Best Supporting Actor 1990: Andy Garcia in The Godfather Part III

Andy Garcia received his only Oscar nomination so far for portraying Vincent Mancini in The Godfather Part III.

The Godfather Part III tells the final chapter of Corleone family.

Vincent Mancini is the illegitimate son of Sonny Corleone. He is very eager to be part of family business commanded still by Michael Corleone (Al Pacino). Garcia in his performance attempts to create a character that is basically a combination of Sonny, and Micheal. He is Sonny with a inherited temper as well as the eagerness to join the family, but at the same time like Michael in having greater calculation and ambition as his character progresses.

Garcia in his representation of his inherited qualities from Sonny does not quite match up with the great performance given by James Caan in the original film. The simple truth is Garcia just does not have the same intensity that really seared off the screen as Caan did. Garcia just does not have the same visceral energy, but than again maybe he does not have to have it exactly because he is hot headed but not nearly as hot headed as Sonny was. Honestly though when Garcia is trying to be Caan you often feel the effort of the attempt more than the natural realization of the attempt. There is the occasional moment where he kind of has it but just as often, if not more often his performance is just a lot of hot air. 

Besides his growth within the family business an important aspect of his performance is Vincent relationship with his cousin Mary Corleone (Sofia Coppola). The relationship is quite awkward and not so much because they are cousins in the film, but far more so because Coppola is really really bad with her Razzie wins well earned. The relationship does not work because Vincent is suppose to really love her, but Coppola fails to show any reason why he should. Garcia fails to create any why within the relationship, and is just as stiff and awkward as Coppola in certain moments. Regardless he grants no sense to the relationship as a need for either of them. Garcia fails to live up to the idea of the character, but honestly he just has bad moments throughout. He never finds the arc of the character, the tone of him and frequently just awkwardly struggles to even be natural in the role.