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Goodfellas–The Sopranos cast overlap

{{Italic title|string=Goodfellas–The Sopranos}}

Critics have noted strong connections between Martin Scorsese's 1990 film Goodfellas and David Chase's TV series The Sopranos, which ran from 1999 to 2007, both thematically and in terms of personnel. The film has been described as "the founding text" of the series,{{sfn|Booker|Daraiseh|2017|p=73}} which Carl Freedman has argued The Sopranos owes its biggest debt to.{{sfn|Freedman|2013|p=74}}{{refn|The Sopranos is closer in tone to Goodfellas than it is the Godfather films. The latter take themselves very seriously; they are self-consciously works of art rather than just films, and there is a complete dearth of humour in them. Goodfellas, on the other hand, is more grounded in reality, and its concomitant absurdities and even comedy, with ordinary people rather than distant bosses who direct the actions of myriad individuals. The gangsterism of The Sopranos, on the other hand, like Goodfellas, suggests Freedman, is "a fairly plebeian operation".{{sfn|Booker|Daraiseh|2017|pp=74–75}}{{sfn|Freedman|2013|p=75}}|group=note}} Forty-five individuals—both cast and crew—from Goodfellas would later work on The Sopranos,{{sfn|Booker|Daraiseh|2017|p=73}} and Freedman suggests that this was a deliberate ploy by Chase in order to recreate a similar ambience.{{sfn|Freedman|2013|p=74}} David Remnick observed that "the characters in The Sopranos are obsessed by The Godfather, but their maker is obsessed with Martin Scorsese".{{sfn|Remnick|2001|p=43}} Series showrunner David Chase has said "Goodfellas is the Koran for me".{{sfn|Bigsby|2013|p=71}}{{sfn|Yacowar|2002|p=25}} The casts of both overlapped, and many actors were involved other gangster films. For example, excluding Goodfellas characters, James Gandolfini played roles in Bullets Over Broadway{{refn|Vincent Pastore, who played Salvatore Bonpensiero in The Sopranos later played Nick Velenti in Bullets over Broadway, and dedicated his performance to Gandolfini who had died the previous year.{{sfn|Reich|2014}}|group=note}} and True Romance, Dominic Chianese played Johnny Ola in The Godfather Part II; David Proval had a leading part in Martin Scorsese's first film, Mean Streets.{{sfn|Pattie|2002|p=136}}

While Tony Soprano's admiration for The Godfather parts one and two{{refn|Although explicitly not The Godfather III, as per Ellen Willis "by general agreement Part III sucks".{{sfn|Willis|2002|p=3}} |group=note}} is "obsessively" referenced,{{sfn|Pattie|2002|p=138}} Goodfellas is never mentioned in the series and, notes Glen Creeber, "curiously we never discover Tony’s view" of Scorsese's film.{{sfn|Creeber|2002|p=262 n.4}} Intintola does ask Carmela where Tony stood on it, but the conversation is cut short and Carmela does not answer. The film is mentioned at Dr Melfi's dinner party as part of a discussion of Italian-American culture, although this is by non-mafiosi characters.{{sfn|Pattie|2002|p=142}} While Tony does on one occasion reference Henry Hill, this is in the context of a gangster who sold his life story.{{sfn|Braccia|2020|p=207}} Pattie has argued that Goodfellas is notable by its absence, and yet it is the film the Soprano crew should relate to most. They are also, like Hill's companions and in the words of his wife "blue collar guys", and although they became rich, they retain the same working class outlook and philosophy.{{sfn|Pattie|2002|p=142}}{{refn|In comparison to the Corleones, for example, who, says Pattie, "acquired something of the graciousness of royalty" through wealth.{{sfn|Pattie|2002|p=142}}|group=note}} "This apparent distaste is surprising{{nbsp}}... Why, then are the films of perhaps the most famous Italian-American director not given the same kind of veneration accorded to Coppola's movies?"{{sfn|Pattie|2002|pp=142–143}} Robert P. Kolker has noted that in Scorsese's films, gangs populated by sociopaths collapse when they turn on themselves; there is no honour, no glory and often little profit.{{sfn|Kolker|1980|p=215}} The stories end in failure, and their main characters are almost always left with nothing. In Mean Streets, Charlie realises he is beyond redemption, while at he close of Goodfellas, the Hills disappear into the witness protection program and become schmucks. As such, argues Pattie, they are inherently anathema to Tony and his cohorts because there is no happy ending, a nihilistic outlook that undercuts their very raison d'être. Pattie suggests that "Scorsese's films, then, dramatize one of Tony Soprano's deepest fears: that the organization to which he has devoted his life does not give that life a meaning".{{sfn|Pattie|2002|pp=143–144}} The fact that the only characters to reference Goodfella are non-mafiosi, concludes Pattie, demonstrates that while the film is "a key point of reference" for them as non-combatants, its mirroring of The Sopranos world is "perhaps too close to Tony’s grubby, meaningless, and contingent reality".{{sfn|Pattie|2002|p=145}}

Characters

width=98% class="wikitable"

! width=8% | Image

! width=10% | Actor

! width=7% | Goodfellas

! width=7% | The Sopranos

! width=20% | Notes

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| Lorraine Bracco{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Karen Hill

| Dr Jennifer Melfi

| Unlike her The Godfather predecessor, the WASP–Stepford wife Kay Adams, Karen is Jewish. As such she is already in breach of her perceived moral code before the gangster side of Hill emerges, to the extent that she lies to her mother. Also unlike Kay, Karen has a narrational role her film. And where Kay pretends ignorance of her husband's business, Karen "revels in it".{{sfn|Donatelli|Alward|2002|pp=61, 62}} Similarly to Karen, Dr Melfi also has point of view shots through which the viewer observes her surroundings.{{sfn|Donatelli|Alward|2002|p=65}} Chase originally envisioned Bracco playing Carmela Soprano, but Bracco believed the character was to similar to her Goodfellas role.{{sfn|Adler|2020}} She told Vanity Fair that she avoided typecasting when offered similar roles, saying "No, I don’t want to do that. I did it. Can't do it better", and that she told Chase "I don't want Carmela—I want Dr Melfi".{{sfn|Nugent|2020}} Cindy Donatelli and Sharon Alward have described Bracco's "powerful" performance in Goodfellas as "set[ting] the stage for the sexualized, complex, and aggressive women" of The Sopranos.{{sfn|Donatelli|Alward|2002|p=68}} Bracco herself argued that "the whole thing about Goodfellas was that in showing Karen and the kids{{nbsp}}... it was much more than the stereotypical mama-in-the-kitchen kind of Mafia film. Part of The Sopranos, too, is that it shows the{{nbsp}}... humanization".{{sfn|Bracco|1999|p=108}}

80px

| Michael Imperioli{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Spider

| Christopher Moltisanti

| In GoodFellas, Imperioli plays Spider, a young associate of the crew who serves drinks during the poker game. On one occasion, he annoys Tommy by being slow to serve him, and Tommy shoots him in the foot. At a later game, Tommy takes the piss out of Spider, who tells him to "Go fuck yourself, Tommy". Tommy responds by shooting Spider again, this time killing him. Imperioli later reprised this scene in reverse in The Sopranos.{{refn|The eighth episode, "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti", of season one.{{sfn|Braccia|2020|p=176}}|group=note}} Chris gets into an argument with a bakery counter boy who seems to be deliberately ignoring him.{{refn|In contrast, Hill recalls that that when he was young he "didn't have to wait on line at the bakery on Sunday morning anymore for fresh bread. The owner knew who I was with, and he'd come from around the counter, no matter how many people were waiting."{{sfn|Yacowar|2002|p=55}}|group=note}} Although he has already told the baker he would not harm him, before Chris leaves he shoots the baker in the foot. The baker, in agony, asks why he did it; Chris replies, "Sometimes it happens", a parodicnod towards the random shooting of Spider.{{sfn|Fellezs|2002|pp=164, 246}}{{sfn|Ricci|2014|pp=9, 147}}{{sfn|Geherin|2024|p=173}} A back story to this episode is that Moltisanti is trying, but failing, to write a gangster screenplay, and the copying of the Goodfellas scene reflects his inability to express himself as he would wish: "If Christopher can’t create anything original, he'll settle for a cover".{{sfn|Braccia|2020|p=177}} Moltisanti—"the actor shot

then, shoots now"—is acting out a classic film scene, living up to that which he is unable to commit to paper.{{sfn|Yacowar|2002|p=55}} He is as impatient, bullying and "gun-toting" as Tommy was, while, like Spider, the baker does not recognise the danger his danger even when it is imminent.{{sfn|Ricci|2014|p=147}}

80px

| Tony Sirico{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Tony Stacks

| Paulie Gualtieri

|

80px

| Tobin Bell{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Unnamed parole officer

| Major Zwingli

|

80px

| Frank Vincent{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Billy Batts

| Phil Leotardo

| In Goodfellas, Batts gets beaten and near-killed by Tommy and Jimmy for insulting Tommy. Hill drives them to dispose of the body which is in the trunk of the car, but Batts is not yet dead. His banging on the inside alerts the three, and they pull over, open the trunk and find Batts bloody but still alive. Tommy proceeds to stab him several times before Jimmy pumps several bullets into Batts. In The Sopranos this scene is reversed when Leotardo kidnaps Angelo Garepe, former Lupertazzi family consigliere. Leotardo's men pile Garepe into the trunk of a car before Leotardo shoots him repeatedly.{{sfn|Braccia|2020|p=257–258}}

80px

| Vincent Pastore{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Man with Coatrack

| Salvatore Bonpensiero

|

| Suzanne Shepherd{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Karen's mother

| Carmela's mother

| Shepherd's role in The Sopranos has been described as a "familiar" part for her: author Nick Braccia suggests the two maternal roles are both—in her phrase from Goodfellas when Hill comes back in the early hours—"what kind of people are these?" parts.{{sfn|Braccia|2020|p=85}}

| Frank Albanese{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Mob lawyer

| Pat Blundetto

|

| Tony Darrow{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Sonny Bruz

| Larry Boy Barese

|

| Tony Lip{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Frankie the Wop

| Carmine Lupertazzi

| The Lupertazzi character is based on the classic image of the old-school Mafia don who do not "move a lot or say much of anything".{{sfn|Braccia|2020|pp=252–253}}{{refn|As such he has been compared to Goodfellas{{'}} Paul Cicero, who, Hill comments "might have moved slow, but it was only because he didn't have to move for anybody".{{sfn|Kowalski|2007|p=45}}|group=note}}

| Frank Pellegrino{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Johnny Dio

| Frank Cubitoso

|

| Chuck Low{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Morris Kessler

| Shlomo Teittleman

| In The Sopranos, Low plays a Hasidic Jewish motel owner whose daughter is supposedly being abused by her husband. Tony believes that he can profit from arbitrating between the parties.{{sfn|Braccia|2020|p=30}}

| Paul Hernan{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Dealer

| Beansie Gaeta

|

| Nicole Burdette{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Carbone's girlfriend

| Barbara Soprano Giglione

|

| Marriane Leonne{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Tuddyis wife

| Joanne Moltisanti

|

| Daniel P. Conte{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Dr Dan

| Faustino 'Doc' Santoro

|

| Angela Pietropinto{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Paul Cicero's wife

| Helen Barone

|

| Susan Varon{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Susan

| Joan Gillespie

|

| Frank Adonis{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Anthony Stabile

| Guest #1

|

| Nancy Cassaro{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Joe Buddha's wife

| Joanne Moltisanti

|

| Victor Collichio{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Member of Hill's sixties crew

| Joe

|

| Anthony Alessandro{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Member of Hill's sixties crew

| Waiter

|

| Gaetano LoGiudice{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Member of Hill's sixties crew

| Bada Bing! customer

|

| Vito Antufermo{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Prizefighter

| Bobby Zanone

|

| Gene Canfield{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Prison guard

| Police officer

|

| Antony Caso{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Truck hijacker

| Martin Scorsese

|

| John Ciarcia{{sfn|Nugent|2020}}

| Member of Batts's crew

| Albie Cianflone

|

Notes

{{reflist|group=note}}

References

{{Reflist|20em}}

= Bibliography =

{{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}

  • {{cite web|last1=Adler |archive-url=https://archive.is/JpT2B|first1=D.|archive-date=2 March 2025 |title=The Sopranos Actress Who Almost Played Carmela|url=https://screenrant.com/sopranos-show-carmela-actor-almost-cast-lorraine-bracco/|access-date=2 March 2025 |work=Screen Rant |date=31 May 2020}}
  • {{Cite book |last=Bigsby |first=C. W. E.|title=Viewing America |date=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-04393-0 |location=Cambridge}}
  • {{Cite book |last1=Booker |first1=M. K.|title=Tony Soprano's America: Gangsters, Guns, and Money |last2=Daraiseh |first2=I.|date=2017 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-44227-323-8 |location=London}}
  • {{Cite book |last=Braccia |first=N.|title=Off the Back of a Truck: Unofficial Contraband for the Sopranos Fan |date=2020|publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-98213-906-3 |location=New York}}
  • {{cite news |last1=Bracco |first1=L. |title=The Mobster and the Shrink |work=Interview |date=March 1999 |pages=108–110 |issn=0149-8932}}
  • {{Cite book |editor-last=Lavery |editor-first=D.|title=This Thing of Ours: Investigating the Sopranos|last=Creeber|first=G.|chapter='TV Ruined the Movies': Television, Tarantino, and the Intimate World of The Sopranos|pages=124–134|date=2002 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-1-90336-444-4 |location=New York}}
  • {{Cite book |editor-last=Lavery |editor-first=D.|title=This Thing of Ours: Investigating the Sopranos|last1=Donatelli|first1=D.|last2=Alward|first2=S.|chapter="I dread you"?: Married to the Mob in The Godfather, GoodFellas, and The Sopranos|pages=60–71|date=2002 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-1-90336-444-4 |location=New York}}
  • {{Cite book |last=Freedman |first=C. H.|title=Versions of Hollywood Crime Cinema: Studies in Ford, Wilder, Coppola, Scorsese, and Others |date=2013 |publisher=Intellect |isbn=978-1-84150-724-8 |location=Bristol}}
  • {{Cite book |last=Geherin |first=D.|title=Organized Crime on Page and Screen: Portrayals in Hit Novels, Films, and Television Shows |date=2024|publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-47665-474-4 |location=Jefferson, NC}}
  • {{Cite book |editor-last=Conard |editor-first=M.|title=The Philosophy of Martin Scorsese |date=2007|publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-81317-255-2|chapter=Goodfellas, Gyges, and the Good Life|pages=31–52|last=Kowalski|first=D. A. |location=Lexington}}
  • {{Cite book |editor-last=Lavery |editor-first=D.|title=This Thing of Ours: Investigating the Sopranos |date=2002 |publisher=Columbia University Press|chapter=Wiseuy Opera: Music for The Sopraonos|last=Fellezs|first=K.|pages=162–177|isbn=978-1-90336-444-4 |location=New York}}
  • {{Cite book |last=Kolker |first=R. P.|title=A Cinema of Loneliness: Penn, Stone, Kubrick, Scorsese, Spielberg, Altman |date=1980 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19512-349-4 |location=Oxford}}
  • {{cite news |last1=Nugent |archive-url=https://archive.is/S8Hd9|first1=A.|archive-date=2 March 2025 |title=Goodfellas 30th Anniversary: All 27 Actors who Later Featured in The Sopranos and their Roles |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/goodfellas-the-sopranos-actors-anniversary-lorraine-bracco-michael-imperioli-b435765.html |access-date=2 March 2025 |work=The Independent |date=15 September 2020 |oclc=185201487}}
  • {{Cite book |editor-last=Lavery |editor-first=D.|title=This Thing of Ours: Investigating the Sopranos|last=Pattie|first=D.|chapter=Mobbed Up: The Sopranos and the Modern Gangster Film|pages=135–145|date=2002 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-1-90336-444-4 |location=New York}}
  • {{Cite web |last=Reich|first=R.|date=2014-04-06 |title=Vincent Pastore of 'The Sopranos' plays a new gangster in 'Bullets over Broadway' |url=https://www.nj.com/entertainment/arts/2014/04/vincent_pastore_of_the_sopranos_plays_a_new_gangster_in_bullets_over_broadway.html |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=nj |language=en}}
  • {{cite magazine |last1=Remnick |first1=D. |title=Is this the End of RICO: With The Sopranos the Mob Genre is on the Brink |magazine=The New Yorker |date=2 April 2001 |pages=38–44 |oclc=320541675}}
  • {{Cite book|last=Ricci|first=F.|title=The Sopranos: Born under a Bad Sign |date=2014|location=Toronto |publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-44264-764-0}}
  • {{Cite book |editor-last=Lavery |editor-first=D.|title=This Thing of Ours: Investigating the Sopranos |date=2002 |publisher=Columbia University Press|chapter=Our Mobsters, Ourselves|last=Willis|first=E.|pages=2–9|isbn=978-1-90336-444-4 |location=New York}}
  • {{Cite book |last=Yacowar |first=M.|title=The Sopranos on the Couch: Analyzing Television's Greatest Series |date=2002|publisher=Continuum |isbn=978-0-8264-1542-4 |location=london}}

{{refend}}

Category:The Sopranos