Film Quote of the Day: 'The Godfather Part: III' Quote That Revealed Don Corleone's Philosophy

It's safe to say that The Godfather trilogy is one of the greatest of all time. It covers the Corleone family from their time in Italy to America and then back to Italy once again. There are whole lives, a lot of death, and it plays out like a tragedy.

All this is wound into three distinct mafia movies.

Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo built the trilogy around the friction between personal loyalty and ruthless capitalism. And each movie takes on a different timeline to show how that stays true the whole time.

There are so many great lines across all the movies that I want to give a little attention to the third film, which gets maligned and unfairly juxtaposed against the other two.

Within, there's a philosophical discussion that I think echoes all the lessons Michael Corleone has learned across the films.

So today, we're going to unpack that Godfather: Part III quote and what it means.

Let's dive in.

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The Scene in Question

The third movie follows the same sort of mold as the other two, opening on a party where we're caught up on all the family drama and then unfolding the fallout.

Like the other iterations, we see the plan to make more money for the family and to expand their empire.

We follow an aging Don Michael Corleone who attempts to legitimize himself and move completely away from the mafia by pouring massive capital into Vatican-controlled real estate, which effectively cleans all his money.

Michael has a meeting with Archbishop Gilday, who reveals that the Church's financial arm has racked up astronomical deficits through corrupt deals and misplaced trust.

And all this happened because he trusted his friend, and he got betrayed.

Now, Archbishop Gilday needs a bailout from Michael Corleone.

Gilday attempts to gloss over the catastrophe with platitudes about faith and life, but Michael cuts through that. In many ways, he's a much smarter mafia boss than the church. And he makes sure they know it and his stance on this going forward.

"Friendship and money. Oil and water."

What The Quote Means

I'm sure you've probably heard that you should never give money to a friend and expect it back. But if you take money from the mafia, you should know they're not your friends.

Sure, this is good advice on the surface, but in the movie, it serves a very distinct purpose. This is Don Corleone telling the church he can bail them out, but he wants something in return:

Majority holdings in a European real estate company.

There's a deep cynicism here, and this work mirrors what Michael's father did to gain control of New York back in the day, too.

And even when people try to stop this, Michael uses the leverage his father taught him to use to get the power and wealth he needs in order to take care of his family and to move his whole company into the legitimate space, leaving the mafia behind forever.

This solidifies the position that family is everything, and that money gives you power.

Summing It All Up

These six words capture the Corleone family and how they take advantage of people. From the first time when they wanted to be friends with the movie producer to the friends who took advantage of Fredo in the second.

Michael knows that money is the most important thing next to family, and that's why he's survived this long, and it drives all these decisions in the final movie, too.

Let me know what you think in the comments.