With the passing of Robert Duvall, much of the spotlight has been on his work for Francis Ford Coppola's cinematic adaptation of Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather. Tom Hagen, the consigliere of the Corleone family, is one of Duvall's most popular roles. It earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination in 1973, alongside his co-star Al Pacino. The actor later reprised the role in The Godfather Part II and won much critical appreciation for it as well.

Interestingly, Duvall did not return for the contentious third and final instalment in the franchise. In an old interview, the actor said that he turned down an offer to star in the role because the makers of the film offered "five times" greater remuneration for Pacino as compared to him.

Robert Duvall stated that every actor joined the film for financial reasons and argued that, if not for it, there would be no point for them to do a third part 15 years after the second one. Then, he said, "If they offer somebody five times what they offer me, that is totally unacceptable. If they offered them two to three times more, even though they didn't, that would be acceptable, not ideal, but I would accept it."

Duvall attributed his decision to pure financial factors. The actor also admitted that the speculation about him wanting a "great bunch of money" for the film was partly true. "I just wanted some slice of the pie, otherwise why do it because everybody was doing it for money."

Interestingly, the film did not earn as much positive appreciation as for the first and second parts. Even its Best Picture Oscar nomination became a point of contention among Hollywood members and fans, as they felt that it was not as good as the Academy made it out to be.

The film hit theatres again recently with considerable edits.