No more shines, Billy. - Tommy DeVito
The best movie ever made. I should just end the review there because anything I say won’t convince you otherwise. If you haven’t seen Goodfellas, stop right now and go purchase any copy you can get your hands on. Get your friends and family over to surround your TV and tell them to shut up – they are about to witness something special. I truly wish that I could undo ever seeing Goodfellas just so I could relive seeing it for the first time.
Roger Ebert, a friend and supporter of Scorsese, named Goodfellas the “best mob movie ever” and placed it among the best films of the nineties. The Godfather will appear in this database among other great mob films, but GoodFellas always comes first. Scorsese’s biopic of Henry Hill is so well-crafted, shot, and acted; there is not enough space here to go on. The first time I watched Goodfellas was on cable television; quickly realizing I was missing all the adult content I soon made it to the video store for my own VHS copy, which is now too worn to watch, but still on the shelf). Scorsese knew how to hold my attention. Everything people love about the movies – the acting, music and the dialogue done to perfection. Throw in fantastic cinematography and story and you have an essential film. Every scene so perfect and necessary. There are long pans and innovative flourishes, all designed to enhance the mood and involve the viewer in the action. Brutal, stylish, hypnotic and addictive, GoodFellas remains Scorsese’s best film. Based upon true events, Goodfellas feels absolutely authentic, Scorsese is brilliant in depicting the appeal of the gangster life — and its dark consequences.
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]
Favorite Scene #2: The helicopter sequence. Henry has become a wreck by this point, he is paranoid and has all his priorities out of order. His spaghetti sauce has become as important to him as everything else. It’s the music that accompanies the scene that truly makes it remarkable. At the beginning of the helicopter sequence: “Jump into the Fire” by Harry Nilsson, after Henry leaves Jimmy’s with the silencers: “Memo from Turner” by The Rolling Stones, when Henry almost has the car accident: “Magic Bus” by The Who, when Henry drops off the guns at Karen’s mother’s house: “Monkey Man” by The Rolling Stones, when Henry & Karen leave Karen’s mother’s house to go “shopping” & check the sky for the helicopter: “Mannish Boy” by Muddy Waters, when Henry and Karen drive to his cocaine connection’s motel: “What Is Life” by George Harrison. Awesome.
Favorite Scene #3: How am I funny?
Tags: goodfellas, joe pesci, lorraine bracco, martin scorsese, paul sorvino, ray liotta, review, robert deniro
