5 Years Ago Today: A Legendary Hbo Crime Series Returned With A Prequel Movie

Warner Bros.

By the time "The Many Saints of Newark" hit theaters on October 1, 2021, 14 years had passed since the series finale of David Chase's mob saga "The Sopranos" cut abruptly to black, breaking millions of minds and, possibly, more than a thousand televisions. Just when it looked like Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) was about to get his in the middle of Holsten's diner, plugged by a man in a Members Only jacket who, like Michael Corleone in "The Godfather," had gone to the restroom to retrieve a planted pistol, the episode concluded with the ringing of a door bell. There was a long enough pause before the beginning of the end credits that many people thought their cable had gone out. When those credits hit, the arguments started.

It wasn't all outrage, but a sizable chunk of the "Sopranos" fandom felt ripped off. But ripped off how? Did they really want to see, as Chase told Entertainment Weekly in 2007, "Tony facedown in a bowl of onion rings with a bullet in his head?" For eight years, Chase and his peerless writing staff deftly wrote away from cliché, surprising, delighting and horrifying us in equal measure. Why would you want the series to end like every formulaic gangster movie from William A. Wellman's "The Public Enemy" onward?

Chase never wanted to revisit "The Sopranos" post-whatever-happened-to-Tony. The New Jersey native did, however, want to make a film about the 1967 Newark riots, which were touched off by the white populace's racist reaction to an influx of Black residents. If he could spin a "Sopranos" prequel off this historical event, all the better. This is how "The Many Saints of Newark" came to fruition. However, Chase once again courted outrage, as this would not be a Tony Soprano origin story.

Warner Bros.

"The Many Saints of Newark" is several shades darker than "The Sopranos." It centers on the ambitious rise of Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola) up through the ranks of the DiMeo crime family, which entails the kind of treachery that might've given even Tony (Dickie's mentee) pause. I don't know. What's worse? Ordering the murder of your cousin-in-law's fiancée, then killing said cousin-in-law with your own hands, or offing your father, stealing his wife, and then drowning her in the Atlantic Ocean?

Warner Bros. gave Chase a $50 million budget to plumb the depths of this crime family, and while it's darkly funny in spots, the early-season levity of "The Sopranos" is nowhere in evidence. Dickie's father (Ray Liotta) is a monster, Dickie is a monster, and young Tony (Michael Gandolfini) is a smart kid who knows his illicit fortune is contingent on him becoming a monster. The period detail is remarkable, Vera Farmiga is sensational as Tony's mother Livia, and it's a hoot to see younger versions of Silvio (John Magaro) and Paulie (Billy Magnussen). But there's an undeniably sinister undertow here.

"The Many Saints of Newark" was undone by Warner Bros.' 2021 Covid release strategy, where every movie was made available to stream on opening day. Understandably, streaming carried the day: Chase's film was a huge hit for HBO Max, one that sparked renewed interest in the company's peak television jewel.

Directed by Alan Taylor, "The Many Saints of Newark" is not an ideal entry point to "The Sopranos." It's where you go after that 2007 blackout. It's Greek tragedy. Crime pays, then you pay it back with interest. But you're not owed a hail of bullets in a diner. The end is terrible and ignoble.