That scene pretty much sums up the series, or it does as much as any one scene can.
The way I remember it, Tony admitted to Davey that he saw his situation as one he could exploit - which he did, mercilessly - and told Dr. Melfi that he did so because he resented Davey’s “happy wandered” personality and wanted to destroy it.
I put the “Are you in the mafia?” scene from the S1 episode “College” on my FB wall in his honor. But so many to choose from. HBO kind of played that clip to death, but there it is…
I know this thread is supposed to be about Tony, but I’m going to say this anyway. I think one of the best single lines in the show came from Vito.
When Vito got outed and took off, stopped in New Hampshire and met that Morgan Spurlock-looking guy, Jimbo. False start that turned into a fistfight, and they don’t talk for a few days. Then Vito goes into the diner. “Short stack or tall?” “Tall.” “Coffee?” “Yeah.” Jimbo puts down the coffee and Vito traps his hand.
“Sometimes you tell a lie so long…you don’t know when to stop. You don’t know when it’s safe.”
I’m tearing up now, typing that. Some shows would take an entire half-hour or hour to explain that. Sopranos, of all shows, got the point across in ten seconds. Amazing.
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Okay, as far as Tony. I can’t think of a specific scene, but in general, I liked the way he was shown as being unsure how to raise Meadow, and that it probably had a lot to do with his own immediate family. Having teenage Janice for a sister doesn’t really prepare a father for raising a normal teenage girl! I thought he did well overall, though.
Lot of good ones here, but the one that sprung immediately to mind when I saw this thread was the one where he rescued AJ from his attempted suicide in the pool.
Here.
As I mentioned in another thread, I once read an interview with David Chase in which he said, whenever he found himself sympathizing with Tony or one of the other gangsters, he’d write a scene in which the guy would do something terrible.
The intervention with Christopher was great. My favorite Tony moment, though, was when he was having a sit-down with a Jewish gangster who talked about the fall of the Roman Empire and said something like, “Whatever became of the great Romans of ancient times?”
Tony glared at him and said, “You’re lookin’ at one right now!”
I haven’t seen very many Sopranos episodes. Which one was that?
I don’t know which episode it was, but I liked the scene at the fancy restaurant where a younger man is wearing a baseball cap at the table. Tony asks him to remove it but he doesn’t, until Tony stands up and walks over to his table. Hat removed! problem solved!
“He’s on a roll!”
Sil doing Al Pacino
Tony in a restaurant where there’s a guy wearing a ball cap. “Take it off. Now.” ::very heavy and menacing breathing:: The guy sheepishly removes his cap, and the waiter tells Tony sotto voce “Thank. You.”
Tony telling his sister about disposing of Ritchie.
“What did you do with him?”
“We buried him under a tree, on a little hill.”
“Aw, really?”
“No, Janice, what the fuck do you think we did with him?!”
“Hello, rat!”
It’s been a few years since I watched the series (watched it all the way through on DVD three times) so I’m hoping someone else can pinpoint the exact episode. It starts with one of the guys inviting Tony to play with them and it gradually becomes clear to Tony that they just want to be able to say they play golf with a famous mafia guy.
Way, way too many to list. I think I am going to go back on my vow and re-watch this series.
But the one that pops out, a real lightweight, is… I think in the Season 4 or 5 opener. Tony is driving somewhere, knowing the feds are watching him, singing along with Steely Dan’s Dirty Work.
That’s early, maybe season two. It’s almost heartbreaking when you realize they’re just letting him hang around to dirty up the place. “Sure… I know John.” “Cool!”
Yeah, that’s what made me think of it, Tony’s disappointment that they didn’t like him for who he really was, that they just wanted a "taste " of the underworld.
When I first posted about that episode I was thinking it ended up with Tony bringing out his scary side and backing one of the guys back and back and back until the guys standing knee deep in a water hazard but now I’m thinking that was a completely different episode.
I just remembered the Sopranos moment that made me laugh the hardest. Sorry it’s not a Tony scene…
Johnny Sack is in prison and his son-in-law is visiting. They’re trying to talk about business in code. “The coffee with the chicory… the guy wants ten cups, not seven.” But they’re having trouble understanding each other. Eventually John tries to change the subject and asks about a cake for his daughter’s party. The son-in-law looks confused. “You mean… the stuff buried behind the shed?”
“No, I mean an ACTUAL FUCKING CAKE!!!”
Edit: Here it is!
that’s his brother in law, not son in law.
BTW the actor who played Johnny Sack spent most of his life as a contractor, he got into acting late in life.
That was one of my favorite characters, Furio, with one of my favorite lines “you gotta bee on your hat” <smack>.
Yep. I’m gonna buy the box set and watch the whole thing again.
Another one I liked was when the two wise guys go to the Jamba Juice or Starbucks or whatever it was and try to put the protection squeeze on the place. The manager tells them they will have to take it up with corporate. (Paraphrasing) " Kill me and corporate will have another guy just like me here tomorrow."
Yeah…not a Tony scene. Breaking my own rule.
Another great Tony scene was when he pulled A.J. out of the pool and held his head in his lap stroking his hair “You’re okay baby, you’re alright baby…”.
Never seen the show (Wife says, “Too much like real life.”) but we enjoy this, as I think the guys from the show who were in it did. A whole episode, edited for PAX-TV.
I just watched Season 1, eps 1 & 2, which I haven’t seen in years. This thing was unbelievably good right from the get-go, and still holds up today.