Tommy Vercetti

Tommy Vercetti is a fictional character and the playable protagonist of the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the fourth main installment in Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto series. The first protagonist in the series with full dialogue, Tommy is voiced by Ray Liotta.[3]

Tommy Vercetti
Grand Theft Auto character
Tommy Vercetti as he appears in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
First appearanceGrand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002)
Created byRockstar North
Voiced byRay Liotta[1]
Motion captureJonathan Sale[2]
In-universe information
GenderMale
OccupationMobster
Gun-for-hire (formerly)
Drug lord
Crime boss
Owner of various businesses
AffiliationForelli Crime Family (formerly)
Vercetti Gang
Los Cabrones
Vice City Bikers
OriginLiberty City, State of Liberty, United States
NationalityItalian-American

An ex-made man of the Forelli crime family, a fictional Italian Mafia organisation in the Grand Theft Auto universe, Tommy is a temperamental gangster and criminal mastermind who is tasked with recovering the money and drugs from an ambushed deal, shortly after being released from prison and resuming work for the Forelli family in 1986. Tommy's quest leads him to make various criminal contacts that he works for, slowly building up a reputation within the criminal underworld of Vice City, a fictional town based on Miami, Florida. After murdering the drug lord who set up the ambush, he takes over his criminal empire, which he subsequently expands with the help of his contacts, ultimately becoming the kingpin of Vice City.

Tommy's character was well received by critics. Ray Liotta won several accolades for his role.

Design
A piece of concept art featuring Tommy, sporting a similar hairstyle to that of his in-game appearance.

Tommy, an Italian-American, is portrayed with a swarthy, handsome appearance, combed dark brown, almost black hair, and a constant five o'clock shadow. He first appears wearing a light blue-green Hawaiian shirt with dark blue palm trees printed on it, a gold pearl necklace around his neck, a gold watch around his left wrist, and a pair of blue jeans and white sneakers. This outfit becomes known as Tommy's "street" clothes. As the game progresses, Tommy is offered more wardrobe options: he obtains a blue-purple pastel suit with the sleeves rolled up over a black dress shirt and black loafers, as well as the option of a dark pinstripe suit labeled as "Mr. Vercetti" (which bears similarities to Tony Montana's suit). A light green jumpsuit is available to perform a bank robbery, complete with a hockey mask, and is even able to wear the uniform for an allied gang, among many others.

Tommy Vercetti, in several ways, exhibits characteristics of fictional drug lord Tony Montana from the 1983 film Scarface. This coincides with the heavy themes and appearance of the movie that has been implemented into Vice City. Among these characteristics, his exile from his old home (Liberty City), his rise to power (acquiring property and wealth in the city, and a mansion which also sports an interior similar to that of Montana's mansion). Tommy is also a hired assassin, has killed his own collaborators (Lance Vance), taken over his temporary boss's business (Ricardo Diaz) and rebelled against his former leader (Sonny Forelli), as Tony Montana had. The only notable difference is that the final gunfight in Montana's mansion sees Montana eventually killed, whereas the final gunfight in Tommy's mansion sees Tommy managing to single-handedly take down his captors and survive.[4]

Characteristics

Tommy Vercetti is depicted as both intelligent and temperamental; he is easily angered and quick to resort to violence. He has no hesitation about killing, though many of his victims are in turn trying to kill Tommy as well, or have done something that requires them to be killed. Despite all this, Tommy does also show a softer side as seen with his relations with Mercedes Cortez, the daughter of Juan Garcia Cortez, and Earnest Kelly, an elderly employee at the Print Works printing company that he buys later in the game: the former serves as a love interest for Tommy, while the latter is more of a father figure due to his childhood memories of working with his father at a printworks.

Biography

Early life

Tommy Vercetti was born to an Italian-American family and was raised in Liberty City, where his father worked for an unknown company (presumably the Liberty Tree) as a printing press operato. As a child, Tommy helped his father by cleaning the rolers, and dreamed of a normal and moral life.[5] When he was a teenager, he befriended mobster Sonny Forelli, who was a prominent member (presumably already Don) of the Forelli Crime Family, and eventually joined the family himself, quickly rising through their ranks and becoming a made man.[6]

In 1971, jealous and nervous of Tommy's rising reputation inside the Mafia and the Liberty City underworld, Sonny sent him into a trap to be killed, under the guise of a mission to assassinate a rival mobster in the Harwood district. When he arrived, Tommy was swiftly ambushed by eleven men, but managed to kill them all. Despite his survival, Tommy was arrested and sent to prison for multiple charges of murder.[7] At one point, he was to be placed on death row, but due to the Forelli familly's influence and possibly interference, he only served fifteen years. While in prison, Tommy earned the nickname "The Harwood Butcher" for his actions prior to his arrest.[6]

Release from prison

Fresh out of prison in 1986, Tommy is immediately dispatched by Sonny to Vice City to oversee an important drug deal. The deal was arranged by Sonny to both keep Tommy outside Liberty City in order to avoid any further conflict with law enforcement, and to allow the Forelli family (by this time the most powerful Mafia organization in Liberty CIty) to expand into the drug business in the south. As he arrives at the airport in Vice City, Tommy meets the Forelli's crooked lawyer Ken Rosenberg, who drives Tommy and his bodyguards to meet their customers. However, the deal is ambushed by masked assailants who kill Tommy's bodyguards and one of the customers, and steal the money and the merchandise, as Tommy is forced to flee with Ken after barely surviving the gunfight. After calling Sonny to give him the bad news, Tommy finds himself tasked with retrieving the drugs and Sonny's money, and kill whoever masterminded the ambush.

During his investigation, Tommy makes a number of allies who offer him help, including retired Colonel Juan Garcia Cortez, who helped set up the exchange; music producer Kent Paul, a friend of Ken who maintains connections with Vice CIty's underworld; Lance Vance, the vengeful brother of the customer killed in the ambush; and Texan real estate developer Avery Carrington, who hires Tommy to assist him with several jobs. Through Cortez, Tommy meets drug lord Ricardo Diaz, who employs him and Lance, but is later revealed to be responsible for the ambush. After working for Diaz to earn his trust, the pair kill him in his mansion, getting back their money and drugs.

Business ventures

With Diaz dead, Tommy takes over his empire, and slowly distances himself from the Forelli family, ignoring Sonny's orders to pay him the money he is owed. While he remains in contact with most of his allies, he begins to neglect Lance, who asks him to be treated like an equal partner on multiple occasions. Instead, Tommy becomes more focused on expanding his criminal syndicate, callled the "Vercetti Gang", by forcing various businesses to pay him protection money, buying out nearly bankrupt companies to use as fronts for illicit operations, and providing assistance to the Los Cabrones and Vice City Biker gangs, so that they will support him.

After Tommy establishes himself as the undisputed kingpin of Vice City, he is forced to defend his businesses from Forelli mobsters sent by Sonny, who decided to take actions against Tommy. After learning Sonny will be coming to Vice City to collect what he believes he is owed, Tommy plans to pay him tribute with counterfeit money. However, when Sonny arrives at Tommy's mansion, he reveals that he knows about his plan thanks to Lance, who betrayed him, and admits his role in Tommy's arrest fifteen years prior. A shootout then ensues in the mansion, during which Tommy prevents the Forellis from stealing his money and murders Lance for his betrayal, before finally killing Sonny in a tense standoff.[8] With Sonny dead, all loose ends in Tommy's life are resolved, and he is free to run his criminal empire undisputed alongside Ken, the only one who stood by his side until the end.

Later life

Not much is known about Tommy's life after the events of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. He most likely mainted his position as Vice City's kingpin for years to come, though his partnership with Ken only lasted until 1992. After Ken's drug addiction became a nuisance for Tommy, the latter sent him to rehab in the state of San Andreas, and abandoned him while he was there, seemingly cutting all ties with him. Tommy is mentioned in The Introduction, a short prologue film to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, in a scene in which Ken unsuccessfully tries to contact Tommy after getting out of rehab.[9]

Influences and analysis
Ray Liotta, the actor who provided the voice for Tommy Vercetti, at the 2014 Deauville American Film Festival

Prior to the release of Vice City, IGN stated that Tommy was likely to "leave the same kind of imprint on kids today that [actor Ray Liotta's] portrayal of Ray Sinclair left on every high school and college kid who saw Something Wild back in 1986." They also compared Liotta's portrayal of Tommy to his portrayal of Henry Hill in Goodfellas.[10]

When asked about his portrayal of Tommy, Liotta stated that "it was hard work." He said that "you're pretty much putting yourself in [the game developers'] hands and doing whatever they want so there's not much for you to do creatively."[11]

Reception

The character of Tommy Vercetti received very positive reviews and remarks from critics and players of Vice City, making it to many lists of the best video game characters. IGN said that they "were ready for a more fleshed-out protagonist" after Grand Theft Auto III's Claude.[6] Crave Online stated that playing as Tommy was "a breath of fresh air".[12] The Age praised Ray Liotta's voice acting and stated "while the character riffs on Tony Montana throughout the game, Liotta's speeches give him a reckless sense of humour that makes him more likeable".[13] GameDaily praised Liotta's portrayal as having transformed him from a generic-looking thug to a "tough guy who ruled the 80's."[14] The Telegraph described Tommy as "the most amoral" Grand Theft Auto protagonist.[15] Liotta won the award for Best Live Action/Voice Male Performance at the 2003 G-Phoria Awards and Best Performance by a Human at the 2003 Spike Video Game Awards.[16][17]

References
  1. "Full Grand Theft Auto: Vice City credits". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved October 1, 2006.
  2. Grieser, Andy (June 9, 2003). "The Body Behind Vice City's Tommy Vercetti". ESC Mag. Archived from the original on February 13, 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  3. McLaughlin, Rus; Thomas, Lucas M. (July 3, 2012). "IGN Presents The History of Grand Theft Auto". IGN. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
  4. O'Neill, Cliff. "Examining Grand Theft Auto's Scarface Connection". Game Chronicles. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
  5. Rockstar North (October 29, 2002). Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PlayStation 2). Rockstar Games. Mission: "Spilling the Beans"
    Earnest Kelly: "Mr. Vercetti? Hey. You bought the old print works?" / Tommy Vercetti: "Yeah, my old man used to work on these [printing machines]... I used to spend the evenings with him, cleaning the rollers. I was going to follow him in his trade, but... I lived a different life."
  6. Scheeden, Jesse (April 28, 2008). "Grand Theft Auto: Favorite Badasses". IGN. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
  7. Rockstar North (October 29, 2002). Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PlayStation 2). Rockstar Games. Mission: "Keep Your Friends Close..."
    Sonny Forelli: "Didn't I say your temper would get you into trouble, huh?...How many was it? Ten? No, eleven men. That's how you get to be called the Harwood Butcher!" / Tommy Vercetti: "You sent me to kill one man, ONE MAN. They knew I was coming Sonny..."
  8. Rockstar North (October 29, 2002). Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PlayStation 2). Rockstar Games. Mission: "Keep Your Friends Close..."
    Tommy: You took fifteen years from me, Sonny, and now I'm gonna make you pay!
    Sonny: You still don't get it, do you? I OWN you, Tommy. Those fifteen years were mine to spend!
  9. Rockstar North (October 26, 2004). Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PlayStation 2). Rockstar Games. Scene: "The Introduction"
    Ken: "Ah, yes. Tommy Vercetti please. Tell him Ken Rosenbeg called. Ken Rosenberg. You haven't heard of me? Who are you?... Ken Rosenberg. Rosenberg!... Oh! Oh really? You told him I called? Look, I made that ingrate, and now he won't answer my calls?... Just put him on the phone right now! Hello? Hello? Damn it!"
  10. IGN Staff (25 October 2002). "The Voice of Vice City". IGN. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  11. McAnulty, Nick (12 January 2010). "Ray Liotta recalls his Grand Theft Auto days as Tommy Vercetti". MTV.ca. Archived from the original on 18 December 2011.
  12. Tamburro, Paul (November 2, 2012). "Top 10 Most Memorable GTA Characters". PlayStation Beyond. Archived from the original on December 20, 2014. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  13. "The Top 50 Xbox Characters of All Time". The Age. September 30, 2008. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  14. Buffa, Chris. "Top 25 Anti-Heroes Gallery and Images". Archived from the original on April 27, 2009. Retrieved June 8, 2013.
  15. Cowen, Nick; Hoggins, Tom (September 16, 2009). "Top 10 game anti-heroes". The Telegraph. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  16. "G-Phoria Report". IGN. July 31, 2003. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
  17. "Video Game Awards The Results". megagames. December 5, 2003. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
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