What Happened to Gary Cooper, The Strong Silent Type?
Playing it safe as a man is often the riskiest thing you can do
“Let me tell ya something. Nowadays, everybody’s gotta go to shrinks, and counselors, and go on “Sally Jessy Raphael” and talk about their problems. What happened to Gary Cooper? The strong, silent type. That was an American. He wasn’t in touch with his feelings. He just did what he had to do. See, what they didn’t know was once they got Gary Cooper in touch with his feelings that they wouldn’t be able to shut him up! And then it’s dysfunction this, and dysfunction that, and dysfunction vaffancul!” — Tony Soprano in the opening scene of “The Sopranos”
The title and above quote is the first quote in the very first scene of “The Sopranos,” and a meditation on people like Tony Soprano, who fit the mold of the “strong, silent type” of a man going out of style. It is fitting, then, that “The Sopranos” is a show about the decline of the strong, silent type of man and dying institutions in America of sorts.
Gary Cooper was an actor that was iconic from the end of the silent film era to the end of classical Hollywood. His on-screen persona was the ideal American figure who established himself early as a western hero, and champion of the American common man. Gary Cooper didn’t show any weakness, and became…
