The Ride (The Sopranos) - References To Other Media

References To Other Media

• Christopher is watching the movie Saw II at the start of the episode, probably as a reflection of his "Saw meets The Godfather" slasher film that is referred to in previous episodes.
• The first scene of The Feast of San Elzear, the music playing is from the opera Cavelleria Rusticana.
• Following Tony and Christopher's heist of the wine (and again when Tony unloads the wine in his basement), Christopher comments that one of the bikers, with scraggly hair and a full mustache and beard, looked like "Grizzly Adams", a famed 19th Century mountaineer, later made popular as the title character in the 1977–1978 NBC television series The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams.
• The episode continues the use of references to Hurricane Katrina. Tony runs into Paulie in the bathroom and says "you're doing a heck of a job there, Brownie", a reference to a similar statement made by George W. Bush to then-Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown. Bush's comment is often used to sarcastically praise someone who is doing a poor job.
• Christopher calls Tony "The Bad Lieutenant". The film of that name is a 1992 Abel Ferrara tale full of religious undertones and Catholic iconography similar to this episode. In the film, the unnamed Lieutenant sees a vision of Christ just as Paulie sees a vision of the Virgin Mary at the Bing.
• Upon arriving at a house that he is looking at for a potential purchase, Christopher says, "This is what I'm talking about, stately Wayne Manor" (the residence of Bruce Wayne).
• Paulie and Nucci watch The Lawrence Welk Show, a musical variety show which ran from 1951 to 1971.