Tessio: Tom, can you get me off the hook? For old times' sake? Tom: Can't do it, Sally. 
Posted on 06/19/2013 4:30:14 PM PDT by ConservativeMan55
RIP
Woulda thunk it?
Condolences to his family and friends.
Alive, but hooked up to a respirator.
4:48 PM PT — The celebrity tributes have begun ... we just spoke with Joseph R. Gannascoli — aka Vito on “The Sopranos” — who tells us. “James is one guy who never turned his back on me. He was the most humble and gifted actor and person I have ever worked with.”
He adds, “He was a great man and I will forever be indebted to him. “
www.tmz.com
Silvio's fate was left hanging in the last episode. He got shot up pretty badly, but was still alive and on a respirator. The comment was made, I think by Tony, that he "was not expected to regain consciousness", leaving the door open for Silvio to appear in a Sopranos movie had one been made. Now, that's not going to happen. R.I. P. james Gandolfini.
His scene with Rosanna Arquette was brutal. I still cringe every time I see it and agree it’s a great movie.
Devastating. Tony Soprano is one of the greatest TV
characters ever developed,imho. This confirms by belief
now that he was killed in the final moments of the final
episode. RIP Mr. Gandolfini, and thanks.
Say it ain’t so!
I understand that it wasn’t a show for everyone, not everyone’s cup of tea as it were; it was certainly graphically and extremely violent at times and very “adult”, but it was IMO an amazingly written and extremely well acted show. FWIW, it was to me sort of like Shakespeare set in modern day New Jersey and instead of kings it was mobsters (and when you think about it; Shakespeare was also often extremely violent and full of sexual situations and innuendos, family power struggles, etc.) but we call it “literature” and have to read and study it (Shakespeare) from junior HS through HS.
Gandolfini’s portrayal of Tony Soprano was nothing less than amazing. One minute you are genuinely feeling sorry for him, wanting to give him a hug and take his pain away (much like Hamlet) and the next minute, he does something so insane and so vile, that you hate him (much like Hamlet) but unlike Hamlet, you aren’t really sure where this story arch is going to take you. And the rest of the cast were also amazing.
Of course, James Gandolfini had much more to his acting credits than the Soprano’s but that’s the role that most people will remember him for.
Tessio: Tom, can you get me off the hook? For old times' sake? Tom: Can't do it, Sally.
Thanks again. Maybe I'll check out season one and go from there.
Gabbagool...
I'm something of a fuddy duddy owing to my church of Christ upbringing. Maybe even a borderline prude. I don't drink, don't cuss hardly at all, I did smoke (like our preacher did back when) and never cared for rock music, preferring Southern Gospel and old time country before it got a tad smutty for my old ears.
I guess my one "vice" is mob movies and "The Sopranos". Your summation, especially the amazingly written phrase, is very much on target and, tangentially, brings to mind something Peggy Noonan wrote years ago before she went into RINO-land.
Stop here and go out and rent The Godfather, Part II. In the middle of that movie, you will find a speech that is one of the most famous of our time, and that a lot of people keep parts of in their heads. (If I were making a compendium of great speeches of the latter half of the twentieth century I would include it.)
It is the speech spoken by the actor Lee Strasberg, who played the part of Hyman Roth, a character inspired by the old gangster Meyer Lansky.
Here is Lee Strasberg's great speech, given as Hyman Roth stood, weak and furious, before cold-eyed Michael Corleone:
There was this kid I grew up with. He was younger than me, sort of looked up to me, you know. We did our first work together, worked our way out of the street. Things were good, we made the most of it. In Prohibition we ran molasses into Canada, made a fortune -- your father too.
As much as anyone I loved him and trusted him.
Later on he had an idea: to build a city out of a desert stopover for GIs on the way to the coast.
That kid's name was Moe Green. And the city he invented was Las Vegas.
This was a great man, a man of vision and guts. And there isn't even a plaque or a signpost or a statue of him in that town.
Someone put a bullet through his eye. No one knows who gave the order. When I heard it, I wasn't angry. I knew Moe, I knew he was headstrong, talking loud, saying stupid things. So when he turned up dead, I let it go.
And I said to myself, This is the business we've chosen. I didn't ask who gave the order. Because it had nothing to do with business.
You have two million in a bag in your room. I'm going in to take a nap. When I wake, if the money's on the table I'll know I have a partner. If it isn't I'll know I don't.
That man's name was Moe Green. And the city he invented was Las Vegas.
When Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola wrote those words they thought they were writing dialoge, a theatrical speech of a major character. But...they were writing a great speech.
It is simple, unadorned, direct, declarative. There isn't anything in it that is "eloquent," and yet taken as a whole it is deeply eloquent: It tells you something big in an unforgettable way. There is in it no obvious, signaled rhythm, and yet if you read it aloud you will find in it the beautiful, unconscious rhythm of concentrated human speech. There are no phrases that seem to attempt to conjure up pictures, and yet when you hear it you imagine a Moe Green and see the dusty nothingness of early Las Vegas.
It is simplicity that gives the speech its power. Each word means something and each seems to inevitably follow the word that precedes it and summon the word that follows. And so a kind of propulsion is created: It moves forward, and with good speed.
One of the great things about this speech is that as you hear it you realize that for the first time you're hearing what Hyman Roth really thinks. The plain and unadorned quality of his words signals this. And we pick the signal up because we have gained a sense in our lives that true things are usually said straight and plain and direct.
Most of the important things you will ever say or hear in your life are composed of simple, good, sturdy words. "I love you." "It's over." "It's a boy." "We're going to win." "He's dead."
RIP and Godspeed.
One of the few shows that I set aside time for and looked forward to (Sunday nights)
Convincing actor and believable roles...definitely in 8mm.
“After years playing Tony Soprano I figured James Gandolfini was typecast forever.”
He did a great job in Get Shorty too. Never thought you were watching Tony Soprano.
The description you give of Tony is very eloquent.
I was just discussing with a someone how Mad Men’s Don
Draper seems to be based on the Tony model. You can sense
an innate goodness, but they play dirty, and constantly
need to be forgiven, exasperating those that love them.
Anyway, Don Draper, though a great character, is miles away
from Tony Soprano. I’m shocked about how sad I am about this.
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