 SPOILER: According to Francis Ford Coppola (qv), the original  script had a different ending in which Michael and Kay reconciled  together after the opera sequence. It dissolves to a church service  sequence in which a gunman guns down Michael before getting shot and  it ends with Michael lying to Kay for the last time before he dies.  Coppola later decided against that and opted for the ending in the  film with the gunman element from the original ending retained. The  ending which was filmed was inspired by a real