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auntynationalsblog · 4 years

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Good Father or Godfather?

Why ‘The Sopranos’ is the best possible shit you could watch this quarantine.

NO SPOILERS.

Okay, so as the picture depicts, The Sopranos is a male-dominated show. It definitely is, there is absolutely no denying that. While there are a few crucial female characters, out of which some are really, REALLY important to the series, the spotlights mostly belong to the men, like Tony, Chris, Paulie or Silvio (from right to left in the above image). It is also set in a time and space where most women are treated as objects and servants. The wives and girlfriends are expected to stay home and cook dinner while the men do the business. They’re expected to look pretty and accompany the men to important events, like the welcome party of a new member of the mob, or a funeral.

But despite carrying such a high level of toxic masculinity, The Sopranos has often been cited as one of the best TV shows of all time, if not the best. I’d like to write about my perspective on why The Sopranos does indeed deserve all the credit.

The Many Lives of Tony Soprano

The title of the blog, “Good Father or Godfather”, is inspired by the two main themes of The Sopranos. The first theme is his mob life. The story begins with Tony Soprano’s (played by the great James Gandolfini) quest for power as the skipper of the DiMeo crime family based in New Jersey. His most immediate rival is his deceased father’s (a former boss himself) brother, Corrado John “Junior” Soprano Jr. Uncle Jun and Tony’s rivalry forms the crux of the first season, as Jun battles old age and Tony’s rising influence. Technically, Tony’s job is that of a solid-waste management consultant, but we can all guess that’s not where his money comes from.

The second theme and some would argue that it is more important than the first theme, is his family. The Sopranos is a brilliant depiction of how a mobster with unlimited money and influence, struggles at the face of familial issues like his marriage, or the upbringing and education of his two kids, and making sure that they develop enough self-sufficiency to not follow their father’s footsteps into the mafia life. The picture below shows Anthony “A.J.” Junior Soprano, Tony, Meadow Soprano and Tony’s wife Carmela Soprano.

The third crucial theme is Tony’s battles with his own demons. This theme is presented through Tony’s therapy sessions with a psychiatrist, who is, in my opinion, the most indispensable character of the show - Dr. Jennifer Melfi - portrayed by Lorraine Bracco (you might remember her from the superhit mafia film Goodfellas). Tony’s relationship with the psychiatrist is arguably the most interesting relationship between any two people throughout the series, as Dr. Melfi herself struggles to come to terms with the fact that she is psychologically helping a man whose food on the table comes from gambling, prostitution, and murder.

The Intensity of the Characters

The only other television show that can match the intensity and diversity of the character line-up of The Sopranos is Game of Thrones. It is hard not to develop a certain attachment to every major character of The Sopranos, and this attachment is not necessarily one of admiration and respect. The amount of contempt I have for Ralph Cifaretto (played by the bald guy from Baby’s Day Out) is unparalleled to my hatred for any other character from any other show (Ramsay Bolton and Dodd Gerhardt come close). The point being, the characters are so beautifully developed throughout the show, that there is not a single dull moment in any episode, simply because of the director’s (David Henry Chase) ability to connect us to every character.

While an analysis of characters, or ranking them, deserve blogs of their own, my point is that the characters are so well made, that we are likely to identify each character with someone we personally know. Silvio and Paulie might be your funny old uncles, while Christopher might be you yourself during some stage of your life. While getting arrested in the finale of season three, Silvio tells the officer that in the previous year he made bail so fast that his soup was still warm when he got home. We’ve all been in Meadow’s shoes at some point in our lives, and Tony, well, he’s a complicated guy. I’m sure you’ll see some part of yourself in the man.

Just the Right Amount of Violence

You might have an apprehension of dismissing The Sopranos as an ordinary action-packed TV show with guns, blood and a lot of kicks and punches. While the show obviously consists of violent scenes, it really does not overkill.

The only drawback might be the sound effects. The punches, to some ears, may not sound as...punches. But I am willing to let that slip because the plot keeps my mind too engaged with questions related to the story of the episode, like why the guy is being beaten up, or why was Tony betrayed, you get what I mean.

Dramatic, but not Overdramatic

Lastly, one of the many reasons why The Sopranos is one of the greatest television shows ever is that it does justice to good old-fashioned TV drama. It maintains its realistic narrative. It does not spice up the plot, because the spice was never necessary for a plot which was already so deep and meaningful. It is very well-paced. It is neither too slow (the description which Breaking Bad haters use for Breaking Bad), nor does one episode cover a massive portion of the plot. The plot is not huge, it is not complicated but it is covered patiently enough, for viewers to immerse themselves in it. It does not depict unnecessary violence, or unnecessary screaming or crying like we see on Indian television. That is why this show keeps its viewers glued to the television. It just seems so real.

James Gandolfini’s performance as Tony Soprano is said to have redefined the world of television. But it would be fair to say that he may not have managed it without a cast that has often been branded as legendary. There are six seasons and eighty-six episodes. If you pace yourself, then your quarantine would fly by. Don’t binge one season a day, there’s no pleasure in that. It’s not that type of a show.

You can thank me later. Trust me on this recommendation.

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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The Many Saints of Newark Ending Explained

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This article contains spoilers for The Many Saints of Newark.

In some of the spookiest words ever spoken on The Sopranos, the usually genial and optimistic Bobby “Bacala” Baccalieri Jr. wonders aloud what being killed would be like.

“You probably don’t even hear it when it happens, right?” Bobby asks his boss Tony Soprano as they glide down a lazy river in a dinghy.

Well, depending on your interpretation of The Sopranos’ final moments, Bobby was right. You don’t even hear it when it happens. In fact, you don’t see, smell, feel, or taste it.

Now that David Chase’s long-awaited Sopranos prequel, The Many Saints of Newark, has arrived in theaters and on HBO Max, it’s provided another protagonistic death to test Bobby’s theory. As Chase promised, The Many Saints of Newark is Dickie Moltisanti’s (Alessandro Nivola) story and that story ends with his death.

It’s unclear whether Dickie heard the bullet from a silenced gun that killed him but we, the audience, sure do. And though that gunshot ends his story, it’s just the beginning of so many others. Let’s explore how with an explanation of The Many Saints of Newark’s ending.

Who Killed Dickie Moltisanti?

There is no shortage of reasons why someone would want to kill Christopher Moltisanti’s (Michael Imperioli) father Dickie. This is a man who killed his own father, took his father’s wife as his comare, and then went ahead and killed her too for good measure. Not only that, but by the time The Many Saints of Newark’s ending rolls around in the early ‘70s, the DiMeo crew is on the verge of a full-fledged war with the Black gangsters of Newark, led by Harold McBrayer (Leslie Odom Jr.).

Naturally, the viewer immediately assumes it’s Harold’s guys who take Dickie out as he opens up the trunk of his car. Just a few scenes later, however, the real identity of the man who ordered the hit on Dickie is revealed. Dickie’s killer is none other than Corrado Soprano Jr. (Corey Stoll) a.k.a. Uncle Junior. Junior’s reasons for killing Dickie are extremely petty, which is fitting for a story that’s always been about gangsters’ unpredictable inner turmoil.

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For starters, Junior doesn’t like how his brother Johnny Boy (Jon Bernthal) nor his nephew Anthony (Michael Gandolfini) deifies Dickie. Then there’s the time that Junior injured himself slipping on some wet stairs and Dickie laughed at him rather than helping. Truth be told, that one incident is probably around 90% of the reason that Junior went after Dickie. Thanks to the events of The Sopranos, we know that Junior isn’t hesitant to order a hit on a family member (as he does with Tony in season 1), and that he’s also very sensitive when it comes to his sexuality. Not being able to adequately perform his manly bedroom duties thanks to his injury must have stung him as much it being revealed he performs cunnilingus on his comare did.

What’s particularly interesting is that this reveal now severely recontextualizes a previous event from The Sopranos. In the season 4 premiere “For All Debts Public and Private”, Tony tells Christopher that they’ve identified the man who killed his father. The man’s name was Barry Haydu and he supposedly did the hit at the behest of Jilly Ruffalo. When Christopher goes to kill Barry, he is adamant that he had nothing to do with Dickie’s death and in fact has never even heard the names Dickie Moltisanti or Jilly Ruffalo.

Christopher responds that it doesn’t matter because Tony wants him dead anyway. Now it seems a lot more likely that Christopher killed the wrong man.

What’s Next for Tony Soprano?

Though The Many Saints of Newark is very much Dickie Moltisanti’s story, the saga of a young Tony Soprano truly does loom large in the proceedings. The adult Tony always told his young ward Christopher that he admired his father. We see here that that was very much the case. Tony both loves and is fascinated by Dickie Moltisanti – maybe more than his own father.

At first, Dickie enjoys this attention but after two familial murders and his imprisoned Uncle Sally telling him to leave the kid alone, Dickie tries to remove himself from Tony’s life. Ironically, the very night he’s killed, Dickie promises to meet Tony the following morning at Holsten’s diner to discuss his future. Was Dickie going to urge him to stay in school or to embrace his talents as a criminal and join the “family?” It looks like we’ll never find out and Tony has potentially his second most traumatic meal at Holsten’s.

After Dickie is killed, Tony is clearly shaken to his core. He peers over the open casket to see his hero and then clasps the dead man’s hand arranging their fingers into a pinky promise. Pinky promises are a big part of Tony and Dickie’s relationship. It’s clear that Tony views that vow as unbreakable. What exactly is Tony vowing to do here though? Given that we know exactly what path Tony takes from here on out – the path of the sword – it’s clear that he’s promising some sort of vengeance for his uncle.

Ironically, Tony will never get that vengeance as Uncle Junior is still alive (albeit barely) at the conclusion of The Sopranos. The moment does catapult young Tony into a life from which there is no return.

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Will There Be a Many Saints of Newark Sequel?

Surprisingly, the answer to this question might actually be yes! We say “surprisingly” because Sopranos creator David Chase was fairly adamant for years that the show didn’t need any kind of followup or prequel. But now that one actually snuck through in the form of The Many Saints of Newark, both Chase and the film’s director Alan Taylor seem up for more.

“Well, it’s funny, I don’t think David will ever make anything where it doesn’t end with, ‘Okay, what happens or what just happened?’ David Chase will always leave things open-ended,” Taylor told Den of Geek. “So, I think the door will never close. It was funny making this. I thought it was going to be a one-shot thing, but David seems to be thinking about possible sequels. And I do think there’s a ‘Tony Soprano, the young gangster’ movie to be made, that we haven’t made yet because, in ours, we didn’t get there.”

Not only does Chase seem up for sequels, but there is some actual paperwork in play that could lead to them. The same day that The Many Saints of Newark premiered, HBO announced that they had signed the Sopranos creator to an overall deal which could open the door for more Sopranos projects. Paulie Walnuts actor Billy Magnussen also told Den of Geek that he was already under contract for any upcoming sequels as well.

If Chase were to pursue more Sopranos storytelling, it would likely come in the form of a sequel to The Many Saints of Newark and not a sequel to the main series. Given Michael Gandolfini’s reasonable approximation of his father’s performance, it would seem that more tales of a young Tony could be in order.

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gregarnott · 3 years

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Corrado John "Junior" Soprano Jr. (Dominic Chianese)

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hilumichee · 4 years

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super-walter-melon-blog · 7 years

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Tony Soprano

played by James Gandolfini

Character Bio

"All due respect, you got no f**king idea what it's like to be number one. Every decision you make affects every facet of every other f**king thing. It's too much to deal with almost. And in the end you're completely alone with it."

The pressures of running 'the family' have taken their toll on Tony. As the acting boss of the DiMeo family, Anthony Soprano heads the most powerful criminal organization in New Jersey. A second-generation wise guy, he's the son of the late Johnny Boy Soprano, a DiMeo capo who brought his boy into his profession and showed him the ropes. After Johnny's death, Tony was mentored by his old man's closest associates, Hesh Rabkin, Jackie Aprile, and Pussy Bonpensiero, as well as Johnny's older brother, Corrado "Junior" Soprano.

Tony was born in 1959 and grew up in Newark and West Orange, New Jersey. Violence was a staple of his childhood: he once witnessed his dad and uncle viciously beating a guy for being late with a numbers payment. Another time he watched Johnny Boy amputate a debtor's finger with a meat cleaver. And though he never struck his two daughters, when Tony transgressed his father sent him flying. Tony's mother, Livia, was busy doling out emotional beatings. Depressive and paranoid, Livia was incapable of affection--she once threatened to plunge a fork into her son's eye--and constantly told Tony he'd never amount to anything. But the coup de grace came years later: when Tony put Livia into a nursing home, she conspired with Junior to have him killed.

These days Tony has his hands full, to put it mildly. The perks of being the boss come at an increasingly high price. He's already had to take out some of his closest associates: Pussy, whom he loved like a brother, when he was recruited as government informant; and Jackie Aprile's son, when he ran afoul of the organization. More recently, when his cousin Tony B. 'went into business for himself,' Tony had to make an agonizing decision: take him out or face an all out war with the New York organization.

If these pressures weren't enough, his personal life is not exactly a suburban idyll. He's had his battles with his Columbia grad daughter Meadow, and routinely clashes with his son, Anthony, Jr., a lackluster student who seems to be having trouble finding his place in life. At least his marriage to Carmela, strained almost to divorce by years of infidelity, appears to have settled into a somewhat peaceful understanding.

It should come as no surprise then that Tony ended up in therapy. He first went to see Dr. Jennifer Melfi for his debilitating anxiety attacks, which were similar to the ones suffered by his late father and now his son. Despite the raised eyebrows of his associates, Tony has mostly stayed in therapy, albeit his own variety (which included trying to start a romantic relationship with his therapist.)

The treatment - and a near-fatal gunshot wound courtesy of the now senile Uncle Junior - have led to an awareness in Tony that life is fragile. In his family life, and his sometimes tenuous relationship with his New York colleagues, he's enjoying a newfound perspective. Despite the aggravations of everyday life, he's making an effort to see every day as a gift, even if some days, the gift seems to be a pair of socks.

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Will Tony Rob Feech La Manna’s Card Game in The Many Saints of Newark?

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David Chase hates it when sloppy pop journalists tag The Many Saints of Newark as a “Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) origin story.” This is a gangster movie about Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola), the father of Christopher (Michael Imperioli) on The Sopranos. But we will get to see the first steps the future boss of the DiMeo family takes towards crime. We know young Tony (Michael Gandolfini) made his bones on the murder of Willy Overall on Labor Day of 1982, from the episode “Remember When,” but it’s doubtful the film will go that far in the timeline. That being said, it doesn’t mean Tony didn’t have to pop someone as a tax on past misdeeds.

There is no mention of the character Feech La Manna in the Many Saints of Newark IMDb page, but there are enough wise guys listed as characters to fill in the blanks. There is honor among thieves, at least when gambling, and the first thing the young punk Tony did which got him noticed was rob a room of criminals. Not just any game, either. It was run by one of the most respected standup guys in the Tri-State area, and parts of Sicily: Freech LaManna. He was so much of a legend he had to be played by a legend.

Robert Loggia is cinematic gangster royalty, and it goes way beyond telling Al Pacino not to get high on his own supply in Brian DePalma’s Scarface. He followed that one with the lesser-known mob masterpiece Prizzi’s Honor (1985), made by the iconic director John Huston. Loggia’s first film role was as street level mob associate Frankie Peppo in Somebody Up there Likes Me. That 1956 film, which starred Paul Newman as Rocky Graziano, was based on a book the middleweight boxing legend himself wrote, and was fairly accurate on street crime. Loggia personally was so tough, when Bill Maher said he thought Independence Day was stupid, on his old show Politically Incorrect, the actor convinced him to change his opinion. All it took were the words “what do you mean?”

Michele “Feech” La Manna was equally mythic. Tony says it himself. The old-school gangster was made in Italy, came to America in the 1950s, and settled in on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. The DiMeo crime family was under the leadership of Ercoli “Eckley” DiMeo at the time. Feech ran gambling and bookmaking joints, and was in the same class, but in a slightly better league, as Giovanni “Johnny Boy” Soprano and Corrado “Junior” Soprano (Dominic Chianese). He also had a bakery and catering company on the side which did so well that Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri (Tony Sirico) calls him “The King of Breadsticks.” Feech quickly became a caporegime and had a fearsome reputation. But his real street cred came from his friendly Saturday night card game. It was a high-stakes, VIP event, and he ran it with style and humor, and was very hands on.

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Jackie Sr. and Tony would have robbed Feech game’s sometime between 1978 and 1979. According to the myth, sticking up the venerated game proved Tony and Jackie had balls, and solidified their status as rising stars. By all rights, Feech could have had them killed. Jackie’s older brother, Richie Aprile (David Proval), was a good earner, and a high-ranking soldier in the family. He intervened on his brother and Tony’s behalf. Tony’s father and uncle were capos in the DiMeo family. Johnny Boy probably had to go into his own pocket to make things right with Feech.

The major takeaway of the card game stickup was that nobody died, and Feech was repaid at least some of his money. But the point had been made. These were street legends in the making. It doesn’t go the same way when Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano) tells the story to the future generation of mob wannabes. Ralph thinks he never moved up the ranks because he wasn’t part of robbing La Manna’s card game. When Ralph tells Jackie Jr. (Jason Cerbone) and Dino about it, he makes it sound like such an easy entrance to mob life they try to make history repeat itself.

They target a card game run by Eugene Pontecorvo, a member of Ralph’s crew. They smoke crank before the stickup to get up the nerve, and go through with it even though Christopher and Furio Giunta (Federico Castelluccio) are at the table, and the card dealer, Sunshine, gives them a chance to get out before they get in trouble. Jackie kills Sunshine and shoots Furio in the leg. Christopher and Albert Barese kill Jackie Jr.’s small crew. Furio’s leg wound is treated by urologist Dr. Ira Fried.

It’s a hanging offense for Jackie Jr. Even though he is the son of a former boss. On behalf of Jackie Jr.’s mother, Ralphie asks for a pass for Jackie Jr. But he does have Vito Spatafore (Joseph R. Gannascoli) do the job on the kid. It might have come closer to that for Tony and Jackie than the word on the street. In season 2, episode 3, “Toodle-fucking-Oo,” Richie Aprile tells Tony: “I’m the guy who saved you from the hit parade.” He fills in the details. “Feech was a made man. If it wasn’t for me, you would’ve got a vicious beating, to say the least.”

The legend says Tony and Jackie were on a fast track to being made because of the robbery. It is possible the Willie Overall hit was part of the tax Freech put on the clemency. Aprile’s details might explain why Feech wasn’t so hot to take orders from Don Tony Soprano.

Feech was convicted of RICO in 1984, and sentenced to 20 years. When he gets out in 2004, La Manna returns to North Jersey to find the guy who robbed his gang is now the boss of the family he owes allegiance to. He wants to “get back in the game,” and that includes getting his card game back. Tony agrees, just so long as Feech doesn’t step on anybody’s toes. Feech swears he is a great dancer, and to be fair, nobody’s got moves like his. First, he trims the limbs from under the landscaper who pays Paulie for protection. Then he jacks every car parked for Dr. Fried’s daughter’s wedding, even after being told the doctor was not to be touched.

Tony had already gone through this when Richie got out of jail and pulled a power play. Feech La Manna is loosely based on Bonanno crime family capo Carmine Galante, who tried to overthrow Phillip Rastelli after getting out of prison. Tony nips it in the bud, sending Christopher and Benny Fazio over to Feech’s place with a garage full of hot plasma screen TVs. They are there when his parole officer comes by and Feech goes back to prison.

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The Many Saints of Newark will be released in theaters on October 1, and will be available on HBO Max for 31 days from the theatrical release.

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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How The Many Saints of Newark Almost Brought Carmela Soprano Back

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To some, The Many Saints of Newark is just a period piece mob movie that will pop up in their HBO Max feed on October 1. To others, however, it’s manna from heaven – the first time we’ll see classic characters from The Sopranos onscreen since the legendary HBO show signed off in 2007.

Slated to appear in The Many Saints of Newark’s 1967 version of Tony Soprano’s New Jersey are: a young Tony Soprano (Michael Gandolfini), his father Giovanni “Johnny Boy” Soprano (Jon Bernthal), uncle Corrado “Junior” Soprano Jr. (Corey Stoll), mother Livia Soprano (Vera Farmiga), Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri (Billy Magnussen), Silvio Dante (John Magaro), Sal “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero (Samson Moeakiola), and potentially more.

According to The Many Saints of Newark director Alan Taylor though, the film nearly opened with a scene featuring one of the series’ most important characters played by her original actress. Taylor first told Collider that the opening scene of the film initially included Edie Falco embodying her Emmy-winning role as Carmela Soprano. Ultimately, that scene was scrapped in favor of the movie’s current intro and Falco nor Carmela will be featured in the final product.

When Taylor spoke with Den of Geek after the news had already broken, he was understandably hesitant to expound upon what the opening scene could have been any further.

“I’m already starting to think it wasn’t a great idea to say that much. I tend to be candid and brutally honest,” the director says.

Taylor did add that it was nice to see Falco back in her iconic role – even if for only a moment.

“Sadly, Edie doesn’t appear but it was a great excuse to bring her in,” he says. “We put her through hair, makeup, and wardrobe. She became Carmela again for a second. (Losing the scene) is just part of the brutal process of finding the movie along the way.”

Now only one question remains: what exactly was that scene? Is the missing Many Saints of Newark Edie Falco intro destined to become the latest in a long line of Sopranos mysteries like “what happened to the Russian?”, “did Tony die?”, and “why does Paulie laugh like that?” Maybe!

We likely won’t know until the Blu-Ray release and we get to check the deleted scenes. Until then, we can only speculate. It’s safe to assume that the missing Carmela Soprano scene did not occur any time after The Sopranos’ finale. For, while Taylor is comfortable in asserting his theory that Tony Soprano was killed, series creator David Chase is adamant about leaving that a mystery. Any scene featuring Carmela wasn’t going to pick up in a hospital room with her mourning her lost husband.

It’s possible that the Carmela Soprano intro had something to do with her relationship with the Moltisantis. Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola) has been described as the central character of The Many Saints of Newark. Dickie was Carmela’s cousin so a moment featuring the two could have provided a useful connective tissue between the TV show and the movie.

Ultimately though, Taylor is confident that Sopranos fans will be happy with the introduction scene that he and Chase chose.

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The beginning that we have right now is a stroke of genius that David came up with late in the game. We had an earlier beginning that we actually had shot but this seemed to shape the movie more,” he says.

The Many Saints of Newark premieres in theaters and on HBO Max Friday Oct. 1.

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