The Sopornos got a Spot Pick as a VHS, and the material still holds up. Unfortunately, VCA didn't see fit to give The Sopornos the same DVD star treatment as some of its other new titles, and this is a disappointment, edging the DVD out of Spot Pick territory. The transfer is grainy in several scenes. Although there are seven scenes in the scene menu, each thoughtfully labeled with the name of the female star in the scene, the "bios" off the main menu are actually full-screen jump-to-a-scene-with-this-star buttons. Worse, there are no second angles at all. The biggest disappointment, however, is the lack of a second audio track: To hear Jim DiGiorgio — or, better, Jim DiGiorgio and Rob Spallone — tell about the making of this video would make it an instant collector's item.

The Sopornos has earned its share of mainstream attention and is still a must-stock item. It's a shame that the DVD is not all that much better than the VHS.

There's a lot to like in this pastiche of every Mafia movie cliche in the last, oh, 30 years. There's Herschel Savage, in purple-tinted glasses, very Alex-Rocco-as-Moe-Greene as the boss of the Soporno family casino/whorehouse. Rob Spallone is all East Coast vitality as the new guy who moves in to take over the family business right under Savage's nose. Savage's wife cuckolds him under his surveillance cameras as Guy DiSilva en Tyce Bune look at each other and casually shrug, "We're dead." More recent cliches turn up as Spallone confides his story to a shrink.

Spallone's Encino location house is surprisingly convincing as the casino and '50s-looking luxury office. The script by Spallone and director James DiGiorgio works well, with unlikely locations explained by good dialogue coverage, and the seven sex scenes (one g/g) are well done, although the tough-guy-musing-out-loud-ho-wait-a-chick-is-blowing-him bit is not so funny the second time.

Pre-noms to Spallone and DiGiorgio for screenplay, DiGiorgio for direction, and Spallone for Non-Sex Performance: The part of Bobby Soporno was written to showcase Spallone's personality, and it works.