The Tragic Death of Tom Hagen | The Godfather Explained

thank you Francis Ford copples The Godfather follows Don Vito Corleone as he transfers control of his mob Empire to his son Michael over the course of the first film Michael makes his transition from college boy World War II veteran to unflinching cold and calculating mob boss the second film charts the rise of a young veto coleon to power and the subsequent challenges Michael faces as the head of a crime family including an assassination attempt on him in his Lake Tahoe home ever constant throughout the first two films is the presence of Tom Hagan played by the oscar-nominated Robert de Valle Hagen is the Corleone family's attorney and is also the conciliary of Vito Corleone being something of an adopted son of the family after he was brought home by Sony Tom's past is something we can tackle in another video but by the time the first film starts he has replaced Vita's former conciliary Genco abandano Tom is really ever the center of attention in the films a and for some he perhaps does not stick Out Among the numerous interesting supporting characters like Luca Brasi Peter clemenza and Virgil salotso but he has a significant role in both films being sent by Vito to deal with the Hollywood producer and later attempting to mitigate a hot-headed sunny in the war against the fire families when Michael takes over the family he removes Tom from his role as conciliary being restricted to handling the family's legal work in Nevada and such though he is thought to be reinstalled after Michael assassinates the heads of the Rival families in the second film he juggles numerous duties even becoming acting dawn after Michael leaves for Cuba highlighting the trust Michael has for Tom Tom also defends Michael in the Senate hearings on the mafia there is also a strange awkward scene towards the end of the second film where Michael B raids Tom after Tom has doubts about killing Hyman Roth a scene which I've done a much more detailed analysis on in another video so a pretty important character and that's underselling him in fact you could make a strong argument that in The Godfather novel he is the main character Tom Hagan's importance is made all the more Paramount by his complete absence from The Godfather Part 3. his emission from the film was considered a mistake even by director Francis Ford Coppola who felt the movie was missing Tom and needed him to act as a Counterpoint to Michael corion there were many different ideas floating around for a Godfather part 3. one of them being a war between Michael and Tom and though there isn't even a hint of this in the final movie Tom was a character much missed instead we are told he died before the events of the third film so how exactly did he die on this channel we've looked at the deaths of several characters who died off screen like tessio and clemenza and we've also looked at the backstories of established characters such as Don fanucci and mo green today I wanted to talk about Tom Hagan's death and his absence from the third movie now before we get to it it has to be noted that the real reason Tom Hagen was not in The Godfather Part 3 has nothing to do with any creative choice or story reason the real reason as I talked about in detail in a previous video is that actor Robert Duvall clashed with the studio over his salary they made him an offer he could refuse and he did check out that video after you're done with this one as it's really quite interesting seeing everyone's side of the story and I have to say I actually find myself agreeing with Duval so that's why Tom was written out of the story he was killed via contract negotiations and thus the part is replaced with B.J Hamilton and in a reduced role but how is it handled in the film itself well Tom is referenced with pretty much only one line when Michael is talking about Tom's son Andrew who is a priest his father was a great lawyer didn't live to see him ordained says Michael and that's the only reference to Tom in the film pretty sad that he's hardly mentioned though I suppose in the context of the story it makes sense there is a 1989 draft script of the film which includes Tom Hagen and I do have a video coming out soon on this and though I didn't find it amazing I did think it was better than the final film and that was partly because of the inclusion of Tom the final cut mitigates the absence of Tom by working its way around the original ideas like for example the opening celebration was originally Tom's birthday being celebrated it's interesting to ponder on how exactly Tom checked out with the relationship between Michael and Tom having a hint of becoming fractured at the end of the second film The increasing coldness and isolated nature of Michael and the murder of Fredo Corleone which would have stirred up emotions in Tom could it be that there was a conflict between the two men and it resulted in Michael having Tom killed maybe in another timeline like that story of Michael and Tom competing for power but with the way things are presented in The Godfather Part 3 I highly doubt it Michael does not speak about Tom with any heavy emotion and if he had had a part to play in Tom's passing he would have surely mentioned it to the priest when he's unloading all of his guilt plus Tom's Family remained close to the Koreans nope it's likely Tom's death was undramatic and natural maybe dying of old age or a heart attack or something interestingly in a draft of The Godfather Part 3 written in the 1970s by Dean in Reisner which I've done an entire review of if you're interested Tom is killed via a shooting rather than a natural death he is in a car with his driver and Michael's son Anthony and being escorted by button men like Rocco lampone all of a sudden a man with a shotgun gets out from a nearby car and shoots at the car the first shot blows the driver's head off making the car go out of control the second kills Tom instantly after which the gunman disappears leaving Anthony the only Survivor and the likes of Rocco reaching the car too late and also there are two sequel novels to The Godfather written by Mark weingartner called The Godfather returned and the Godfather's Revenge they were commissioned by the Mario puso estate though Paramount Pictures do not consider the Godfather's Revenge Canon the last of the two books in which Tom Hagin dies I have reviewed both of these books in the channel if you're interested and in this novel there is a character called Nick jarachi who is the main antagonist to Michael Corleone he was once a Corleone button man but Michael planned on killing some of his enemies by having a plane crash and to ensure no one suspected him of causing the crash he uses Nick Jirachi as a sacrifice making sure he as a Corleone man is on the plane when it plunges to its Doom Jirachi survives however and seeks to take revenge on Michael and he partly does so by killing those closest to him in the novel there is an increased focus on Tom who is arrested on the suspicion of murdering his mistress although the death had in fact been orchestrated by Korean enemies though Tom is acquitted the Scandal ruins his hopes of having a political career and his relationship with his wife is Rocky while out on a business meeting Tom is ambushed by Nick jarachi who is hiding in the back of Tom's car Nick has been tracking Tom for days and he forces Tom to drive to a swamp filled area and then knocks him unconscious with his pistol foreign awakens to find his hands and feet tired and his car sinking into the swamp and filling with thick brown water in his final moments resigned to his death Tom recalls some of his Fondest Memories meeting Sunny being taken in by the corleones he thinks of his wife his two sons and two daughters he dies thinking these thoughts and his body is never found Nick jarachi sends Michael Corleone a dead baby alligator with Tom's wallet in its mouth to signify that Tom sleeps with the alligators he was 54 at the time of his death so what do you think about Tom's death would you have liked to see him in The Godfather Part 3 do you think his death was handled well what do you think of his death in winegardner's novel and how would you have liked to see him go out let me know in the comments below and thanks for watching before we finish I just want to thank my patrons Andre Millington Nicholas Curtis and Dirk K and also my channel members the new ongoing 24 Rikers and Michael waltry

Channel: CineRanter

Views: 507,208

Keywords: THE GODFATHER, THE GODFATHER ANALYSIS, THE GODFATHER TOM HAGEN, ROBERT DUVALL, francis ford coppola, marlon brando, al pacino, robert de niro

Id: NvQXERmHEIU

Length: 8min 47sec (527 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 23 2022