I’m glad I stood next to James Gandolfini for five minutes after a Nets’ game a few years ago, to ascertain for myself that he was not Tony Soprano, not really. He had the wariness, the watchfulness, of an artist, not a gangster.
Gandolfini and his cast mates and the great David Chase made me commit to that show. I had not watched any series since M*A*S*H ended, but I planned my Sunday evenings around the Sopranos. (Driving through Hazard, Ky., a decade ago, asking motel managers if the rooms had HBO.) I do a riff on why Tony is my role model – I’m sure my wife is quite sick of it. He is modern man. He loves his wife, loves his kids, has a large family and takes his work seriously. (I then launch into the part of the riff about a hot psychiatrist and a hot car saleswoman and an intriguing one-legged Russian home aide -- who dumps him!) By the weirdest of Chasian ironies, Svetlana was a point of reference in The New York Times on the same day Gandolfini’s photo was on the front page for the worst possible reason. A letter to the editor about electronic surveillance and liberty quoted Svetlana as an admirer of America. Tony made me worry about his health. Glimpses of him in those déclassé sleeveless undershirts or in bed or at the pool made me worry that he was having too many meals with too many associates – all that cheese, all that pasta, all that meat, all those desserts. Basta gia, enough already. Were there too many rehearsals around those tables? Did Artie send over too many antipasti? All I knew was that I couldn’t take my eyes off any of them, the people or the plates. David Chase and his associates found a universe full of amazing characters who moved from real life to the screen for that one role. Robert Altman did the same thing, envisioning Jim Bouton, the pitcher, as a fugitive who needs to be whacked; finding musicians I had met in the bars and corridors of Music City and putting them in his movie Nashville, and casting Virginia Madsen as a stunning red-headed angel of death, and getting Lindsay Lohan to perform what I fear will be the high point of her acting career in Prairie Home Companion. Chase and his people did the same thing with musicians and civilians – put them in a series with Tony Soprano. He exposed Tony’s demons early – witnessing his father cutting off a finger of a deli operator who has not paid his debts. Tony’s childhood anxieties have lasted, linking the finger and the spicy ham, capicola, pronounced gabagool in the Neapolitan dialect. In the series, when Gandolfini referred to his terrors, he would say, “You know, you know, the gabagool.” After that, there really is no point watching anything else, ever. I sometimes saw James Gandolfini playing Tony Soprano and I imagined a season ending in which Tony would gather up his family and go to Boca Raton and enter a witness protection program. I saw the potential for a limited form of remorse, the chance of living another life. That was my hope for my role model. The last we saw of Tony Soprano, he was in a restaurant with his wife and son, about to have a meal. Then the screen faded black. Everybody has an interpretation. Mine is: Tony ordered spaghetti puttanesca and a couple of cannoli and lived a long and peaceful life, somehow. I wished nothing less for James Gandolfini. Addio, maestro. 6/20/2013 02:02:26 am
Great, as usual, George. You mention MASH, I view Tony Soprano as one of the five best and most compelling TV characters I've ever seen and I put Alan Alda and Hawkeye Pierce on that list. Those might be the top two. Archie Bunker and Felix Unger, perhaps on that list. But Tony and Hawkeye in a class of their own.
George Vecsey
6/20/2013 03:39:37 am
Paul, great to hear from you. I could easily have done a tribute to Dave Jennings, another Jersey icon, in his way. Very classy guy.
Stratos Safioleas
6/20/2013 03:20:10 am
"The Sopranos" is quite possibly TV show ever; the success wouldn't be possible without James Gandolfini who managed to draw resources from his experience growing as a son of an Italian immigrant in NJ. Although Tony has left the screen years ago there was always a distinct hope that he may show up again with a box of Italian desserts. While this is certain not to happen we at least have 6 seasons of brilliant performances to watch and remember him.
George Vecsey
6/20/2013 03:41:21 am
Stratos, you were here then, you saw how time stopped on Sunday night. Thanks for being in touch. GV
Stratos Safioleas
6/20/2013 04:32:41 am
PS. I always follow your blog George. Incidentally, I meant to write "quite possibly the best TV show ever" God knows what happen to the world "best ..."
Altenir Silva
6/20/2013 04:21:51 am
RIP James Gandolfini.
Ed Martin
6/20/2013 01:43:13 pm
It is possible to grieve for someone you never knew--only by studying the actor beneath Tony and wondering at his talent. I heard David Chase commenting on Tony several years ago, played again today on NPR's "Fresh Air." He said, without James Gandolfini, there could have been no "Sopranos." RIP
John McDermott
6/20/2013 02:46:12 pm
Jim Rockford was MY role model...until Tony came along. Hard to watch anything else after The Sopranos. An obscure network called Mhz helps, with shows like Montalbano, Fog and Shadows and Commisario Brunetti.
John McDermott
6/20/2013 02:52:04 pm
Upon reflection, I'm thinking of a new role model: Sergeant Gerry Boyle of the Garda Siochána, Connemara Branch(played by Brendan Gleeson in The Guard).
George Vecsey
6/21/2013 01:05:59 am
John, they are new to me. I watch the Mets, soccer, Rachel Maddow and the first seven minutes of Letterman. And I search for Sopranos reruns. I saw a new one the other night, where the FBI agent is working on Adriana, both actresses terrific. I can never get enough of Furio edging the doctor into the water hole and muttering (with that accent), "Dumb F-----g Game." I love that part. GV
John McDermott
6/23/2013 09:10:08 am
I agree with Furio.
Altenir Silva
6/27/2013 02:05:43 am
Dear George,
Mike C
7/3/2013 05:28:07 am
Thanks,again, George for the perspective. Nick and I were at a Nets game in March and saw him outside,surrounded by a small circle of men and his 13 yr old son, sad now knowing he found his dad passed on. 'Tony' had that look on his face of the artist. As I live in NE NJ, I drove past the Bada-Bing Saturday on Rte-17 on the marquis, "Thank you Jimmy...farewell Boss.' Yes, he made Sunday Nights a centerpiece for the limited TV I watch beyond the Bronx Bombers, PGA, Seinfeld, those 7 mins of Letterman and the news when I feel like it. Grazie Capo, riposa in pace. Comments are closed.
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