Lee Strasberg as Hyman Roth in The Godfather Part II (1974)
Vitals
Lee Strasberg as Hyman Roth, mobster and gambling kingpin
Havana, New Year’s Eve 1958
Film: The Godfather Part II
Release Date: December 12, 1974
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Costume Designer: Theadora Van Runkle
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Released 50 years ago this month, The Godfather Part II expands the Corleone crime family chronicles to include Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg), a respected gangster inspired by the real-life Meyer Lansky. Al Pacino had been one of Strasberg’s students at the Actors Studio and recommended his former acting coach for the role that would eventually garner Strasberg his sole Academy Award nomination.
Decades after his rumrunning partnership with the Corleones during Prohibition, the aging Roth is now based in Miami, where he’s visited by Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) to discuss a history-making collaboration. The two travel to Havana to work with representatives from American corporations and Fulgencio Batista’s corrupt Cuban government to take over a Reno casino—all while Roth is plotting to fatally double-cross Michael.
Of course, it’s the last week of December 1958, so the Batista government’s days are numbered as Fidel Castro’s rebels are getting closer to their New Year’s Eve victory. However, the primary celebration on Hyman Roth’s mind is his 67th birthday, which he celebrates on a Havana rooftop with Michael, Roth’s right-hand man Johnny Ola (Dominic Chianese), and other criminal cohorts.
“I hope my age is correct! I’m always accurate about my age,” Roth insists to his guests, then requests with even more Capricorn efficiency to “make sure that everybody sees the cake before we cut it.” The cake depicts an outline of Cuba, which is then symbolically cut up into pieces for Roth and his guests, though Roth—in deference to his health issues—requests a smaller piece for himself.
After how events unfolded in The Godfather, Roth was smart to not include oranges as part of his birthday spread.
“These are wonderful things we’ve achieved in Havana, and there’s no limit to where we can go from here. This kind of government knows how to help business, to encourage it,” Roth assures his guests of cooperation from the Batista administration. His short-sightedness isn’t shared by Michael, who has witnessed the motivated revolutionaries firsthand. Back in his suite, Roth—or, rather, co-screenwriters Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo—borrowed a line from the actual Meyer Lansky to reassure Michael:
We’re bigger than U.S. Steel.
What’d He Wear?
Hyman Roth dresses for his birthday party in a cream knit long-sleeved shirt, representative of knitwear’s popularity as casual sportswear through the 1950s and ’60s. The back and set-in sleeves are all a solid-colored ribbed knit, contrasting with the front panel detailed with a black-on-cream static pattern. The pattern resembles Morse code, grouped in columns of three, alternating between two columns of dots and a column of short horizontal lines.
The large collar and ribbed waist hem are both solid cream, patterned with double solid black lines along the edges. The false placket with its four large plastic buttons give the appearance of a polo shirt, though the the placket appears sewn down to the body on both sides without any actual buttonholes for the four vestigial buttons.
Nice shirt, Hyman. Be a real shame if someone lost it before the end of the scene…
Several sources cite that weather difficulties stretched out production of the two-minute scene to more than a week, during which time Lee Strasberg’s screen-worn shirt was misplaced. Unfortunately, the shirt’s distinctive pattern meant the production team had to quickly improvise in order to dress Strasberg for the scene’s completion. The end result is a commendable effort that likely would have bypassed most contemporary audiences and even casual viewers today, but the home video/streaming era has made the switch quite obvious, especially as the scenes with this second shirt featured more substantial close-ups of Strasberg.
According to IMDB, it was “the production designer” (Dean Tavoularis) who oversaw the attempted recreation, though costume designer Theadora Van Runkle surely would have been involved in this process. The new shirt was a plain cream-colored shirt in a softer cloth with narrower and less prominent ribbing that was consistent throughout the body and the sleeves. A black marker was then evidently used to recreate the “Morse code” pattern on the front, though it’s at a much larger scale with longer dashes than the original shirt and also falls short of the shoulder seam.
The replacement shirt is also a more conventional polo shirt, with a functioning placket that closes with three smaller cream-colored plastic buttons—a considerably more subdued presentation than the false placket and its four oversized buttons on the original shirt.
Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
Under his collar (regardless of which shirt it is), Roth wears a light-brown tonal paisley silk neckerchief.
Roth wears beige cotton flat-front trousers with a long rise to Strasberg’s natural waist, where they’re held up by a beige cotton self-belt with the gold-toned squared single-prong buckle pulled off to the left side à la Fred Astaire. These slacks also have side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms.
Was the decision for Hyman Roth to be shirtless during the subsequent scene back in his suite made to ditch the troublesome shirt altogether? Or did Lee Strasberg just want to strut his 72-year-old stuff? Either way—respect.
Roth wears tan socks that continue the leg line of his trousers into his dark burgundy leather derby shoes, detailed with a straight cap-toe and open three-eyelet lacing system.
Like Michael and many of the more serious gangsters across The Godfather canon, Hyman Roth keeps his jewelry and accessories subdued and functional, wearing only a wristwatch and a gold wedding band on his left ring finger. The gold watch has a light-colored dial and is strapped to a brown leather strap.
How to Get the Look
Lee Strasberg as Hyman Roth in The Godfather Part II (1974)
Having trouble finding a shirt like Hyman Roth wore for his birthday? Never fear—just like The Godfather Part II‘s production team, you can always just take a black magic marker to any cream-colored knitted long-sleeved polo for that sadly screen-accurate look.
- Cream with black “Morse code” static-like front pattern knitted long-sleeved polo shirt with long point collar (with double black-striped edge), four-button false placket, ribbed-knit sleeves and back, and ribbed-knit waist hem (with double black-striped edge)
- Light-brown tonal paisley silk neckerchief
- Beige cotton flat-front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
- Beige cotton belt with gold-toned squared single-prong buckle
- Dark burgundy leather cap-toe derby shoes
- Tan socks
- Gold wedding band
- Gold wristwatch with round light-colored dial on brown leather strap
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the series, including the masterpiece sequel The Godfather Part II.
The Quote
When a man comes to this point in his life, he wants to turn over the things he’s been blessed with—turn them over to friends—as a reward for the friends he’s had and to make sure that everything goes well after he’s gone.
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