In Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, Don Corleone, the head of the Corleone crime family,
transfers power of the family to his son Michael, and he himself goes into semi-retirement.
Don Corleone had been wounded in an assassination attempt years earlier, and old age, weakness,
and the death of his eldest son Sonny meant things were taking their toll,
and it was time to train a new Don.
For many years, Don Corleone’s consigliere, the advisor position in la costra nostra,
the position most provate with the Don, was the role of Tom Hagan, who was found by Sonny
Corleone on the streets, taken in by the Corleone family, and sent to college. He eventually became
a lawyer, and came back to work for the family. Tom is Don Corleone’s right hand man, and when
the Don is injured Tom acts as consligere to Sonny before his death. When Michael takes over,
in a famous scene, he tells Tom that’s he’s out, that he’s being removed from his position,
much to the dismay of Tom, in spite of Vito trying to soften the blow with some kind words
But why is Tom out?
First of all, it’s important to establish just what we mean when it is said that Tom is out.
Michael removes Tom as conslgere of the family in favour of Vito filling the position, meanwhile Tom
is restricted to handling the family’s legal business in Nevada, Chicago and Los Angeles.
However, there’s more to Tom’s question “why am I out?” than meets the eye, as is better explained
in the following scene from the film, which contains extended shots cut out of the original.
So in a nutshell, Tom is asking why secrets are being kept from him,
why people are no loner reporting to him and why secret armies are being formed without his
knowledge. And Michael’s answer, finally, is the same thing Sonny lamented about years ago,
that Tom is not a wartime consigliere. And as the family is going legitimate,
what better than to have Mr Legal the legal man, keep him away from the dirty side of
the business, and who better a family consligere than Don Corleone himself?
This means that Tom, as a legal man, a non-wartime advisor,
would always seek to make peace talks and negotiations in a mob war, as he did years back,
and Michael, at this point knowing the only option for peace is to eliminate the rival families,
needs someone far more capable than Tom. Tom’s been caught out in the past, when unlike Don Vito,
he failed to recognise that Barzini was pulling the strings in the meeting between the heads of
the 5 families. Although this is not emphaisesed as much in the movie as it is in the book,
he is also caught out by Sonny’s murder, as he mistakenly thought that the lack of
violence in the build up to Sonny’s murder was the rival families preparing to make peace,
not them launching a surprise attack which killed the action Don. It is mentioned in the book that
Don Vito’s previous consigliere Genco would have never made this mistake. Tom feels guilty
for Sonny’s death and even feared that Don Vito would blame him. He is simply not good enough to
be a wartime consigliere, and both Vito and Michael recognise this, and so he is axed.
But there are also great plans brewing, plans which can only be kept between father and son.
In fact, Tom is a very controversial figure in la cosa nosta. His appointment
as consligere is a risky one, on part of Vito Corleone, as Tom was not Sicillian.
The Corleone’s were even referred to as the irish gang, because of Tom’s appointment,
and Tom was forever plagued with an inferiority complex, always doubting himself and wanting to
prove himself, which must have made being pushed out by Michael all the more painful.
Another reason for distancing Tom from what is to come is that he was present
at the meeting between the heads of the 5 families as consligere. He was there when
Vito gave his word he would not enact vengeance, so he was an implicit partner in Vito’s pledge,
and keeping him away from Michael’s revenge honoured the promise of Don Vito Corleone.
After all, it wasn’t VITO’S family that got revenge, it was Michael’s.
Dismissing Tom, a loyal man, and embracing Carlo, a traitor, also makes it look as
though the Corloene family is making stupid mistakes in the eyes of their enemies,
and one of Don Corleone’s long standing mantras has been to allow your enemy to underestimate you.
Some may also feel that some kind of brotherly affection for Tom meant he wanted Hagen away
from the violence when the danger would come, and I actually subscribed to this school of thought
when I was a kid and I watched The Godfather for the first time and to an extent I still do,
but in retrospect it is naïve thinking, after all violence surrounds these men’s lives. However,
I do believe that by isolating Tom from the family secrets, using the mantra keep your
friends close but your enemies closer, it meant Michael could trust Tom, which is something the
second film builds heavily upon, and by not being in the loop, Tom will never be targeted by the
Corloene’s enemies. In The Godfather Part II, Michael tells Tom he trusts him with his life,
he even makes him dead of the family when he goes away for a while after the failed assassination
attempt on Michael, calling him a brother, and making him guardians of Michael’s own family.
If that’s not trust I don’t know what is.
Once the rats from the family had been purged and the Corleone’s family was
avenged at the end of the first film, Tom Hagen is bought back to the forefront,
and now as the man Michael trusts more than anyone else in the world.
For more videos, consider subscribing and hitting the notification button down below,
and thanks for watching.