondary character, and entire sections are dedicated to her perspective. Lucy's story remains peripheral to the main rivalry between the Corleones and the Five Families, but she still receives a lot of characterization, development, and exposition. Still, it's easy to see why Coppola reduced Lucy's role in the film so ruthlessly. Its subplot has little bearing on Michael's journey to becoming the new Don, and with other characters fighting for space in the long runtime, Lucy was an obvious part of the book to excise.
I had The godfather maintained Lucy Mancini, however, Vincent's arrival in The Godfather Part III would have much more weight. Lucy's chapters offer vital insight into her complicated feelings for Sonnyhis dependence on the Corleone family's money, the dubious nature of his enterprise and his aspirations for the future.
If these elements had been transferred to The godfatherfilm adaptation, Vincent's arrival in Part III would weave a thread from the first to the last chapter. Audiences will appreciate how Vincent taking control of the Corleone family is a continuation of Lucy's story and part of The godfathertapestry from the beginning. Without Lucy, Vincent feels like a random kid showing up without rhyme or reason. With her, Vincent's ascension to Godfather feels like a payoff decades in the making.
The problem with adapting the story of The Godfather, by Lucy Mancini
Lucy Mancini's story has a big problem
Leaving aside her lack of involvement in the central story, losing Lucy Mancini was perhaps necessary because, for reasons known only to Mario Puzo, her subplot revolved heavily around unusually sized genitals. It's no secret that Sonny Corleone was a well-endowed man, and The godfather nodded when his wife was shown bragging to her friends at Connie's wedding, imitating his size with her hands. Lucy Mancini was, according to The godfather in the book's timeline, she was born with an unusually spacious vagina, meaning she and Sonny could accommodate each other in a way that other lovers could not.
Since the finished film has been out for almost three hours, it's easy to see why Lucy was put on the back burner.
After Lucy's story continued in Las Vegas, where she worked for Fredo and Moe Greene running the Corleone-owned hotels, she found a surgeon who could solve her problem downstairs. In a blatant abuse of his position, the aforementioned doctor then made advances on Lucy and the two got married, finalizing their separation from the Corleone family. Clearly, The godfather necessary to cut this material from top to bottom.
Giving Lucy more relevance in The godfather would have meant adapting her affair with Sonny, her feelings, her association with the Corleone family, and her work in Las Vegas with Fredo, somewhat ignoring the main reason she and Sonny became lovers, and her subsequent search for gratification in bed with other men. In other words, The godfather needed to invent an entirely new and original role for Lucy. Since the finished film has been out for almost three hours now, it's easy to see that she was simply pushed into the background, no matter how much Vincent's rise in the third film would have benefited.