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VHS : The Sopranos - The Complete First SeasonIn association with Amazon.comfrom: Hbo Home Video  List Price: $99.98 Price: $20.00 You Save: $79.98 (80%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 9780783115702 Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC ISBN: 0783115709 Label: Hbo Home Video Manufacturer: Hbo Home Video Number Of Items: 5 Publisher: Hbo Home Video Release Date: December 12, 2000 Running Time: 680 minutes Studio: Hbo Home Video Theatrical Release Date: 1999 Sales Rank: 227 Related Items:
Editorial Review: Amazon.com: The Sopranos, writer-producer-director David Chase's extraordinary television series, is nominally an urban gangster drama, but its true impact strikes closer to home: Like 1999's other screen touchstone, American Beauty, the HBO series chronicles a dysfunctional, suburban American family in bold relief. And for protagonist Tony Soprano, there's the added complexity posed by heading twin families, his collegial mob clan and his own, nouveau riche brood. The series' brilliant first season is built around what Tony learns when, whipsawed between those two worlds, he finds himself plunged into depression and seeks psychotherapy--a gesture at odds with his midlevel capo's machismo, yet instantly recognizable as a modern emotional test. With analysis built into the very spine of the show's elaborate episodic structure, creator Chase and his formidable corps of directors, writers, and actors weave an unpredictable series of parallel and intersecting plot arcs that twist from tragedy to farce to social realism. While creating for a smaller screen, they enjoy a far larger canvas than a single movie would afford, and the results, like the very best episodic television, attain a richness and scope far closer to a novel than movies normally get. Unlike Francis Coppola's operatic dramatization of Mario Puzo's Godfather epic, The Sopranos sustains a poignant, even mundane intimacy in its focus on Tony, brought to vivid life by James Gandolfini's mercurial performance. Alternately seductive, exasperated, fearful, and murderous, Gandolfini is utterly convincing even when executing brutal shifts between domestic comedy and dramatic violence. Both he and the superb team of Italian-American actors recruited as his loyal (and, sometimes, not-so-loyal) henchmen and their various "associates" make this mob as credible as the evocative Bronx and New Jersey locations where the episodes were filmed. The first season's other life force is Livia Soprano, Tony's monstrous, meddlesome mother. As Livia, the late Nancy Marchand eclipses her long career of patrician performances to create an indelibly earthy, calculating matriarch who shakes up both families; Livia also serves as foil and rival to Tony's loyal, usually level-headed wife, Carmela (Edie Falco). Lorraine Bracco makes Tony's therapist, Dr. Melfi, a convincing confidante, by turns "professional," perceptive, and sexy; the duo's therapeutic relationship is also depicted with uncommon accuracy. Such grace notes only enrich what's not merely an aesthetic high point for commercial television, but an absorbing film masterwork that deepens with subsequent screenings. --Sam Sutherland Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Sopranos The complete first seasonIt is a good buy if you are a Sopranos fan like me. I also suggest the other 5 seasons.... Rating:  - The Sopranos Season OneI love the Sopranos, this product was delivered in a timely manner, and in good condition. Rating: - I'm a Sopranos newbieI was converted to the Sopranos over a rainy summer vacation in Summerside, PEI. A&E was airing the show at 10:00 am Atlantic time. I was drawn into the story lines about Adriana LaCerva and Meadow Soprano, and Anthony Jr., to a lesser extent. I think that's because I work in a high school, so I would want to see how Meadow's and Anthony Jr's teen lives were portrayed. I'm 29, so I am attracted to Adriana's fancy clothes and accessories. As soon as we got home, one week later, I rented the entire ... Read More Rating: - The Beginning of an ICONThe Sopranos Season 1 was the very beginning of the what was to become an icon, larger than life. In Season 1, like many series, the writers were finding their groove and the cast was working out their characters. A lot of what goes on or begins in season 1 storyline-wise, character-wise, plays a large part seasons to come. Sort of the beginning of a croched blanket. If you are new to the Sopranos, I HIGHLY recommend it. Season 1 is a little slower going, but even with the quirks, ... Read More Rating: - PerfectIts the sopranos, its #1, its perfect. Amazon is the only place to get a good deal on it. Browse for similar items by category:
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