Most films, even great ones, evaporate like mist once you've returned to the real world; they leave memories behind, but their reality fades fairly quickly. Not this film, which shows America's finest filmmaker at the peak of his form. No finer film has ever been made about organized crime - not even "The Godfather," although the two works are not really comparable.
For two days after I saw Martin Scorsese's new film, "GoodFellas," the mood of the characters lingered within me, refusing to leave. It was a mood of guilt and regret, of quick stupid decisions leading to wasted lifetimes, of loyalty turned into betrayal. Yet at the same time there was an element of furtive nostalgia, for bad times that shouldn't be missed, but were.
Scorsese is the right director - the only director - for this material. He knows it inside out. The great formative experience of his life was growing up in New York's Little Italy as an outsider who observed everything - an asthmatic kid who couldn't play sports, whose health was too bad to allow him to lead a normal childhood, who was often overlooked, but never missed a thing.
There is a passage early in the film in which young Henry Hill looks out the window of his family's apartment and observes with awe and envy the swagger of the low-level wise guys in the social club across the street, impressed by the fact that they got girls, drove hot cars, had money, that the cops never gave them tickets, that even when their loud parties lasted all night, nobody ever called the police.
Like "The Godfather," Scorsese's "GoodFellas" is a long movie, with the space and leisure to expand and explore its themes. It isn't about any particular plot; it's about what it felt like to be in the Mafia - the good times and the bad times. At first, they were mostly good times, and there is an astonishing camera movement in which the point of view follows Henry and Karen on one of their first dates, to the Copacabana nightclub. There are people waiting in line at the door, but Henry takes her in through the service entrance, past the security guards and the off-duty waiters, down a corridor, through the kitchen, through the service area and out into the front of the club, where a table is literally lifted into the air and placed in front of all the others so that the young couple can be in the first row for the floor show. This is power.
At some point, the whole wonderful romance of the Mafia goes sour for Henry Hill, and that moment is when he and Jimmy and Tommy have to bury a man whom Tommy kicked almost to death in a fit of pointless rage. First, they have to finish killing him (they stop at Tommy's mother's house to borrow a knife, and she feeds them dinner), then they bury him, then later they have to dig him up again. The worst part is, their victim was a "made" guy, a Mafioso who is supposed to be immune. So they are in deep, deep trouble, and this is not how Henry Hill thought it was going to be when he started out on his life's journey.
In all of his work, which has included arguably the best film of the 1970s ("Taxi Driver") and of the 1980s ("Raging Bull"), Scorsese has never done a more compelling job of getting inside someone's head as he does in one of the concluding passages of "GoodFellas," in which he follows one day in the life of Henry Hill, as he tries to do a cocaine deal, cook dinner for his family, placate his mistress and deal with the suspicion that he's being followed.
"GoodFellas" is about guilt more than anything else. But it is not a straightforward morality play, in which good is established and guilt is the appropriate reaction toward evil. No, the hero of this film feels guilty for not upholding the Mafia code - guilty of the sin of betrayal. And his punishment is banishment, into the witness protection program, where nobody has a name and the headwaiter certainly doesn't know it.
Goodfellas: The Making Of A Classic
Martin Scorsese on GOODFELLAS
Directed by Martin Scorsese and based on the 1985 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, Goodfellas is widely considered the definitive modern mob movie. It chronicles the rise and fall of mob associate Henry Hill and his friends over three decades, from 1955 to 1980.
The film follows Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), a half-Irish, half-Italian kid from Brooklyn who idolizes the gangsters in his neighborhood. He famously declares in the opening narration: "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster."
The Rise (1950s–60s): Henry climbs the ranks of the Lucchese crime family under the mentorship of James "Jimmy the Gent" Conway (Robert De Niro) and alongside the volatile Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci). They live a life of excess, power, and "respect," epitomized by the legendary Air France robbery.
The Turning Point (1970): The unsanctioned murder of "made man" Billy Batts by Tommy and Jimmy creates a dark cloud over the trio. They are forced to hide the body, a secret that haunts their future.
The Spiral (1970s–80s): After the massive Lufthansa heist, Jimmy becomes increasingly paranoid and begins "cleaning house" by murdering his own crew. Henry becomes addicted to cocaine and starts a trafficking operation against the orders of his boss, Paulie Cicero (Paul Sorvino).
The Fall (1980): Following a narcotics bust, Henry realizes Jimmy is planning to have him killed. To save himself and his wife Karen (Lorraine Bracco), Henry turns informant for the FBI, enters the Witness Protection Program, and testifies against his former family.
Henry Hill | Ray Liotta | The protagonist/narrator. Charismatic but ultimately a "schnook" who betrays his friends to survive. |
Jimmy Conway | Robert De Niro | A professional hijacker and mentor. Calm and sophisticated, yet ruthlessly paranoid. |
Tommy DeVito | Joe Pesci | A hair-trigger psychopath based on the real-life Tommy DeSimone. Pesci won an Oscar for this role. |
Karen Hill | Lorraine Bracco | Henry’s wife who is initially seduced by the lifestyle but eventually trapped by its consequences. |
Paulie Cicero | Paul Sorvino | The "capo" who runs the neighborhood. He moves slowly and speaks little, embodying old-school mob authority. |
.jpg)
Scorsese and editor Thelma Schoonmaker broke traditional narrative rules to create a "frenetic" experience that mirrors the characters' drug-fueled lifestyles.
The "Copa" Shot: A three-minute Steadicam tracking shot following Henry and Karen through the back entrance of the Copacabana. It visually demonstrates the power and access that being a "goodfella" provides.
Voiceover Narration: The film uses dual narration (Henry and Karen), making the audience feel like co-conspirators in their crimes.
Freeze Frames & Jump Cuts: Used to emphasize specific moments or speed up the passage of time, giving the film a rhythmic, almost musical quality.
The Needle Drop: Scorsese pioneered the use of a "pop" soundtrack to set the era and mood, featuring everything from Tony Bennett and The Crystals to the iconic "Layla" piano exit.
Iconic Scenes
The "Funny How?" Scene
This scene was largely improvised. Joe Pesci based it on a real interaction he had as a young man working in a restaurant. It serves as a masterclass in tension, showing how quickly the atmosphere in a room of "goodfellas" can shift from laughter to life-threatening danger.
The Copacabana Tracking Shot
Filmed at the actual Copacabana club, this Steadicam shot (one of the most famous in cinema history) required eight takes. It follows Henry and Karen through the kitchen and into the main room, perfectly illustrating Henry's status: he doesn't have to wait in line; he is a man of privilege in an underworld society.
The "Layla" Montage
As the bodies of the Lufthansa crew are discovered across the city, the "Coda" of Derek and the Dominos' "Layla" plays. The contrast between the beautiful, melancholy piano and the gruesome discovery of bodies in garbage trucks and meat lockers is a hallmark of Scorsese’s "romantic-violent" style.
%202%20thousand%20results%20found%20in%20Yandex%20Images.jpg)
Why It Is a Masterpiece
The Anti-Godfather: While The Godfather is a tragedy about kings and royalty, Goodfellas is about the "soldiers." It’s a blue-collar look at crime, focusing on the mechanics of hijacking trucks, selling stolen cigarettes, and the mundane reality of prison life (where they still lived like kings).
The Soundtrack: Every song was selected because it was on the radio or popular during the exact year the scene takes place. The music doesn't just provide background; it acts as a chronological anchor for the audience.
The Legacy of the "Schnook": The film’s ending is famously unsatisfying for the protagonist. Henry isn't killed or sent to prison for life; instead, he suffers the worst fate a mobster can imagine: he becomes an "average nobody" living in a suburban neighborhood, eating "egg noodles with ketchup."
Legacy & Impact
Awards: Nominated for 6 Academy Awards; Joe Pesci won Best Supporting Actor.
Cultural Influence: The film heavily influenced The Sopranos (which cast many of the same actors, including Lorraine Bracco and Michael Imperioli). It also set the template for the modern "fast-paced" crime biopic used by directors like Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights) and David O. Russell (American Hustle).
AFI Recognition: Consistently ranked in the top 100 films of all time and #2 on the list of greatest gangster films, second only to The Godfather.
.jpg)
%202%20thousand%20results%20found%20in%20Yandex%20Images.jpg)
.jpg)