No more shines, Billy. - Tommy DeVito

Country: United States, 1990
Director: Martin Scorsese
Screenplay: Nicholas Pileggi & Martin Scorsese, based on “Wiseguy” by Pileggi
Cast: Joe Pesci, Ray Liotta, Robert Deniro, Paul Sorvino, Lorraine Bracco
Total Gross: $46,836,394

The film opens by introducing us to 13-year old Henry Hill, it’s the ’50s in New York City, and becoming a member of the mob looks like one of the coolest employment opportunities around. “As far back as I can remember,I wanted to be a gangster.” Henry tells us. “Being a gangster was better than being the President of the United States.” Henry pursues his goal and soon has become a gofer for the brother of Paul Cicero (Paul Sorvino), the neighborhood boss. By 1970, Henry has achieved a position of some importance in the organization. He and his two closest associates, Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) and Jimmy Conway (De Niro), are becoming involved in areas that aren’t approved of by everyone in the mob – in particular, drug dealing. Henry, now married to a nice girl named Karen (Lorraine Bracco), leads an increasingly more reckless life that results in his taking on multiple mistresses, becoming involved in Tommy’s murder of a “made” mobster, and spending a term in jail. Once Henry returns to the outside world, he becomes aware that old alliances are shifting and that his life may be in jeopardy from those he once considered his closest friends. There are two principles of the gangster way – never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut – and Henry may have to violate both in order to preserve his life.

It’s easy to see why Goodfellas continues to resonate: It’s brilliantly acted, shockingly violent, unnervingly tense, and wickedly funny.  It has one of the best soundtracks of all time as well.  Hearing “Gimme Shelter” by the Rolling Stones is a given now with any Scorsese mob film, but using Derek and the Dominoes’ “Layla” the way he did, masterful.  Who could forget the long tracking shot with The Crystals’ “Then He Kissed Me” playing as Karen is introduced into the underworld.  Over the years, few directors have exhibited Scorsese’s ability when it comes to using pop music to set a scene or cement the atmosphere. On many occasions, the appropriation of period songs seems like a transparent attempt to sell the movie’s soundtrack album. But, in Goodfellas, Scorsese’s selection of “Then He Kissed Me”, “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head”, “Gimme Shelter”, “Monkey Man”, “The Magic Bus”, “What Is Life”, and dozens of others proves to be invaluable.

Goodfellas is as compelling and absorbing as any crime drama I have ever seen. Goodfellas is not about Mafia dons, but about those who exist on a lower level, you like The Sopranos?  You can thank Goodfellas.  Scorsese’s tactic of using two narrators (sometimes Henry’s voiceovers are replaced by Karen’s) even leaves open the possibility that Henry might not survive the film.  To give a woman a voice in mob film was unheard of at the time.  Goodfellas is a masterpiece in every aspect of filmmaking.  Film critics will argue over which represents Scorsese at his best – Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, or Goodfellas. Each movie has its advocates, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull are more focused on an individual than Goodfellas, which examines how a culture shapes values, life choices, and relationships. Each film individually represents amazing motion picture accomplishments, with Goodfellas standing tall as the best film ever made.

Favorite Scene #1: No more shines Billy. [See The Simpsons version]

In Vegas, everybody’s gotta watch everybody else. Since the players are looking to beat the casino, the dealers are watching the players. The box men are watching the dealers. The floor men are watching the box men. The pit bosses are watching the floor men. The shift bosses are watching the pit bosses. The casino manager is watching the shift bosses. I’m watching the casino manager. And the eye-in-the-sky is watching us all. – Ace Rothstein

If we learned one thing from Goodfellas, it was that when you team up the likes of Martin Scorsese, Robert DeNiro, and Joe Pesci, something magical happens. 15 years have passed since it’s release in 1995 and that shovel scene at the end is still a cause to cringe. The cinematography, the acting, the premise; all felt very gritty. I mean this movie holds a Guiness World Record for most swear words feature length film. The “F-Bomb” is dropped 422 times, that’s an average number of 2.4 times per minute (thanks IMDB for that interesting statistic). Casino is more of a, ‘remember the good ole days’ cautionary tale of what mob life did to the Vegas strip. It’s a story of one man’s rise from complete obscurity to take a city by storm, only to lose touch with the ever changing moral foundation of a city with a lack there of.

Synopsis: Casino is the story of Sam ‘Ace’ Rothstein (Robert DeNiro), a former bookie turned casino operator and his quest to make the Tangiers casino a success while satisfying his mob connections fiscal demands. This is of course made increasingly difficult by his money grubbing wife, Ginger (Sharon Stone), and ambitious boyhood friend turned Vegas mob leader, Nicki Santoro (Joe Pesci). As Vegas is ever changing, Sam is either forced to change with the times, or lose all he has worked so hard to build. Just remember, you don’t stay at the top forever.

Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: Nicholas Pileggi
Cast: Robert DeNiro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci
Total Box Office Gross: $116,112,375

Favorite scene: House of the Rising Sun montage. Without spoiling too much, near the end of the movie, the mob ties up a whole bunch of lose ends. Narrated by Nicki; if there was ever a moment to prove that crime did not pay, this was it. An excellent way to tie up loose ends, plus we get to see Robert DeNiro in a very snazzy orange suit. What a stud.

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