by Nick DeNitto
On June 19, 2013, James Gandolfini passed away too soon at the age of 51.
Gandolfini will always be remembered for his legendary portrayal of anxiety-ridden mobster Tony Soprano on HBO's "The Sopranos". During the show's six season run, the New Jersey-born actor earned three Emmy's, one Golden Globe, and three individual SAG awards (plus two ensemble SAG's) for making us sympathize with an often ruthless killer.
Outside of "The Sopranos", Gandolfini delivered consistently impressive work in film. An accomplished character actor, Gandolfini consistently made the best of his supporting roles. I haven't seen all of his films, but what I've seen, I've enjoyed immensely.
These are three of my particular favorite characters brought to life by James Gandolfini.
In 1993, six years before he became the head of TV's most-beloved crime family, Gandolfini played a ruthless henchman of gangster Vincenzo Coccotti in Tony Scott's True Romance. In one chill-inducing scene, Gandolfini's Virgil terrorizes a young girl named Alabama who, along with her boyfriend Clarence, has absconded with his boss' cocaine. From the first sight of him sitting in the shadows with a shotgun on his lap, Gandolfini evokes unfiltered fear in Alabama and indeed the audience. The terror heightens as Virgil beats Alabama with flippant ease. He soliloquizes how simple and fun it has become for him to kill, and smugly urges Alabama to fight back because "she's got a lot of heart." The provocation eventually leads to his grisly demise, but not before leaving us shaking.
In the Coen Brothers 2001 noir The Man Who Wasn't There, Gandolfini brought dark humor and intimidation to the mix as department store manager Big Dave Brewster. A boastful war veteran that married into money, Big Dave carries on an adulterous affair with protagonist Ed's wife Doris. During a brief dinner scene, Gandolfini tells a "hilarious" war anecdote about cannibalism while stuffing his face with food. The darkly humorous scene showcases Gandolfini's comedic timing ability, a surprising trait given his notoriety for the intense Tony Soprano. We get to see some of that trademark intimidation when Ed is confronted by Big Dave in his dimly-lit office about some ugly blackmail business. Whereas the power displayed by Gandolfini in True Romance was more cocksure, here it's hardly displayed as power. Gandolfini shows us a defeated man whose life has just been derailed indefinitely. This isn't a mobster that's been double-crossed; He's a prideful man that has been caught by his own indiscretions. It would have been easy for Gandolfini to play this scene as Tony Soprano, but instead he shows us his ability to refine similar emotions to specific characters.
2009's In the Loop is densely packed with clever dialogue and the acerbic tongue of Peter Capaldi's character Malcolm Tucker. While the Brit cursed and screamed his way through unsuspecting people throughout the film, Tucker met his match in American Lt. Gen. George Miller. played by Gandolfini. A military man trying to prevent a war in the Middle East, Miller has no interest in letting Tucker get the best of him. When the two cross paths, Tucker's cutting insults bounce off of the smiling Miller. Gandolfini doesn't try to beat Capaldi at being scathing and hot-boiled, but calmly absorbs the blows and serenely sends them right back. His approach to insults is to get under Tucker's skin, whereas Tucker goes for broke and tries to peel the skin off.
