randomgodfatherthoughts

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I agree. Vito's death was very difficult for Tom but Sonny's was completely devastating for him and it definitely shows. Tom was always anxious, sensitive and insecure as the book makes clear and can be seen to an extent in the first movie, but he still seems to be far more at ease with himself. In the second movie he's like a frightened rabbit for most of it. He occasionally switches into lawyer/business mode and gets shit done but he soon slips back into being an anxious mess again.

I've been watching Godfather I over and over the past week, and Godfather II, in the background as I cook and eat, and what I noticed is that ever SINCE the moment Sonny died, it was like something was permanently broken in Tom that left him in a fragile state. Tom cried when he was told Vito died, then he recovered, and argued with Sonny a lot, robustly, he didn't do that afterwards with Michael, he was no longer sure he belonged there after Sonny died.

Oh totally!!!!! Romantic or otherwise, Tom and Sonny had such a strong connection. Sonny was the one who saved Tom’s life and brought him home after all. He was so changed after Sonny died and I think Michael could tell

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I'm thinking about the fact that one of the proposed concepts for The Godfather 3 was that Michael would die in Tom's arms at the end, realising that he'd been there for him all along and that he was a true Brother in every sense of the word.

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I know that they're both bad people but honestly the Senate hearing scenes in Godfather 2 made me so happy because Michael and Tom were working so closely together. OK so it was to cover up some terrible crimes but that the two brothers came together is the important thing and that Michael trusted Tom more than any other lawyer to help him get out of this mess says so much.

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Another of my favourite things about the book is the extra Michael and Tom content that we get. I could always use more but those that we get are so good, including the fact that Tom Hagen was Michael's teacher for 2 whole years.

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Tom Hagen might not be Sicilian but he's fluent in the language, uses Sicilian hand gestures, has Sicilian facial expressions, even prefers the language over English at times and has married an Italian wife. Clearly he's done everything possible to absorb a language and culture that he wasn't born into to the extent that Vito even says that he made Tom a Sicilian and yet almost every character in the book spends every 5 minutes reminding him that he isn't one of them.

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This scene gives me so many feelings. Sonny's words are so shockingly and incredibly cruel, especially considering how sensitive and insecure Tom already is. He wanted to hurt him here and could hardly have chosen a more effective weapon than those two sentences. Yet you can see how he much instantly regrets his words, he loves Tom so deeply that in spite of his pride, he doesn't hesitate to back down and try to make amends.

I wish that we'd been able to see Tom's expression here. He's obviously badly wounded by those words but I also get the impression that he was also angry and came very close to hitting him and probably would have if Sonny hadn't backtracked. That hand gesture Tom makes says fuck you Sonny even as he tells Sonny that it's over.

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My favourite scene in The Godfather book might be when Tom is released after being abducted by Sollozzo and Michael watches Sonny literally run to embrace Tom and realises that Tom is much closer to Sonny than he'll ever be.

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Reading Watership Down is so fun because I’ll be like “Get his ass, Bigwig,” and then he looks like fucking this

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Tom Hagen being the one who gives Clemenza the signal(with his tie) to go ahead and garotte Carlo is one of my favourite little details from The Godfather.

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I totally agree. There's a definite difference between Tom's attitude when he's sending Tessio to his death and when Carlo is about to be killed. He looks rather sad, reluctant and uncomfortable when he has to give the order to have Tessio taken away and killed.

When he joins Michael, Al and Rocco to confront Carlo, he seems almost eager. Tom's whole attitude here is much more aggressive and confrontational. The way he steps into the room and leans against the wall he's menacing here, very much the gangster. There's no reluctance or mercy in his expression. Plus he loosened his tie to give the signal immediately after Tessio is taken away. He didn't even wait to hear his confession. He wants' him dead ASAP and Tom looks at most, slightly discomfited, while watching Carlo being garrotted. He's certainly not sorry to see him die.

Usually I have a revelation during each rewatch of The Godfather. I watched part one tonight and didn’t have one up until Karl is killed and my takeaway is I think Tom was fine with him being killed because he helped Sonny’s murderers. As always I am deeply invested in the Sonny and Tom relationship.

Also, this movie and part II absolutely rules.

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Godfather collection coming along nicely. 🥹❤️ Including a mini Al Pacino collection in there too, of course. 🥰 My favourite thing in the world tbh! 😍😍😍 I don’t think it’s ever gonna be finished with all the goodies and collectables I keep discovering or that keep coming out, but here it is so far in all it’s glory. 😂🤗

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I like to think Sonny would have been the most fashionable if he had lived in Vegas

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Well I mean… true. 🤣

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The most famous orange in Hollywood 🍊

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So Tom Hagen personally arranged a hit.

He(Johnny Fontane) was surprised when the executive producer came to him and told him the union rep had to be taken care of to the tune of fifty thousand dollars. There were a lot of problems dealing with overtime and hiring and the fifty thousand dollars would be well spent. Johnny debated whether the executive producer was hustling him and then said, “Send the union guy to me.”

The union guy was Billy Goff. Johnny said to him, “I thought the union stuff was fixed by my friends. I was told not to worry about it. At all. Goff said, “Who told you that?” Johnny said, “You know goddamn well who told me. I won’t say his name but if he tells me something that’s it.” Goff said, “Things have changed. Your friend is in trouble and his word don’t go this far west anymore.” Johnny shrugged. “See me in a couple of days. OK?” Goff smiled. “Sure, Johnny,” he said. “But calling in New York ain’t going to help you.”

But calling New York did help. Johnny spoke to Hagen at his office. Hagen told him bluntly not to pay. “Your Godfather will be sore as hell if you pay that bastard a dime,” he told Johnny. “It will make the Don lose respect and right now he can’t afford that.”

“Can I talk to the Don?” Johnny asked. “Will you talk to him? I gotta get the picture rolling.” “Nobody can talk to the Don right now,” Hagen said. “He’s too sick. I’ll talk to Sonny about fixing things up. But I’ll make the decision on this. Don’t pay that smart bastard a dime. If anything changes, I’ll let you know.”

Annoyed, Johnny hung up. Union trouble could add a fortune to making the film and screw up the works generally. For a moment he debated slipping Goff the fifty grand on the quiet. After all, the Don telling him something and Hagen telling him something and giving him orders were two different things. But he decided to wait for a few days."

By waiting he saved fifty thousand dollars. Two nights later, Goff was found shot to death in his home in Glendale. There was no more talk of union trouble. Johnny was a little shaken by the killing. It was the first time the long arm of the Don had struck such a lethal blow so close to him.

From The Godfather novel by Mario Puzo.

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So in The Godfather novel Johnny Fontane is trying to produce his own movies and a Union official, Billy Goff, who is connected to the Corleones, tries to extort 50K from him. Johnny is considering just paying up, instead turns to Tom Hagen, who has been helping him with the whole project. Tom advises him not to pay up, says he'll deal with it and a few days later Tom has the Union official shot dead in his own home.

Vito has just been shot at this point, and is too ill to be consulted so Tom says that he'll talk to Sonny about the situation but that he will be the one who makes the final decision as to what will be done about the Union official so he personally ordered him to be killed.