Most Sopranos fans know that Vincent Curatola was a stone mason contractor before he became an actor. He got small parts, but nothing big, and was still a contractor when he auditioned for the Sopranos. He said during an interview that he was late for his audition for Johnny Sack. The assistant casting director scolded him and almost sent him away, but she allowed him to read the scene. The audition bit was that Johnny Sack was angry, and was going to issue threats. Vincent decided to read the scene very subdued. He used that soft voice of his, with his cold, menancing stare while doing the audition. He was asked to come back the next day to read for David Chase, and got the role. He later found out that all of the other actors up for the part read their lines with flailing gestures and over-the-top stereotypical mobster behavior. The Sopranos directors and Chase saw in Vincent a true genius who could nail the role of Johnny Sack.
“Normally when I had a meeting with Johnny Sack, my chances of coming back alive were 99 out of 100. But when I heard him say ‘this is the last time we’re meeting like this, it’s undignified...’ I gave myself 50/50”
Tony should've taken his cousin Tony side. Cousin Tony acted alone but for retaliation of his dead friend that Phil & his brother did. Tony should be like: you NY guys don't like it, tough luck. Just like he said at the end. He's my cousin. He gave John the smile, I don't have to give him up or do shit for you guys. If I was Tony Soprano, I'll run John over with his car, tell his cousin to come back & go get Phil as well. Then become more powerful than everyone.
Gman6755 I agree, mostly. I wouldn't say he "stole" the scenes from Gandofini, but they had great chemistry. And he was by far one of the best actors of the series.
+fooloof how can you not mention Uncle Jun? what a great character without him the whole crew including Paulie would seem well young. they needed that old school element
I'd like to know Tony's secret on how he can walk to his car, open and close the door at the same time, all while starting it and then driving off in 1.2 seconds.
Of what? Johnny Sack?! He knows he's safe going into his meetings with him. There's no way he'd be doing them if he didn't...especially, by himself. You can't be in his position without being fearless. The only person who might be even more fearless than Tony is Paulie.
@@eightysbaby8798 i commented in the wrong thread. i was responding to "those two were by far the two best actors in the series." i think the actor that played richie was great and second to no one.
John was there by himself. Tony wasn't afraid of him. He left because he made his point and there wasn't anything left to say after that. Johns not stupid. He wants no part of Tony one on one.
"I choose not to then." Johnny Sack really put the boot into The Glorified Crew at moments like this. As unstable and riddled with informants as the Lupertazzi family is portrayed to be in the series, they can still treat the Jersey guys like shit whenever they want to make a point.
And that one action got him fucked in the ass repeatedly, whether it was being forced to acquiesce to Phil's constant insecurities or losing a loyal friend in Tony during a highly volatile period of time.
This fucking show was my Sunday night for 8 years. And I’ve rewatched it at least twice since it ended. It never gets old. A masterpiece the likes of we’ll never see again.
John has the greatest poker face on this show. You hardly ever can truly tell what he's thinking or how he's feeling if you go by his facial expressions, with the exception of the Ginny weight joke issue. Of all the bosses on this show, he's probably the most realistic, him and Carmine Sr.
@@denizenofclownworld4853 I do, and yeah, he nailed the stone-cold expression some guys have in that life. I'm from Calabria, so obviously the mafiosi here act and look different, but they share in this unsettling stone cold expression that just screams sociopath.
@@stevem2323 Tony didnt survive. When Johnny died Phil took over power and startet the war against the Soprano Family. Main reason for this war was Tony Blundetto. Tony should have given his cousin to the new yorkers after what his cousin did. That would have prevented the sopranos from that war that tony was killed in.
@@thomasschmitt8827 They had a sit down organized by NY families, after that nobody would dare to hit Tony, it's how mafia works. They mad the last scene so you wonder, Tony survived.
@@qb6570 The ending is open, Chase wanted it that way, philosophical, to wonder what the fuck happened for everyone of us make our own conclusions. But in the reality of the mob that show follows nobody would dare to whack Tony, end of the story. After peace sit down organized by the other NY mob families the war is over, and nobody would dare to try something. Tony survived...
the rewatchability value of this show is unmatched. It's like a perfect song. Gandolfini's facial expressions are iconic. The way he smiles when he says "It's my fuckin cousin". You know he's not happy, he's not angry. Just a perfect temporary fleeting fuck you to John from Tony, so real and brilliantly written and acted. Nothing ever has or will come even close to this show.
The line of him saying it's his cousin is so genuine is because of the deep ties to family. Its one thing to make money or have ties to other people or to do your duty, but in the end every man makes a choice between family and...other things. That choice is what defines many people.
Just goes to show how stupid these thugs really are deep down. They have no problem murdering and extorting innocent people. But then just because someone is a cousin of someone else. They suddenly have morals lol. It’s a bad joke.
This scene pretty much shows the contempt New York had for New Jersey. It's acceptable for the Boss of Jersey to meet on waste ground but it's "undignified" for a Boss of one of the Five Families.
Tony glances over at Johnny Sack doing that little tobacco spit, like an arrogant ass, and changes his mind about giving up his cousin. Great directing, great acting by both, another amazing scene from an amazing series.
At 2:13 I’ve always been amazed at the speed at which Tony walks to his car, opens the door, gets in, switches the engine on, and drives away. Maybe he was a varsity athlete
It's very fitting how Tony has the big SUV - large, loud, a bit trashy - and Johnny has the elegant Maserati. Great symbolism for their characters and NY vs Jersey.
There are times when Tony genuinely opens up and shows his vulnerability, albeit briefly. When he says "John, this is me now" he is speaking from his soul and bearing it all.
Tony should've taken his cousin Tony side. Cousin Tony acted alone but for retaliation of his dead friend that Phil & his brother did. Tony should be like: you NY guys don't like what he did, tough luck. He retaliated, big deal. Do something about it instead of throwing threats & whinge at every meeting. Just like he said at the end. He's my cousin. And He gave John the smile like,... I don't have to give him up or do shit for you guys. If I was Tony Soprano, I'll run John over with his car, tell his cousin to come back & go get Phil as well. Then become more powerful than everyone.
@@mr8883 Tony's cousin killed two made guys without the permission of the boss of his family and the boss of the other family. If Tony backed him it would have meant war. Johnny Sack grew mad with power, he didn't need to appease Tony anymore. Phil was a rising power that would also show his ruthlessness later in the show. Tony B brought nothing to the table, he wasn't respected or feared like Silvio or Paulie, Bobby B, Ralph, Carlo, any of Tony's soldiers or captains. He wasn't even officially in the family. So Tony had no obligation beyond blood to protect him, and doing so might have gotten his whole family killed.
"I don't wanna lie to you Tony, I don't have to, Phil's gonna do it, and he'll do it his way. He told me about some weird torture method, he'll make your cousin shine his shoes till his last breath."
Johnny Sack had enough of Tony's shit by this time. Tony screws Johnny over with the Carmine hit a year before, then Tony doesn't even back Johnny for boss even though the two were extremely close and Johny was the rightful successor. Then Tony B. murders Johnny's protege Joey Peeps and Johnny still let's it go with minimal response. Then Tony B. kills the brother of Johnny's own captain, another slap in the face to him One might think that Johnny was being unreasonable in not even accepting Tony's offer of killing Tony B himself, but frankly Johnny had a position, and as boss he needed to show Tony that the nonsense was over. He also needed to send a clear message to all the families, that if you're going to screw around with them, this is what's going to happen. It would undermine Johnny's leadership, make him look weak and vulnerable to see him roll over again for Tony (the boss of the glorified crew over in Jersey). Honestly, I think Johnny was pretty restrained here considering the problems Tony caused him in the past year. I would have expected a lot worse from him.
I always liked Johnny Sack more than almost any other character. He was rational (unless someone makes a joke about his wife’s ass) and smart. His only mistake was giving The Shah anything (power, etc) more than a shinebox.
So there are a lot of other factors that play into why Johnny Sac changed his demeanor towards Tony as boss. The final nail in the coffin is at the sit-down with Jersey and Ny after Billy Leotardo was killed. Phil is emotional, Chris was threatened, but most of all, Tony let it slip to John that he was fully aware of knowing that his cousin Tony B did in fact kill Joey Peeps and lied directly to his face about is as friends.
@@leonpaelinckyep, John mentioned it and Tony said “what do you want me to say”. I didn’t realize till the last rewatch but he definitely let it slip then.
It's always been one of the best scenes. At night, the bridge with the lighting, Jonny Sack with wearing the new jacket he bought for himself because he was now boss... Jonny is just on an all put power trip in it.
I love the cinemotography in this scene, the NY emvironment at night, the river sound, the bridge, and there's something about this scene being showed after Adriana's death that really gets me, everything was falling appart at this part of the show, and this gets the vibe of it perfectly
The scene was shot under two different bridges [in Brooklyn]. When we see Tony, we see the Brooklyn Bridge in the distance. They are under the Manhattan Bridge-which is just north of the Brooklyn Bridge. John's scenes were shot under the Brooklyn Bridge itself. When we see Tony, they are under the Manhattan Bridge, as a subway [the one I ride daily] passes overhead. But while they talk and we see John, the subway we can still hear but isn't above visually. Because they then are under the Brooklyn Bridge for that shot-Yes, John's response was edited in to seem like they were at one location. The Brooklyn Bridge has no subways. When we see John talking, behind him, under the bridge across the East River in Manhattan, we see three pyramid light structures at water level; that's the Fulton Street Market, that John Gotti's captains were involved in in the seafood trade in 80s. If, when the scene delivers, and you look closely at the structures of the bridges, they are different. The Manhattan Bridge [seen above Tony] clearly has triangular support columns along the road level [not the towers], but the Brooklyn Bridge at the road level are just vertical supports. Again, both scenes shot in Brooklyn, so across the river for Tony is the backdrop of Manhattan's lower Chinatown and Latina housing developments-or projects, while John's side of Manhattan shows Wall Street, Pace University, Fulton Market, and what were the Trade Towers. They did a great job with the editing of the conversation that you would never know this was shot twice at two different locations. These exact locations are parks now. They were empty lots of tall grass and discarded cars and concrete-basically dumping grounds of dead hookers, junkies, rubbed out mob enemies. I'd been down there in my teens.
“I’m not gonna lie to you Tony, I don’t have to. Phil’s gonna do it, and he’s gonna do it his way.” So sinister. One of my favorite quotes from the series
I love Tony's reaction and response to John's arrogant greeting. "Okay......" Tony realised in that moment that there were going to be consequences to his supporting Johnny as boss that he may not have foreseen.
I think Tony is justified in being indignant. He didn't kill anyone. And if he knew his cousin were going to do that, he would have killed him himself. For Phil to have a constant hard-on for Tony over this is unreasonable. Him and Johnny should know Tony wouldn't have stood for that if he knew Tony B. was gonna do that.
JohnLoCicero not to mention that neither Billy nor Tony B were made. Phil acted like he had some higher authority but if he would have clipped Christopher or Tony B it would have been totally fine, and Tony would have been indignant for calling him on it
Johnny Sac got Phil's brother killed by wacking Angelo in the war against Little Carmine because he wanted to aggressively take power. Little Carmine and John could have come to an agreement and New York and Jersey would have been stronger because of it. John Sac would not have had to move to New Jersey and expose himself to the fed's. Johnny started this entire thing.
Ricky Ray Yes, but you must know the circumstances and be able to confine your personal emotions within certain limits. Tony didn't show it and acted like a five year old child with NY.
Ricky Ray It WAS about Tony B. being his cousin. Johnny implied that Phil would kill Tony B. slowly, meaning torture. For Tony S., seeing how pompous Johnny was being merely served as the last straw. Tony S. was a Boss himself, so it made sense that being treated that way would act as a trigger. Like Silvio once said, Tony's main flaw was pride. Tony S. would serve up Tony B. for the good of the Family, but he drew the line at torture. Because that's his fuckin' cousin. lol
+Lietiel I don't think so, I think it did have a bit to do with that but I think it had a lot more to do with the fucked up way Johnny was acting towards him.
Nobody seems to remember that Tony S swore an alibi for Tony B the night of Peeps murder that Tony and Tony were in upstate New York looking for Toby B's daughter. He lied to Johnny Sack.
I think what's happening here is Johnny remembers the way his wife was mocked, and how he was denied his right to avenge her, so he's not going to let Phil waiver that right when it comes to his brother. Brilliant writing.
Watching this scene I now understand why Tony was so ruthless when Jonny was is prison, and asked Tony for help. Tony made sure Janice got the house of the Sacrimonis after Jonny was sentenced to prison. Tone is truly an unforgiving avenger
Μάκης Τυχάλας Well, usually the boss of New York has more power, as they have more soldiers and associates. While Jonny Sac was more powerful than Tony at the begin of his career as the new boss of NY, he lost everything when the feds inprisoned him. After that he slowly lost any power and influence. So basically NY>NJ
This is one of my favourite scenes. Johnny Sack was my favourite of the second shelf characters in the series. The entire programme was superior based on its ambiguity, and he was the best in that regard.
@@WaAaAaAaW I apologize for not quantifying my comment here on RU-vid. No fear when it came to NY. He had panic attacks because he was somewhat reflective. I’ll never make the same mistake again, I promise you. I love you.
@@WaAaAaAaW yh but it wasnt cause he was afraid of New York or fking Johny Sack (which for a second I though Tony was going to outrage like he always does and beat the living shit out of Johny, which btw d been fun to watch) his panics attacks were some kind of "empathy" or reflection over things hes done to others I think
Fear of what? He was ambushing an unsuspecting family member with a shotgun. I think what you may have meant to say was he had no hesitation or doubt, which is true - he'd made up his mind (after trying everything else) that Tony B. needed to die, but he was going to do it himself and it was going to be instant and painless, not even enough time to yell.
knowsmebyname they met there on previous occasions when John was under carmine sr. I think it was Johns way of making sure tony new he was the boss now.
I think it was more so because of his allegiance to his family. It wouldn’t look good if people, especially Phil found out that his boss was still meeting up with Tony like it’s all fun and games after Tony B killed his brother
Amazing scene, the power, the cat and mouse intrigue. Tony knew how far he could push Johnny. He came up to the line but didn't cross it. Had Tony brought up Johnny's shine box all bets would be off, it would be total war and Tony realized that would benefit nobody.
I love the look Johnny gives to Tony at 2:14. Johnny knows if Tony kills Tony B, Phil won’t let it slide and will always hold a grudge towards Tony for it. Worse, Johnny also realizes if Phil makes his way through the ranks, there will only be more hatred towards Tony’s crew which would eventually end in complete bloodshed, which it did.
Since Johnny is the new boss, he had to consolidate power and get Phil completely on his side and his reputation with the family also an opportunity to humble Jersey. Carmine would never meet Tony at night by a bridge so of course Johnny could not. Phil had legit beef so Johnny had to give it to him. That’s why Tony killed that animal blundetto on way that Phil could see that the job was done so he couldn’t be too mad. But still mad that he was denied retribution.
I think the funny part and the part that probably made Tony the most angry is when he said this is the last time I’m meeting you here it isn’t dignified like he doesn’t live in Jersey himself down the road from Tony
These scenes by the bridge with the NYC cityscape in the background are beautiful. It's amazing how you don't see many night scenes like this in modern movies. NYC is mostly portrayed in artsy Woody Allen movies or attacked by CGI monsters.
No sense of noir. The 1940s-1950s produced the greatest noir movies using blac and white to convey thr hidden and the lurking threats, the sordidnesss of the city, the grim and grime of night.
I was here recently in May, it really is one of the most beautiful areas in New York and stunning views of the river, bridges and cityscape. There's a lot to do there as well now. It's a very dignified place now.
This was one of the realest scene in the whole show. The ambiance of the cars passing on the bridge overhead, the actual interaction of the reality of that buisisness where even Tony someone the audience thinks is so tough realizes he has no more power than anyone else compared to his boss
Picked up where carmine left off. He started every conversation w tony w passive aggressive attacks. Knew Tony's weakness was his temper and maybe some insecurity.
If Tony had went to war with Johnny Sack Jersey would have been wiped from the map. Johnny always seems tons more cerebal then Phil Leotardo, more then Tony even.
I like how Tony and Johnny's cars both represent their character and status at the time. Tony's car being a large and powerful four by four, that reminds us of Tony's physical strength and brutish nature, while the modesty of the car showcases to us that he is only the boss of a small family in Jersey (you could also say it shows Tony's intelligence as he doesn't want a flash car that would attract the attention of the FEDS). Compare this with Johnny Sacks sleek sports car which represents his slender build and his quick and cunning nature. It also reminds us that he's the new boss of a far larger and wealthier family in New York (I also think it could be a subtle reminder of one of John's major flaws, which is his ego, finding the need to show off his status and wealth with a flashy sports car). Anyway sorry for the ramble I just love the symbolism in this show.
If I recall this scene is AFTER Phil asks Tony if a loved one ever died in his arms, and give it time. Johnny threatens Chris, then John says "either you deliver that prick to my door or I'll rain a shitstorm down on you and your family like you've never fucking seen. We're done here." Tony has a biggest balls ever here. That NY threat is so dangerous from an acting boss and 2nd in command, Tony is so in the wrong by mob standards. Phil is actually right. (Phil is probably the most morally correct character of this season among the top guys and is the last real mobster)
No wonder Tony was able to make all those drives from Brooklyn to Caldwell so easily. I never knew of anyone who could open a car door, close it and drive off in less than a second.
@SKITT L3Z Doesn't matter. Associates aren't protected. Unless you're made, you're vulnerable. If Sack wanted him protected, he should have suggested opening the books. He was the underboss.
@SKITT L3Z Joey peeps wasn't made nor was he related to any made members. Youre thinking of Billy who tony b also killed. He was related to Phil but was not made.
This is, without doubt, one of my top five scenes, & perhaps my favourite which is not from the first two series. Johnny Sac was one of my favourite characters, & this was him at his absolute most evil.
I never understood why Johnny didn’t just give Tony his word that it would be quick so Tony would disclose the location of that animal Blundetto’s, and then Phil could torture him before killing him, and getting rid of the body. Who’s gonna let Tony in on what really happened? That animal Blundetto?
@@romainvicta117 I agree, however, since Phil would most likely be disposing of the body, who would know whether it was a quick death, or whether Phil tortured him first?
@@petermiller1565 You’ve seen how rumours spread in the show in the scene with everyone gossiping about Adrianna and Tony, JS would then be replying on Phil to keep quiet and anyone Phil told
jesus this show was something special. like... ive loved shows and rewatched them and thought.. i get why i used to be obsessed with this show. sopranos is different, it's like it's always existed.
If there's one thing these clips show me, it's the power of silence. I hope one day that I, too, will know when it is best to let others stew in my silence.
