Spare your favorite movie character from death

[Captaindemotion]

^For me, the obvious Godfather character to save is Tom Hagen, who died offscreen between II & III. The real reason was a salary dispute between Robert Duvall and the makers. For me, the film misses his presence every bit as as Michael misses his advice and wisdom.

That's even before you consider that the new consigliere was played by George Hamilton. What a weak substitute.

 

[tharpdevenport]

I can't go with Tasha Yar because we got a great plot line from that in later episodes.



The Lone Gunmen in "The X-Files". What a pointless waste. Why even kill them at all? Substitue the annoying, bland, and useless Gish.

 

[cardinal biggles]

If I was going to reverse a Godfather related death it'd be the cringingly contrived death of the daughter in III.

The bullet should have just hit Michael like it was intended.

Except then, Michael dies surrounded by his family, and the film ends on a somber yet somehow "up" note, because Michael did manage to find some manner of redemption, at least in their eyes.

Instead, Mary dies, and you see that look of hate coming from Kay... whether Michael willingly chose isolation at Don Tommasino's villa or his family left him, the message is clear: he dies blind and alone, and if the camera had been left running a minute longer, the dog probably would have peed on him. No matter how hard he's tried, there is no redemption for Michael Corleone.

 

[Timby]

^For me, the obvious Godfather character to save is Tom Hagen, who died offscreen between II & III. The real reason was a salary dispute between Robert Duvall and the makers. For me, the film misses his presence every bit as as Michael misses his advice and wisdom.

That's even before you consider that the new consigliere was played by George Hamilton. What a weak substitute.

I would have paid him the $5 mil equal to Pacino, but that's me.

Considering Coppola only made Part III because he was almost bankrupt, I don't think he could have afforded to do so.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

If I was going to reverse a Godfather related death it'd be the cringingly contrived death of the daughter in III.

The bullet should have just hit Michael like it was intended.

Except then, Michael dies surrounded by his family, and the film ends on a somber yet somehow "up" note, because Michael did manage to find some manner of redemption, at least in their eyes.

Instead, Mary dies, and you see that look of hate coming from Kay... whether Michael willingly chose isolation at Don Tommasino's villa or his family left him, the message is clear: he dies blind and alone, and if the camera had been left running a minute longer, the dog probably would have peed on him. No matter how hard he's tried, there is no redemption for Michael Corleone.

Then they should have chosen a way for her to die that felt less random and tacked on for shock.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^For me, the obvious Godfather character to save is Tom Hagen, who died offscreen between II & III. The real reason was a salary dispute between Robert Duvall and the makers. For me, the film misses his presence every bit as as Michael misses his advice and wisdom.

That's even before you consider that the new consigliere was played by George Hamilton. What a weak substitute.

I would have paid him the $5 mil equal to Pacino, but that's me.

Considering Coppola only made Part III because he was almost bankrupt, I don't think he could have afforded to do so.

The fees weren't coming from Coppola's own pocket though, were they? IIRC, the studio paid him and Puzo very handsomely.

I don't think Duvall/Hagen was quite as essential to the saga as Pacino/Michael but maybe they could've given him $3m or so.

 

[J.T.B.]

The three privates in Paths of Glory.

Amen to that. If you can only save one, let it be Ralph Meeker, because of his participation in THE NIGHT STALKER.

Well, I really like Carey and Turkel, too. Tough one!

Remind me: Was Holman Steve McQueen's character?

It was indeed. Though Po Han (Mako) certainly deserved to be saved, too.

I would have paid him the $5 mil equal to Pacino, but that's me. I think his offscreen death was only mentioned in the slightly-longer expanded version.

I "spoke" with Duvall about that around that time on a radio call-in show, and he said he would have been fine with half of Pacino's salary, but not a quarter or a third.

 

[Forbin]

Remind me: Was Holman Steve McQueen's character?

It was indeed. Though Po Han (Mako) certainly deserved to be saved, too.

That's the first thing I thought when I saw Sand Pebbles mentioned! Poor Mako.

 

[cardinal biggles]

I would have paid him the $5 mil equal to Pacino, but that's me. I think his offscreen death was only mentioned in the slightly-longer expanded version.

I "spoke" with Duvall about that around that time on a radio call-in show, and he said he would have been fine with half of Pacino's salary, but not a quarter or a third.

A shame Paramount wouldn't cough up the money for him; as much as people love to rag on Sofia Coppola's performance, it's the lack of Duvall/Tom Hagen where the film truly suffers.

 

[Ganja Tea]

If we're saving anyone from the Godfather films my vote is for Apollonia.

 

[Captaindemotion]

For me, Godfather 1&2 are so perfect, I couldn't change them. I love the character of Sonny and it would be great to see more of him onscreen. But if he'd lived, then Michael wouldn't have ended up succeeding his father as the Don and you end up with a totally different film.