| Director | Francis Ford Coppola |
|---|---|
| Genre | crime drama film, crime film, crime thriller film, drama film, epic film, gangster film, mystery film, thriller film |
| Runtime | 162 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $54 million |
| Box office | $136.9 million |
In 1979, Michael Corleone is approaching 60 years of age. Plagued with guilt over his ruthless rise to power, especially for having ordered his brother Fredo Corleone's murder, he donates millions to charitable causes.
Michael and Kay Adams are divorced; their children Anthony and Mary live with Kay. At a reception in Michael's honor at St. Patrick's Old Cathedral that follows a papal order induction ceremony, Anthony tells his father that he is leaving law school to become an opera singer. Kay supports Anthony's decision, while Michael eventually agrees to let him go his own way. Kay reveals to Michael that she and Anthony know the truth about Fredo's death.
Vincent Mancini, the illegitimate son of Michael's long-dead older brother Sonny by his mistress Lucy Mancini, arrives at the reception. Michael's sister Connie arranges for Vincent to settle a dispute with his rival Joey Zasa, but Zasa calls Vincent a bastard, and Vincent bites Zasa's ear. Michael, troubled by Vincent's temper yet impressed by his loyalty, agrees to include Vincent in the family business.
The head of the Vatican Bank, Archbishop Gilday, has accumulated a massive deficit of $769 million. Michael offers $600 million in exchange for the Vatican's shares in an international real estate company, Internazionale Immobiliare,}} which would give him a controlling interest. Immobiliare's board approves the offer, pending ratification by Pope Paul VI.
Don Altobello, a New York Mafia boss and Connie's godfather, tells Michael that his partners on The Commission want to be involved with the Immobiliare deal. However, wanting finally to become legitimate, Michael pays them his sold Las Vegas holdings instead. Zasa receives nothing and, declaring Michael to be his enemy, storms out. Don Altobello, assuring Michael that he can diplomatically resolve the matter, leaves to speak to Zasa.
Moments later, a helicopter hovers outside the conference room and opens fire. Most of the mafia's bosses are killed, but Michael, Vincent, and Michael's bodyguard Al Neri escape. Michael realizes that Altobello is the traitor, but suffers a diabetic stroke before he can act. As Michael recuperates, Vincent and Mary begin a romance, while Neri and Connie permit Vincent to retaliate against Zasa. During a street festival, Vincent kills Zasa. Michael berates Vincent for his actions and insists that Vincent end his relationship with Mary because it is dangerous and they are first cousins.
The family goes to Sicily for Anthony's operatic debut in Palermo at the Teatro Massimo. While Michael and Kay tour Sicily, Michael asks for Kay's forgiveness, and they admit that they still love each other. Michael visits Cardinal Lamberto, anticipated to become the next pope, to discuss the deal. Lamberto persuades Michael to make his first confession in 30 years, during which Michael tearfully confesses that he ordered Fredo's murder. Lamberto says that Michael deserves to suffer for his sins, but can be redeemed. He gives him sacramental absolution.
Michael tells Vincent to pretend to defect from the Corleone family to spy on Altobello. Altobello introduces Vincent to Licio Lucchesi, Immobiliare’s chairman. As a result, Michael learns from Vincent that the Immobiliare deal is an elaborate swindle, arranged by Lucchesi, Gilday and the Vatican City's accountant Frederick Keinszig, and that Altobello has hired someone in Sicily to assassinate Michael. Mosca, the veteran hitman who was hired, kills the Corleone family's friend Don Tommasino upon recognizing Mosca in his priest disguise. At Tommasino's funeral, Michael vows to sin no more. Following the pope's death, Cardinal Lamberto is elected to succeed him, choosing as his name Pope John Paul I. Subsequently, the Immobiliare deal is ratified.
Gilday kills the new pope with poisoned tea. Michael names Vincent the new Don of the Corleone family in return for ending his romance with Mary. The family sees Anthony's performance in Cavalleria rusticana in Palermo while Vincent exacts his revenge. Keinszig is killed, and his murder is staged as a suicide; Connie poisons Altobello via a birthday cannoli and watches him die from the opera box; Calò, Tommasino's former bodyguard, kills Lucchesi; and Neri travels to the Vatican, where he shoots and kills Gilday.
At the opera house during Anthony's performance, Mosca overcomes two of Vincent's men but is unable to get an opportunity to kill Michael. As they leave after the show at the opera house, Mosca shoots at Michael, wounding him; a second bullet hits Mary, killing her. Vincent shoots and kills Mosca. Michael cradles Mary's body and screams in agony and horror.
Seventeen years later, a depressed and elderly Michael, sitting alone in the courtyard of Don Tommasino's villa, suffers a stroke. He slumps over and falls to the ground, dead.