“The Sopranos” premiered 20 years ago today (January 10, 1999).

That’s the site I used. Very helpful.

 

Agreed on Ritchie My favorite quote from him was when (I think it was Syl and Paulie) were trying to get him to build a ramp for Beansie:

"I'll build a ramp up to your a#s. Drive a Lionel up in there..."

 

Yeah his line to her at the bus was classic:

"All in all it was a good visit."

 

Is there a thread on here about the fantastic music featured in this series? If not, there should be as I am eternally grateful for the musical education I received from watching this masterpiece.

 

Read the thread through. The music is discussed.

 

I wonder if Chase has any regrets with his way of ending the series after the loss of James? I always felt he had a movie or TV movie in mind to end it all properly. What a friggin loss for all of us...James was a great person and actor... he just died way to young. : (

 

From everything I've read he was a very sweet man, but the way he tapped into methodical rage when playing Tony was utterly convincing. Chase often says Gandolfini brought a lot of anger to the performances. If that was purely an act, he is the greatest thespian to grace a stage or screen, but more likely he did have things in his life that angered him a great deal and was able to channel it in some sort of method acting.

As for the ending, I wouldn't change a thing. Wouldn't have it any other way. AFAIC, Chase and Weiner are geniuses (I don't use the term lightly) and they thought through that ending far more thoroughly and executed it more properly than anyone else could have. I used to turn the question around and say, "how would you have ended it" but I gave that up when people gave truly bizarre answers that they really thought would improve the show.

It's hard to imagine Gandolfini being able to top or transcend his performances as Tony Soprano. I certainly didn't appreciate him in another role anywhere near as much--not even his small role in The Man Who Wasn't There.

 

I accepted the ending because I loved the show...I wished for a better ending. AND I'm sticking to my belief if James was still alive and they did make a "movie" Chase would have continued with the movie IN THE REST ROOM...

 

Okay, I'll bite. What kind of ending would have been "better"?

Tony and likely Carm and AJ get shot to pieces while Meadow stands at the door watching?

Tony fights off the attacker like a judo champion and seeks revenge on all the New York families and his captains?

The guy walking into the men's room at Holsteins just has a bad case of the runs?

And continuing with a movie about preparing for a mob hit in the rest room is just so derivative of GF1. Chase would never do that in a million years.

 

we'll never know now will we? I did not like the ending...I guess I missed the bandwagon of "his genius ending"...I found it the easy way out that's just been done too many times...Oh yea, your endings are not what I had in mind...: )

 

I’ve never had one ounce of trouble with “The Sopranos” ending. It was logical. Nobody in Tony’s position lives forever. We don’t see it, but he’s dispatched. The thing is, every thinks his family is killed, too. That’s not the way the mob works; family is off limits. There is little doubt that Tony dies at the end. People want alternate theories, but it’s very clear what happens and it’s perfect.

 

Initially I was totally freaked out by the ending, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense - and I thought it was brilliant the way it was linked to Tony and Bobby talking about getting shot while they were fishing together - how you don't even hear the shot...

 

I was freaked out, too. I thought my buddy's TV had malfunctioned and was ready to throw something because I was sure I was missing the real ending. That was part of the genius of it. Don't stop believing. After All That You Dream, by Little Feat. Really done right. The taking of the onion rings like a sort of communion. Each of the folks in Holstein's a slice of America there to witness Tony dying for his sins. Sheer brilliance.

 

Agreed. I don't have the link anymore that laid out all of the clues that indicated that the ending was his death, and I don't have the strength to time them all up myself (LOL), but the way they set it up and finished it, it is clear that Tony died at the end.

 

Never had a problem with the ending. While it was a bit jarring it made sense. Probably my favorite series show ever as Goodfellas and Godfather are my favorite movies of all time.

 

https://masterofsopranos.wordpress.com/the-sopranos-definitive-explanation-of-the-end/

It's pretty convincing and it's been updated recently.

 

thanks I did already.

 

I agree completely except that Chase left just enough plausible deniability of Tony's demise just in case he wanted to make some kind of sequel later.

It was a masterful ending. The only alternative I have ever come up with was one or two episodes earlier. Tony and crew take refuge in a safe house and the final scene is Tony sitting there while clutching an automatic rifle with a very grim look on his face. I thought ending it there would have worked but then came the classic finale.

 

Besides the crazy, unorthodox ending I think part of the backlash towards it was linked to the fact that nobody wanted it to end!

 

Quite possibly, but IMHO the cracks were beginning to show. The final season sputtered a bit due to Gandolfini going on strike. Then it spent too much time on Tony's dream.

 

srcvinyl put out a double very nice vinyl pressing of the first Sopranos soundtrack. Great packaging and sound.

 

was this the peppers and eggs compilation or the 1 disc soundtrack?

 

It's the original, 1CD soundtrack from 1999. I'd love to see a reissue of the Peppers and Eggs comp, though.

 

Exactly. There is little doubt the viewer's attention is drawn multiple times to Tony's "first person perspective," which sets things up. Therefore, there can be little doubt the darkness is Tony's perspective. "First person death" if we accept the comments of the previous episode as foreshadow. However - recall those episodes in which Tony suffered blackouts?? Had Chase wanted to resurrect the series, he could have done so easily, by making the first scene of the new episode Tony waking up from his blackout, with his concerned family around him. That would have worked and would be typical of some of Chase's techniques i.e. getting you to think one thing and revealing the reverse is actually true. Example - the opening scene of Made In America. Creepy funeral style music (ultimately from his alarm clock) and Tony laying there like it's his viewing. Then...he wakes up.

Food for thought only!

 

this!