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

i disagree , no way is in the top 5 actors in the serie . Boardwalk Empire on the other hand .

 

Yr right! After thinking about it, I'd amend his ranking from somewhere in the top 5 to top 10. I'm listing who I think are the a-list. There are so many fantastic 'gangsters' in the show but by the by and large, they're basically playing scripted versions of themselves!

James Gandolfini
Edie Falco
Lorraine Bracco
Dominic Chianese
Nancy Marchand
Joe Pantaliano
Annabella Sciorra
Steve Buscemi

 

I think Buscemi was maybe too familiar a face to cast in the show. It wasn’t quite on the level of casting, say, Robert De Niro, but he’s still pretty famous. Most of the regulars were character actors who had not had high profile starring roles before, so they were those characters to us. He did a good job of course but he didn’t quite disappear into the part like others. I found Joe Pantoliano a bit like that too, though he was a rung or two down the fame ladder from Buscemi at the time (where is he now?)

 

Good point. I hadn't thought of it that way.

That was Carlo that Tony ripped into for that (in the car with Bobby after they left Hesh's).

 

i think Frank Vincent was famous due to his major roles in 3 Scorcese movie as a gangster but he fitted in perfectly . Pantoliano was not famous in Europe in my opinion .

 

Yr right! Hey, maybe HE set Tony up!

 

Yes, the coma and so forth. Dragged on a bit too long. I got the meanings, but found it tedious.

The Vito arc was somewhat interesting. Makes one think what they would do if they had to pack up and flee with little warning.

Ultimately a good season, but the shark was approaching.

 

I guess it's all relative, but much of the Sopranos cast was the supporting cast of Goodfellas, including Melfi, Paulie, and Christopher. Buscemi is more renown for sure as is Pantoliano, who was in Matrix. But I think Sopranos was sophisticated in the way it integrated them all. Heck, Chase even got away with casting Anette Benning in a dream sequence.

 

Doubtful. He had already been busted by the feds and flipped, so there was no need for him to put out a hit against Tony.

How much Patsie, Paulie or anyone else helped is up for good debate, but I think it goes without saying that NY was behind the hit. Butchie never liked Tony at all (I would say he hated him and had no regard for him) and once he took over following Phil's death, I am sure whacking Tony was at the top of his "things to go" list.

 

Very plausible scenario. Butchie gives the nod to Tony whacking Phil and then has Tony whacked.

 

The end of the below scene (at the end of 6a) is telling, to me. That was the first episode we even saw Butch, yet there is he getting in Tony's face at the end and then that body language as Tony walks away.

 

But don’t forget Little Carmine, to whom Butchie looks for approval at the sitdown.

 

Little Carmine was always at the precipice of an enormous crossroads.

 

The fundamental question of “Made in America” is whether Little Carmine was as effective as a boss like his dad was. Until he was, it was hard to verify that he’d think he’d be more effective.

 

I didn't get that at all. The father was decisive, shrewd and made everyone reveal more than they wanted while he kept all his cards to himslf. Little Carmine was always the opposite. Totally ineffective and a half-wit at best. If there's one thing his father taught him, it's this--a pint of blood costs more than a gallon of gold. He was full of botched witticisms like that, which would have been more funny if they didn't come at the expense of Tony. Little Carmine's test came in the previous season when he could have taken over and preempted John but failed spectacularly.

There are alternate theories about the hit, e.g., Tony's Russian connection.

 

Hard to believe he had any juice left, but anything is possible in their world.

 

Little Carmine and his dopey one-liners were comedic gold.

But hey, maybe he was smarter than others, as he stayed off the front lines and was never someone the feds went after (that we know of) and or targeted by another family. Or maybe he was just gutless.

 

Ask the Latin proverb, “Cui bono?”, and Little Carmine comes out looking pretty good. He survives the war of the “Class of 2004,” while Angelo, Rusty, and Billy Leotardo all don’t. Johnny Sack goes to jail and he doesn’t. He’s left with Phil as boss, who unlike Johnny, doesn’t hate him. He stokes the feud between New Jersey and New York, putting the former on a trajectory to doom. Carmine assents to Phil’s execution, thereby creating a vacancy in the big chair he’d had his eyes on in the first place, while the other potential claimants — Butchie and Albie — are looking up to him.

 

This all makes it sound like Little Carmine plotted any of it. He didn't. He actually tried at least twice to intercede on New Jersey's behalf to put the bad blood to rest, as a personal favor to Tony. And it almost worked, but he's such an idiot that he exacerbated the problems that he was trying to allay. If you're implying he did any of this strategically, that's not how the show portrayed it. Yes, he survives the war of 2004 (by limiting his involvement and hiding), but most of his allies are murdered and he fails to show an ounce of leadership. Any respect that comes his way is purely an homage to his father.

 

I forgotten Butchie was Johnny Torrio in “Boardwalk Empire”. Several cast members were in both shows due to Terence Winter. Figures.

 

Unless I missed it scrolling through the thread, no one had posted this:

 

It was posted earlier in the thread actually.

 

Also, this bit of news is making the rounds. David Chase's prequel film to the series is moving along apparently:

‘Sopranos’ Prequel Film Finds Young Tony: Michael Gandolfini Is Chip Off Old Block

 

Well said.

Little Carmine is the "Ted Baxter" of Cosa Nostra. A near-complete dunce who none the less is the last man standing

 

That's great news. Though I wish they were doing a new series instead of a film.