Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen in The Godfather, Part II (1974)
Vitals
Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen, levelheaded Mafia lawyer
Nevada and Washington, D.C., Winter 1958 through Spring 1959
Film: The Godfather Part II
Release Date: December 12, 1974
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Costume Designer: Theadora Van Runkle
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today is the 93rd birthday of Robert Duvall, the prolific actor born January 5, 1931 whose extensive filmography includes the first two films of The Godfather saga as Tom Hagen, the orphan informally adopted by the Corleone family—and whose cool head and legal savvy resulted in his position as the family’s trusted consigliere.
As this is the 50th anniversary year of The Godfather Part II, today’s post will explore Tom’s character and costume in this masterful second installment, set across the late 1950s as Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) continues consolidating his power and seeks to legitimatize the family’s interest as Tom had long advised him to do.
Although he’s been transitioned from consigliere to being the family’s lawyer in Las Vegas, Tom still serving as Michael’s right-hand man, with duties beyond legal counsel including everything from buying Christmas presents for the don’s children to blackmailing a senator whom they’ve framed for the murder for a prostitute.
What’d He Wear?
As the Corleone family lawyer, Tom Hagen maintains a dignified, lawful image that eschews flashier gangster fashions, considerably more subdued than Michael’s conservative-hued but shiny mohair and silk suits and certainly more subdued than Fredo’s pastel pink and yellow sport jackets. Continuing his sartorial example from the first Godfather film, Tom keeps his style current and consistent with contemporary trends; by the late ’50s, this means smart Ivy tailoring—seersucker in the summer, flannel in the winter—aligned with his remaining the most businesslike of the Corleone siblings.
Tom’s primary suit through the latter half of The Godfather Part II is a sober dark gray self-striped woolen flannel three-piece suit. Its color and cut could recall the “nice Ivy League suit” that Michael wore when bada bing! he blew McClusky and Sollozzo’s brains all of it a decade earlier, though Tom never handles such dirty business directly; as Willie Cicci would testify, there’s always plenty of buffers.
A set photo of Al Pacino and Robert Duvall while filming the scene where Michael returns to the U.S. after he’s forced out of revolutionary Cuba. Note how somber Tom’s gray striped flannel looks compared to the shine of Michael’s black mohair-blend three-piece suit.
The single-breasted jacket has a 3/2-roll, with the notch lapels rolling clear over the top button—an Ivy tradition dating back to the Brooks Brothers and J. Press sack suits introduced in early 20th century America. The jacket has straight shoulders, single rear vent, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, and two vestigial cuff-buttons spaced at the end of each sleeve.
The matching single-breasted waistcoat (vest) has four welted pockets—two on each side—and six buttons that Tom wears fully fastened. Fashioned with side pockets and turn-ups (cuffs), the trousers have belt loops, through which Tom wears a black leather belt that closes through a silver-toned squared single-prong buckle, which occasionally flashes from under the waistcoat’s notched bottom.
Tom maintains an Ivy consistency by exclusively wearing oxford cotton button-down (OCBD) shirts and trad ties with this suit. These shirts are styled with a front placket, button cuffs, and the requisite button-down collar that John E. Brooks had standardized in the United States as the “Polo collar” in the early 20th century after he was inspired by English polo players fastening their collars to their shirt bodies.
The first time that Tom wears this suit on screen is during the last week of December 1958, when Tom flies to Carson City, where the family has framed Senator Pat Geary (J.D. Spradlin) for the violent death of a prostitute in one of Fredo’s cathouses. He wears a white OCBD with a dark tie, which appears to be predominantly dark olive with dark navy “downhill”-direction bar stripes.
“You don’t have to remember—just do as I say. We’re putting a call into your office. Explain that you’ll be there tomorrow afternoon, you decided to spend the night at Michael Corleone’s house in Tahoe… as his guest.”
Tom takes control of the situation in the Carson City cathouse, ensuring that Senator Geary will be indebted to the Corleone family for life.
Several days later, Tom is in Las Vegas to greet Michael at the Desert Inn, following Michael’s hasty retreat from Havana after the Cuban revolution on New Year’s Eve 1958. This time, he wears a light-blue OCBD—similar to what he had worn with his seersucker suit in the opening sequence—and a burgundy-and-navy downhill-direction block-striped repp tie.
Tom is somewhat less in control when he has to break the news to Michael that Kay’s unborn son was lost in a miscarriage.
Later in 1959, Tom travels with Michael to provide him with legal counsel during the Senate committee hearings into organized crime. Again he wears a white OCBD shirt, this time paired with a navy silk tie patterned with burgundy-filled medallions.
Back in command: Tom argues for Michael’s statement to be read aloud during the Senate hearings.
Finally, Tom returns with Michael, Kay (Diane Keaton), and a surprise guest—Vincenzo Pentangeli (Salvatore Po)—to provide intimidation support for the government’s mob informant witness, Frankie Pentangeli (Michael V. Gazzo). We don’t get close enough to Tom here to see if his tie is a solid navy silk or if it has a subtle tonal pattern, but a solid silk would be consistent with Ivy fashions and Tom’s own subdued sense of style.
Sure, Michael and Tom look nice in their well-tailored dark three-piece business suits, but no courtroom style can beat Vincenzo Pentangeli’s red pom-pom string tie.
Tom always wears professional black leather cap-toe oxford shoes, typically with black socks when we can see between the bottoms of his trousers and the tops of his shoes.
Michael, Tom, and Al Neri (Richard Bright) stride through the Desert Inn veranda after Michael returns stateside from a now-revolutionary Cuba.
Tom doesn’t appear to wear a wristwatch or any other jewelry aside from the plain yellow-gold wedding band on the ring finger of his left hand.
During the Senate hearing, Tom pulls on a pair of black browline-framed reading glasses. This style was introduced by American eyewear company Shuron with their metal/zyl-framed “Ronsir” model in 1947, which the company describes as having “famously defined the look of the 1950s.” Indeed, browline frames were popular among authority figures through the 1950s and ’60s, ranging from real-life leaders like Lyndon B. Johnson, Vince Lombardi, and Malcolm X to fictional figures like the domineering J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) in the 1957 noir Sweet Smell of Success. Based on the popularity, competing eyewear companies developed their own browline models like the Art-Craft “Clubman” and the Ray-Ban “Clubmaster” frames.
There’s a very brief moment while Michael is reading his statement to the Senate committee when Robert Duvall seems to lock eyes with the camera—and you truly understand the stakes for anyone who will testify against the Corleones.
A Different Suit
For Tom’s final appearance during the late 1950s portion of The Godfather Part II, he wears a similar three-piece suit made of solid charcoal wool when visiting Frankie in federal custody, using lessons from the Roman Empire to suggest that Frankie take his own life.
“When the plot against the emperor failed, the plotters were always given a chance… to let the families keep their fortune.”
One could argue that guys like Tom Hagen and Frankie Pentangeli think about the Roman Empire several times a day.
How to Get the Look
Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen in The Godfather, Part II (1974)
In his gray self-striped flannel three-piece suit, OCBD shirts, Ivy ties, and black oxfords, Tom Hagen maintains a smart businesslike look for his role as the family lawyer, without any flash to suggest his client is actually an organized crime family.
- Dark gray self-striped woolen flannel three-piece Ivy business suit:
- Single-breasted 3/2-roll jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, spaced 2-button cuffs, and single vent
- Single-breasted 6-button waistcoat/vest with four welted pockets and notched bottom
- Flat-front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
- White or light-blue oxford-cloth cotton shirt with button-down collar, front placket, and button cuffs
- Striped repp ties or solid or patterned navy silk ties
- Black leather belt with silver-toned squared single-prong buckle
- Black leather cap-toe oxford shoes
- Black socks
- Black browline-framed reading glasses
- Gold wedding ring
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the series.
The Quote
This girl has no family, nobody knows that she worked here—it’ll be as if she never existed. All that’s left is our friendship.
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