Is Sopranos like Goodfellas?
Alongside The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II, Goodfellas and The Sopranos are two of the best ever productions about the mob. Though it’s unique in its own way, The Sopranos borrows heavily from the three movies. Consigliere and Tony Soprano’s second-in- command, Silvio Dante, even quotes Michael Corleone on a number of occasions.
The Sopranos also borrows heavily from Goodfellas in the way mob wives and parents are written. The other thing it unapologetically borrows from Martin Scorsese’s magnum opus is the cast. Several actors appear in both productions, some in cameo roles and others as main characters.
Bracco portrayed Tony Soprano’s regular therapist. He was referred to her after he began getting panic attacks on a regular basis. Their sessions stretched through all the seasons and, in them, he opened up about everything, including his life of crimes.
A few years earlier Martin Scorsese had cast Bracco as a mob wife in the Wiseguy adaptation. Bracco played Karen Hill, the wife of young mobster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta). Their marriage had all the elements of toxicity, but Karen opted to go against her mother’s wishes and stayed in the relationship.
Having been part of the supporting cast in Scorsese’s gangster flick, Imperioli got a more important role in the HBO series. In the latter, he portrayed Christopher Moltisanti, a young mobster who happened to Tony Soprano’s favorite subordinate.
In the former, he was Spider, a worker at a street gambling spot, who was frequently bullied and physically harmed by mobster Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci). One day, he decided to stand up for himself but that proved to be a wrong move . Tommy saw it as a sign of disrespect and killed him.
In The Sopranos Sirico portrayed Paulie Walnuts. The DiMeo Crime Family member had the highest kill count in the series. He was the only mobster to not have a wife or girlfriend, preferring to remain single. Paulie is also remembered for coming up with some of the best one-liners.
However, Sirico’s role was much smaller in Goodfellas, where he played a flashy mobster named Tony Stacks. Sirico frequently drank and gambled with other mobsters but rarely said a word.
Scorsese cast Frank Vincent as Billy Batts, a mobster who got on the wrong side of Tommy DeVito. After coming out of jail, Batts was surprised to find out that DeVito has risen up the ranks. When he went in, DeVito was still shining shoes to make money. He thus made fun of DeVito to impress fellow mobsters, telling him to get his shoe-shining tools. His refusal to stop the jokes angered DeVito, who pistol-whipped him before killing him.
Vincent’s character in David Chase’s critically acclaimed series got out of jail too and also began making enemies of the wrong people. In the series, Vincent was Phil Leotardo, the boss of the Lupertazzi Crime Family. His cockiness made him go to war with Tony Soprano in the final season; a war he didn’t survive.
