Robert Duvall's Performance In “The Greatest American Film Ever Made” Is Still His Best

After 54 years and dozens of other roles, Robert Duvall's greatest movie still outshines the rest of his filmography. Robert Duvall sadly passed away on Monday at the age of 95. Widely regarded as one of the best actors of all time, the news of Duvall's death has caused many of his fans to revisit his huge catalog of films. One of those films, however, stands above the rest by a wide margin.

Over the course of over 70 years of acting, Duvall appeared in 91 films, starting with 1962's To Kill a Mockingbird and ending with 2022's The Pale Blue Eye. There are several huge hits within those 91 acting credits, such as Tender Mercies, for which he won an Oscar, and the legal thriller The Judge. Duvall had a legendary career, but his best performance was in 1972's The Godfather.

Why Robert Duvall's Performance In The Godfather Is His Best

Robert Duvall formed an integral part of the cast of The Godfather, as he played Tom Hagen, the consigliere and unofficial son of the Corleone crime family. In a film as legendary as The Godfather and as stacked with monumental figures like Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, Duvall's performance should have been overshadowed. What makes it such a moving display and Duvall's best movie is that he managed to make the shadows his own.

Tom is not the most emotional, complex, or important character in The Godfather. He's often doing the bidding of other characters, and he's usually breaking up emotionally charged fights instead of getting into them. Duvall, however, brings such a calm and collected portrayal to Tom that made him the perfect supporting character. Duvall's level-headedness allowed Brando, Pacino, and the rest to shine as brightly as they did.

Take, for example, the conversation where Michael decides to kill McCluskey. If Duvall, as Tom, hadn't lent a quiet seriousness to the scene, it would have been dominated by Sonny's laughter and theatrics. Only Tom could have given Michael the opportunity to deliver one of the most memorable lines in the entire film. Duvall's performance in The Godfather is a perfectly understated one, and the film wouldn't be considered one of the greatest movies ever made without him.

That's not to say that Duvall doesn't shine on his own, though. Tom provides the perfect window into the inner workings of the Corleone family, as Duvall played him as both a shrewd businessman and as a kid desperate to be part of a family he wasn't related to. And who could forget Tom's nearly silent grief while talking with Solazzo, or his childlike tears while delivering the news of Sonny's death to Vito? When he was given a chance to shine in The Godfather, Duvall took it.

The Impact The Godfather Had On Robert Duvall's Career & Legacy

Robert Duvall's performance in The Godfather speaks for itself, but his role as Tom Hagen was also so legendary that it affected the rest of his career and the legacy he left on film. The Godfather was Duvall's second time working with director Francis Ford Coppola, and it was likely instrumental in getting him a part in 1978's Apocalypse Now. That in turn led to one of Duvall's most iconic line readings, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning."

The Godfather also had a profound effect on Duvall personally. As recently as 2022, Duvall recalled The Godfather as one of his favorite and most "special" movies he'd ever been part of (via Collider). Duvall and Coppola also continued their professional relationship for years, with Coppola working as an executive producer on Assassination Tango, which Duvall wrote and directed.

Now, after the news of Duvall's passing, it's clear that The Godfather is an integral part of his legacy. Of all of his 91 films, The Godfather was the first I and many others thought of upon hearing the news. I told my partner we'd be rewatching it tonight as soon as I saw the notification. It's impossible to condense a career as iconic as the one Robert Duvall had into a single movie, but The Godfather comes very close to it.