Kubrick references in the Sopranos

[e***@twcny.rr.com]

I was watching the season five episode "Test Dream" tonight (again) and
I thought I heard a Kubrick reference. When Tony S. is having his dream
near the end , when he's walking in the locker room towards the coach,
I swear I hear the sound effects from internal operations of the
Discovery from 2001. Some may say it's just sounds of the high school
boiler room/locker room showers' water heater or something like that,
but I think that's why David Chase would use those 2001 sfx, because
they sound like locker room sounds if played low.

The Sopranos has a few other Kubrick references sprinkled throughout the
series:

1. Season 2, Episode 21, "Full Leather Jacket"--Besides the title, the
episode is rife with similarities to the movie FMJ, i.e. how young
"soldiers" take bullets because of the decisions of older irresponsible
authority figures. Of course, there's the existential ironic causality
of how the snubbed gift of Richie Aprile's full leather jacket leads to
the murder attempt on Christopher.

2. During Season 3 (I can't remember which episode) Ralph Cifaretto
watches Spartacus and yells at Kirk Douglas on the TV for having a 50's
crewcut in Ancient Rome. This acute observation from Ralph deserves
further scrutinization because Ralph is a stupid fuck-up. Normally,
he's not so smart. He loves Gladiator for Christ's sake.

I think it's David Chase's subversive way of giving Kirk the finger because:

a. Kirk fucked with Kubrick's direction during the production of
Spartacus. A capital offense.

b. Before the Godfather, most gangster/mafia films were cheap
exploitation flicks where the italian/sicilian stereotypes were played
by Jewish actors, as were other Hollywood ethnic stereotypes during
this period (see F Troop), including...you guessed it, Kirk Douglas.

3. Season 5, Episode 59, "In Camelot"--In the TV writer's apartment,
there's a vintage Dr. Strangelove poster. Christopher's use of rehab
doublespeak-type language to enable the ex-heroin addict TV writer's new
gambling habit to Chris's profit is very Strangelove.

"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the war room!"



Going back to the Test Dream 2001 reference, isn't Tony Soprano just
another Ulysses on another modern Odyssey, like 2001? And isn't the
dream sequence similar to EWS?

Would love your input. My apologies if these Kubrick/Sopranos
references have been discussed before in this newsgroup.

[Boaz]

Post by e***@twcny.rr.com
a. Kirk fucked with Kubrick's direction during the production of
Spartacus. A capital offense.

Kirk Douglas was the executive producer of "Spartacus." He was the
boss. He hired Kubrick to direct the film. In 1959 directors were still
considered nothing more than hired hands to most producers and studio
executives. The director as auteur existed only in Europe at the time.
Chaplin was the closest thing to being a full be-his-own-boss filmmaker
after the studio system became fully established and after sound came
in, and he was chased out of both Hollywood and the U.S. by 1952, never
to have the same creative control again. While some directors were
valued for what they could bring to a production (e.g., John Ford and
his tumultuous relationship with Daryl Zanuck at Fox), others were
considered interchangable (Victor Fleming replacing George Cukor on
"Gone With The Wind" because Gable didn't want a gay director around
and who was also focusing more on the lead actresses than on him).
Douglas obviously had a good relationship with Kubrick on POG, but that
film would not have gotten financed without Douglas agreeing to star in
the film. Kubrick (and his producing partner Jim Harris) were still
relatively unknown commodoties with one good film under their belt
("The Killing") when they approached Douglas. Kubrick happened to be
available to direct "Spartacus" when he was dismissed from "One Eyed
Jacks" by Brando. Thinking that "Spartacus" was something Kubrick could
handle (especially considering the logistics of the battle in POG),
Douglas hired Kubrick to take over the reins. But Douglas was still the
boss. It was his baby, vanity piece or not. He bought the rights to the
novel (which he did out of spite when he turned down the role of
Massalla in "Ben-Hur," because he wanted the lead, which instead went
to Charlton Heston). Back then directors were expected to be told what
to do by the producer. Kubrick suddenly found himself directing a $12
million feature ($12 million by 1960 economics -- who knows what it
would cost today), after making only four very low, low budgeted films
before that. He knew this was a break to get on the Hollywood A-list,
and to be taken more seriously as a filmmaker. He also maintained his
relationship with Harris, having bought the rights to "Lolita" while
still shooting "Spartacus." Making this film enabled Kubrick to move up
to a "better sphere" than if he had continuned doing low budget work, a
la POG.

Yes, Kubrick had to put up with a lot of shit from Douglas, and, yes,
the script was not up to the kind of standards Kubrick would later
establish for his subsequent films. But to call what Douglas did a
capital offense is being very naive, if not showing a lack of
understanding on how the studio system operated from the '20s through
the '60s. Kubrick didn't just spring full blown (as if from Zeus'
skull, as many film geeks seem to think). He had to prove himself, just
like any other gifted artist swimming in a sea of philistines and
dilettantes had to prove themselves, even today. "Oh, how could the
genius who created '2001' and ACO allow himself to be pushed around by
someone like Douglas?" Easy, he hadn't yet made "2001" or ACO, nor had
he established himself yet as a world-class director. He was able to
stand his ground and get a lot of things done, if by compromise,
despite the bullying from Douglas and the lack of cooperation from DP
Russell Metty, as well as pressures from the front office at Universal,
run by Lew Wasserman, who was previously Douglas' agent. The fact that
Kubrick was able to finish the film and get some of his own ideas and
touches into the film shows he had the qualities needed to be the kind
of filmmaker who could go on to make DS, "2001" and ACO. "Spartacus"
was his baptism under fire.

Post by e***@twcny.rr.com
b. Before the Godfather, most gangster/mafia films were cheap
exploitation flicks where the italian/sicilian stereotypes were

played

Post by e***@twcny.rr.com
by Jewish actors, as were other Hollywood ethnic stereotypes during
this period (see F Troop), including...you guessed it, Kirk

Douglas.

Do you remember any films with Richard Conte in them? He was Italian,
and he played gangsters, and this was back in the '40s and '50s. Check
the IMDb.

And if there are numerous references to Kubrick's films on "The
Sopranos," so what? It just shows how much of an influence he has had
in modern film and on a whole generation of filmmakers, just as Welles
and Griffith influenced many filmmakers before Kubrick.

But, hey, thanks for bringing up "Spartacus" anyway. It's always
interesting to read what others have to say about it.
Boaz ("And may good fortune smile down on most of you.")

[Mark Ervin]

Post by e***@twcny.rr.com
etna
I was watching the season five episode "Test Dream" tonight (again) and
I thought I heard a Kubrick reference.
When Tony S. is having his dream
near the end , when he's walking in the locker room towards the coach,
I swear I hear the sound effects from internal operations of the
Discovery from 2001.

I'll try to check it. There are many Kubrick references in the series, but the
fact is there are now Kubrick references seemingly everywhere in every
direction. I've seen at least a dozen car commercials which have a helicopter
shot following the vehicle as in the opening of "The Shining."

{{snips}}

Post by e***@twcny.rr.com
2. During Season 3 (I can't remember which episode) Ralph Cifaretto
watches Spartacus and yells at Kirk Douglas on the TV for having a 50's
crewcut in Ancient Rome. This acute observation from Ralph deserves
further scrutinization because Ralph is a stupid fuck-up.

Ralph is actually a self-icon of evil for Tony. He is the way Tony sees
himself when he is at his absolute worst. Tony's love for animals/wildlife is
his view of himself at his best, and when Ralph kills the horse, Tony tries to
kill his own worst aspects by killing Ralph. (this should be on the Sopranos
newsgroup... oh well.).

I wouldn't make much of the "Spartacus" inclusion, as the gladiator film
obssession is a jokey connection to "Airplane," as Ralph is portrayed as a
deeply repressed homosexual--part of what fuels his rage.

Post by e***@twcny.rr.com
3. Season 5, Episode 59, "In Camelot"--In the TV writer's apartment,
there's a vintage Dr. Strangelove poster. Christopher's use of rehab
doublespeak-type language to enable the ex-heroin addict TV writer's new
gambling habit to Chris's profit is very Strangelove.

Actually the use of various modes of cultural language in the series is related
to similar use in Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" and "Full Metal Jacket." High
praise to make such a comparison, but what they are doing with language is on
that level of sophistication.

Post by e***@twcny.rr.com
Going back to the Test Dream 2001 reference, isn't Tony Soprano just
another Ulysses on another modern Odyssey, like 2001? And isn't the
dream sequence similar to EWS?

The depiction of dreams on the series is bravura at times, but also awkward at
times. With EWS I personally believe Kubrick is the first director to portray
dreamlike content that one only assesses as being a dream after the film is
over. I'd have to ponder a Ullysses comparison, but in some ways Tony is like
a number of Kubrick characters in search of their true self by creating it day
by day (such as Private Joker).

Post by e***@twcny.rr.com
Would love your input. My apologies if these Kubrick/Sopranos
references have been discussed before in this newsgroup.

We've touched on it a few times. I think "The Sopranos" is the finest work
I've ever seen, and ever expect to see, on television. In the eighties Kubrick
remarked about how an ongoing television series could have great potential but
I never really expected to live to see that potential reached the way this
series has. The direction, the writing, the acting, the simply Shakespearean
level of the duel-family drama, the use of music, the use of symbol (such as
Tony's relation to animals in every episode),... I could go on. It really is
very impressive.



May you live in interesting times.
--Ancient Chinese Blessing/Curse

[Yours Truly]

Don't forget the episode where Christopher smashes a framed Dr. Strangelove
poster over a guy.

A very sad scene, indeed. I could have cared less about the guy getting
whacked though.

I was watching the season five episode "Test Dream" tonight (again) and I
thought I heard a Kubrick reference. When Tony S. is having his dream near
the end , when he's walking in the locker room towards the coach, I swear I
hear the sound effects from internal operations of the Discovery from 2001.
Some may say it's just sounds of the high school boiler room/locker room
showers' water heater or something like that, but I think that's why David
Chase would use those 2001 sfx, because they sound like locker room sounds
if played low.
The Sopranos has a few other Kubrick references sprinkled throughout the
1. Season 2, Episode 21, "Full Leather Jacket"--Besides the title, the
episode is rife with similarities to the movie FMJ, i.e. how young
"soldiers" take bullets because of the decisions of older irresponsible
authority figures. Of course, there's the existential ironic causality of
how the snubbed gift of Richie Aprile's full leather jacket leads to the
murder attempt on Christopher.
2. During Season 3 (I can't remember which episode) Ralph Cifaretto
watches Spartacus and yells at Kirk Douglas on the TV for having a 50's
crewcut in Ancient Rome. This acute observation from Ralph deserves
further scrutinization because Ralph is a stupid fuck-up. Normally, he's
not so smart. He loves Gladiator for Christ's sake.
a. Kirk fucked with Kubrick's direction during the production of
Spartacus. A capital offense.
b. Before the Godfather, most gangster/mafia films were cheap exploitation
flicks where the italian/sicilian stereotypes were played by Jewish
actors, as were other Hollywood ethnic stereotypes during this period (see
F Troop), including...you guessed it, Kirk Douglas.
3. Season 5, Episode 59, "In Camelot"--In the TV writer's apartment,
there's a vintage Dr. Strangelove poster. Christopher's use of rehab
doublespeak-type language to enable the ex-heroin addict TV writer's new
gambling habit to Chris's profit is very Strangelove.
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the war room!"
Going back to the Test Dream 2001 reference, isn't Tony Soprano just
another Ulysses on another modern Odyssey, like 2001? And isn't the dream
sequence similar to EWS?
Would love your input. My apologies if these Kubrick/Sopranos references
have been discussed before in this newsgroup.