“Sopranos” prequel movie “The Many Saints of Newark”*

Blech -stopped watching after 5 minutes. Not a fan of this guy and could care less about his take on this movie, even if I agree that it's a stinker.

 

I didn't watch this one, but I have seen some of his other videos. He has an hour with Joe Pistone (the real Donnie Brasco), and I found their discussion was insightful to understanding the series. They said the Mafia and police, at least in their time, had kind of a mutual respect. It makes the scenes between Tony and Agent Harris more believable.

 

"'Remember when' is the lowest form of conversation." -Tony

 

He was alive when they filmed this movie, I think.

I agree, he was a much better actor for the role. I love the episode where a young Tony sneaks his way to the carnival and sees his father get arrested. "Can you believe these cops? They went to the wrong place! Arrested the wrong guys!"

The actress who played the young Livia was great too, but Vera Famiga was at least equally as good (the scenes written for the actress on the series were much better though).

 

I don't know how many people watched Entourage or listen to Victory the Podcast, but creator Doug Ellin and stars Kevin Connolly and Kevin Dillon regularly discuss if that show could be made today. Ellin says that the characters would adjust to the times and he could still write it well enough to reflect that since the theme of the show is friendship and Ari would still be have the same personality. I would think the same could be said for The Sopranos or Seinfeld.

 

TV shows reflect the time in which they were made. Obviously, The Sopranos could afford to be more offensive as an HBO show. In fact, their original programming in this period was often deliberately un-PC, offering viewers that which was beyond the pale on network TV. That was part of the appeal of HBO's own material - their selling-point, if you will - and it is obvious that The Sopranos was a product of these particular circumstances. Without the scrutiny of network censors, they could deal with sensitive issues and moral ambiguity as they pleased - and they surely did.

It was a moment in time; it can't be recreated.

 

Maybe that's because there's some nuance to the perspective to put it all in context watching Sopranos in the early '00s vs MSoN 20 years later. Sopranos being set in the present day when it aired vs MSoN taking place in the '60s and '70s -- that needs to be factored into it. The amount of screen time in the two-hour MSoN devoted to African American relations compared to how unapologetic Sopranos had been over more than 6 seasons -- it's night and day.

Absolutely, I rewatched Entourage recently and it is obvious that the show could not be made today. The humor was misogynistic and testosterone driven, and that made it entertaining. Piven was almost roadkill on the #metoo highway and the convincing way he played Ari in the show -- with nonstop sexist, racist, and homophobic lines -- didn't help his image. He's such a talented actor that he keeps finding work.

 

You might at least acknowledge that MSoN is supposed to be a prequel to a show about Italian Americans, e.g., the DiMeo crime family, not African Americans. Sopranos didn't dedicate upwards of a third of its screen time to covering African-American issues in Newark. This focus was a huge drain on precious screen time that could have helped develop Dickie's relationship with Tony, which was abrupt and short shrifted.

 

Thank you.
I think that's what I was trying to get at and failing to make it clear.

The riots assumed far too much importance in MSoN. So much so, that to my mind, it was almost trying to be a different film. There could have been much less of that, and more of what you say, the relationship between Dickie and Tony - and Johnny Boy (Bernthal) who was criminally underused in this movie.

 

I avoided this thread so as not to run across spoilers or get any preconceived feelings towards the movie. Watched it last night and was left feeling...like I missed a part of a movie. In its time, I considered the Sopranos to be a media changing show. Television wasn't going to be the same again. Eventually The Wire appeared and took things to the next level, but I still considered the Sopranos to be a bar set for all entertainment. I had high hopes for the movie and was left wondering what could be. I didn't dislike it but I wasn't impressed overall. There were moments but the momentum never carried. Some of the roles were well done....the younger Junior was well played but not given much to work with. If the story was about Dicky, then he should have been the complete focus. I'm good with Tony and most of the series characters being bit players. They were the people who revolved around Dicky. As far as anything more Sopranos...no, leave it be.

 

I see what you're saying but Chase didn't include black characters because he was "catering" to the "woke crowd." He only included them as ciphers to serve a few purposes:

-pin the murder of Hollywood Dick Moltisanti on protesters (burned up in the shop);
-pin the murder of Dickie Moltisanti on Harold (everyone thought it was him because they had a beef);
-and explain white people's flight to the suburbs (including Tony)

So Chase used black characters as a plot device and he still made a stinker. That falls squarely on Chase and not on black people. Although, blaming black people for everything wrong in the world is one of the most Sopranos-esque thing one could possibly do.

 

Chase and HBO really "screwed the pooch" on this one.

 

What you're hitting on here is why I argued that this "movie" should have been a series of 10 one-hour episodes.

The pacing at which this movie sprinted leads me to believe (and, of course, I could be wrong as hell) that much material was shot and large chunks ended up on the "cutting room floor" because of the short movie format.

In a series, I think the relationship between the DiMeo crime family and the African-American characters in Newark would have been more nuanced. In this movie, every scene seemed to swing like a hammer -- the impact on the viewer seemed to take a back seat to just rapidly moving the plot along.

 

Really? You know this how? Besides, the film was never going to be about Tony Soprano anyhow - the focus on Moltisanti is literally in the title.

 

Loved the series and saw the movie last night. What a disappointment.

 

Since the original show was hugely influenced by Goodfellas and includes so many Goodfellas alum, I thought this was interesting: rewatching Goodfellas this morning while doing other stuff, this line stood out to me at the 2:14:50 mark. "If they had been wiseguys, I wouldn't have heard a thing. I would have been dead." More than anything I think Goodfellas and this line were the inspiration and launching point for Chase to develop Sopranos, and he had his abrupt ending in mind from the start.

If only MSoN had been so inspired.

 

You think this profound examination of the human condition in the late 20th century was due to David Chase wanting to show a scene of a guy getting whacked and not seeing it coming? Madon'.

 

I said Goodfellas (which is a profound film itself) and this line in particular were the inspiration and launching point. Please stick with that and not your version! It's not a coincidence that half the Sopranos cast came from Goodfellas and the line at the climax of the film is about not hearing a thing and being dead, which we've all noted was echoed repeatedly, implicitly and explicitly, in Sopranos.

 

In any case, Chase has said he thought of the ending two years before the show ended.

 

Very good summary and that is pretty much my take on it as well. Didn't think it was awful but really didn't enjoy it much (my wife was more critical.... she hated it ). And agree with you as well regarding the Sopranos.....nothing additional is needed.

 

The movie felt like a two-hour trailer for a possible sequel.

 

OH PLEASE NO!

 

too bad he made that terrible decision...IMO.

 

Pretty good interview with David Chase-
The Sopranos David Chase On Tony’s Ending & The Many Saints of Newark – The Hollywood Reporter
But with one question that didn't have the answer I would hope-
What are the chances that still happens, even though you have some reservations?
-No. I would do one more movie.
Of Sopranos?
-Yeah. Because I have an idea for that that I’d like to do. But I don’t think they want that.

 

I watched it last night. Disappointing, mediocre. At first I thought someone other than Chase must have written it, because it seemed so far below The Sopranos in quality.