[AceLuby]

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AceLuby,

I love the Godfather novel, but at heart it's really just a trashy pulpy beach read (and not all that well written, even just compared to Puzo's other novels). MP had written a few critically lauded books, but he wasn't making any money, so he decided to just crank out something meant solely for popularity and commercial success. It worked. THEN in the film version he and Coppola took the time and applied the artistry to make it great and layered with symbolism and overarching thematic elements. It worked.

Again, I love the novel, but what I'm saying is 1) just because the book seems to have more stuff doesn't mean it's better (most of the great symbolism in the film works on you unconsciously), and 2) Puzo was very involved in the writing of all the films, so saying the plot from the book is good and the newer stories original to the screenplays are bad is oversimplified and doesn't really make sense, imo.

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GF3 was a travesty, mostly because of the acting, but the writing wasn't nearly on par w/ the other 2. I was also only giving a possible reason why people like GF1 and the Vito part in GF2, but don't like the new Michael stuff in GF2 or 3. Seems like a common denominator to me.

I also have to respectfully disagree that the film does a better job at the symbolism. You miss a lot of it by not knowing the details the book provides. Obviously just my opinion here, and I'm not saying the movie is bad by any stretch, I'm just trying to convert some of the nay sayers to read the whole story and give the movie another try.