Tom's had his drink...
...and now he's breaking us the bad news: James Caan is dead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vszcmrgGLBQ&ab_channel=JohnMaverick
...and Sonny is dead too.
"They shot Sonny on the causeway."
BTW, Robert Duvall said that after a first take of this scene with Brando...he asked if he could do it again. He felt he had more to give, emotionally. But it was up to Brando(not the director) to allow a second take. Brando said yes. Duvall dug deep. The result: this scene.
Didn't know that.
I think it might be my favourite short sequence in the whole trilogy: the slow opening dolly shot, the magnificient variation on the theme music, Willis' lighting. The intimacy of it.
It's really the only moment between the Don and Hagen where they talk to each other as more than consigliere and Don, and their relationship as adoptive father and son kinda permeates through. It's also probably the last time in the film where any of the characters allow themselves to feel sadness and display compassion. After that, things get considerably colder and calculated. Even at the Don's funeral (his death scene itself is sad and melancholy, but we're never shown anyone expressing any of these feelings about it).
It's also great to see these two together alone in a scene after Arthur Pen's 'The Chase'.