Don Corleone on the Couch

 Gábor Bagladi

Don Corleone on the Couch:

Maurice Yacowar’s Article on The Godfather Trilogy’s Impact on The Sopranos

Maurice Yacowar, a renowned Canadian film theorist and scholar, in the appendix to his book The Sopranos on the Couch: Analysing Television’s Greatest Series (2003), names Godfather Trilogy as the show’s major influence. The article, titled Godfather to the Sopranos, is a six page-long analysis of the connections between the two gangster classics. By dissecting almost every single gangster subcultural reference of the first four seasons of the series, Yacowar successfully makes his claim: in spite of the obvious connections between Scorsese classics (Goodfellas, Casino) and the Sopranos, implicitly Coppola’s cult saga had a far greater impact on David Chase’s iconic show.

The author states his hypothesis at the very beginning of the article: ”Of the various influences that have fed into the Sopranos, the most important is (…) the Godfather Trilogy” (Yacowar 232). To justify his claim, still in the first paragraph, he cites Stephen Holden, a New York Times journalist, according to whom ”…this series, ’ more than the wobbly, histrionic ’ The Godfather Part III, that is ’ the real sequel ’ (Holden 16) to the great first two films” (Yacowar 232). This thought is prevalent throughout the article.

After a paragraph providing the necessary background information on Godfather Trilogy, Yacowar continues with elaborating the main argument. In the first half of the body of the text, he recounts numerous direct Godfather references made in The Sopranos, starting with explicit ones (e.g. quotations, Italian-American gangster jargon, recurring motifs) slowly moving towards more complex and profound connections (e.g. the importance of family, family/Family contrast, the roles of different names and similar characters, the presence and function of the Church and Tony Soprano’s own love of the Godfather films). It is apparent in every sentence that Yacowar is a real conoisseur of the show and has a vast knowledge of gangster films. At times, however, some of his parallels and comparisons are somewhat far-fetched and do not necessarily reach the effect that he may have desired. The undertaker-comparison (235), for instance, seems a little too forced: he is trying to find a deeper relation between the scene of Sonny’s body being taken to the funeral parlour in The Godfather Part I with Tony’s mother’s funeral arrangements; going so far as comparing the looks of the actors portraying each mortician.

Nevertheless, most of the arguments are clearly and logically stated and the connection between the two motion pictures is definitely established. In contrast with the first half of the article, the second part only focusses on the similarities between The Godfather Part II (which happens to be Tony Soprano’s favourite) and the series. According to Yacowar, Tony, just like Michael Corleone, is unable to reach the standards and morality of Vito, the Godfather, his predecessor, whom he regards as his idol. This is due to their own greed and selfishness. While ”the Godfather (Vito) provides valuable service to the tight, helpless immigrant community, (…) the Family turns from serving the underdog to promoting its own corporate interests” (Yacowar 236). It is the dignity and moral values from Coppola’s trilogy that the characters of The Sopranos long for, however, they lack.

In conclusion, Yacowar’s article, despite its at times clumsy parallelisms, is a rather well-written analysis of both The Godfather Trilogy and The Sopranos.  As he concludes his argument: Coppola’s influence may not always be apparent, but ”Throughout The Sopranos the aesthetic and moral benchmark is The Godfather Trilogy” (Yacowar 237).

Works Cited

Yacowar, Maurice. The Sopranos on the Couch: Analysing Television’s Greatest Series. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group, 2003

Holden, Stephen, ed. The New York Times on The Sopranos. New York: ibooks, 2001