Overview

Goodfellas (also spelled GoodFellas) is a 1990 film directed by Martin Scorsese, based on the book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, the true story of mob rat Henry Hill.

The film stars Ray Liotta as Henry Hill, Robert De Niro as Jimmy Conway, Joe Pesci, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the irascible Tommy DeVito (based on Tommy DeSimone), Lorraine Bracco as Hill's wife, Karen, and Paul Sorvino as Paulie Cicero.

In the film, Henry Hill, played by Ray Liotta, becomes involved in the mafia at a young age: as he says in beginning with the famous line, "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster."

As a boy, Henry idolized the Lucchese crime family gangsters in his blue-collar, predominantly Italian New York City neighborhood in East New York, Brooklyn, and in 1955 quit school and went to work for them at a local cab stand, much to the dismay of his working-class parents. His blue-collar abusive father, perhaps jealous of his son's success, confronts him with the fact that he has played hookey for months, and beats him with a belt. Upon hearing this, Henry's "friends" threaten the local mail carrier not to deliver any more letters from the school or school board to his house. The local Lucchese mob capo, Paul Cicero (Paul Sorvino), (based on the actual Lucchese mobster Paul Vario) and Cicero's close associate Jimmy Conway (De Niro), (based on actual associate, Jimmy Burke), help cultivate the boy's developing criminal career. 'Jimmy the Gent' makes quite an impression on young Henry, for everyone likes him, and most of the truck drivers would tip Jimmy off on their better hauls in exchange for a bribe and a small piece of the score. During this time, Jimmy and Henry start a bit of business by selling stolen cigarettes to passing people, and Henry is introduced to a new friend just around his age by Jimmy: Tommy DeVito (based on Thomas DeSimone). However, during a sale, Henry is arrested and taken to court, where he wisely tells the police nothing, is released thanks to a judge on the "family payroll" and is lauded by his superiors for "taking his first pinch like a man".

Production

The film originated with New York crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi's book "Wiseguy", which Martin Scorsese read before its publication. According to Pileggi, Scorsese cold-called the writer and told him "I've been waiting for this book my entire life." To which Pileggi replied "I've been waiting for this phone call my entire life." Scorsese and Pileggi collaborated on the screenplay, although much of the film's eventual dialogue would be improvised by the actors.

Scorsese originally intended to direct the film before The Last Temptation of Christ, but when funds materialized to make Last Temptation, Scorsese decided to postpone "Wiseguy", now GoodFellas, due to a recent film and television show of the same name. The film was shot in 1989 in New York City and starred several of Scorsese's regular actors, such as Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci. Scorsese's mother, Catherine, also put in a memorable cameo appearance.

The studio was initially nervous about the film due to its strong violence and language. The film reportedly received the worst preview response in the studio's history. Scorsese has said that "the numbers were so low it was funny." Despite this unnerving initial reception, Scorsese's film was released in the director's original cut and the massively positive critical response to it cemented Scorsese's reputation as America's foremost filmmaker. The film has been seen by many critics as a comeback film for the director after a difficult decade in the blockbuster obsessed Hollywood of the 1980s. Scorsese's loss of the Best Director Oscar to Kevin Costner was bemoaned by many as a repeat of the injustice Scorsese suffered in 1980, when he lost the Oscar for directing Raging Bull to Robert Redford. Scorsese has remained philosophical about his Oscar losses, saying "we're lucky we even get to make movies anymore."

Themes

Goodfellas is widely regarded as the first gangster film to show in detail how the "working-class" mafia lived. Unlike The Godfather series, there is no central "don" character. Henry, Jimmy and Tommy are "blue-collar" associates in a larger family, but the film never shows their superiors, Paul Cicero's bosses. (According to Nicholas Pileggi's book, Wiseguy, Cicero was a caporegime for one of the Five Families, the Lucchese Family.)

Additionally, while The Godfather presents the audience with sympathetic characters (particularly Vito Corleone and Kay Adams), the mobsters in Goodfellas are often seen as antisocial, cold-blooded, and violent. Essentially they range from sociopathic to psychopathic (most prominently, Joe Pesci). The young man who lives across the street from Karen (whom she's "known all her life") attempts to rape her while driving her home, and in response to this Henry walks over to the boy's house and relentlessly pistol-whips him in front of his friends, apparently shattering his nose. This scene shows that even though Henry is normally amiable, friendly, and non-violent, he is not reluctant to use violence when he feels it necessary.

Other viewers, however, find that the character that they sympathize most with to be Paul Sorvino's Paulie Cicero, the capo of this particular crime family and the boss of the neighborhood. Though he can be seen as a menacing criminal who makes a living through extortion, Paulie is not as impulsive or treacherous as his sociopathic underlings. For many, Paulie's fate illustrates the lack of honor within the criminal lifestyle, since he is the only honorable character, yet he still ends up in prison. Indeed, while many gangster films would put such a character in the forefront, Paulie is a supporting character with little role in the film other than highlighting this central theme. (Of course, such analysis ignores the fact that Paulie abandons Henry when Paulie is on parole, and that his abjuring drugs is solely self-preservation.)

The film's dominant themes include blind ambition, dangerous excess, and watching the company one keeps. The first half of the movie seems to glorify the mob lifestyle, but the second half effectively exposes its less romantic aspects. Henry devolves into a drug-addled mess, the ultra-violent Tommy gets his comeuppance for killing Billy Batts, Jimmy becomes so controlled by greed and paranoia that he turns on his friends, and Paulie can no longer control his now reckless subordinates.

Dark humor, a Scorsese hallmark, saturates the film. An early scene shows Tommy arguing with a nightclub owner when he won't pay a hefty tab. In a surprise burst of violence, Tommy smashes a wine bottle over the man's head while his cohorts (Henry included) laugh uproariously. A similar scene involves Henry laughing at Morrie Kessler's displaced hairpiece as he is strangled with a telephone cord by Jimmy Conway over non-payment of debts. Both scenes where Tommy shoots the hapless bartender, Spider, feature the same sort of attitude from the guys; to them, violence is simply a way of life. There is a bit of concern from Henry when Spider lies dead on the floor; however, after the still surprised Henry announces "He's dead," Tommy replies with a shrug "Whatta ya want? I'm a good shot." Jimmy also second guesses Tommy's antics and shows some concern by asking, "Whats the mattter with you?, What are you a sick maniac?" Tommy doesn't seem bothered about having to dispose of Spider's body, he gets up, saying, "Who the fuck cares? I'll dig the fuckin' hole. I don't give a fuck. What? Is it the first hole I dug?"

The concluding Train Robbery homage cuts to a shot of Henry smiling ruefully in front of his small suburban midwest home, as if to contrast the romantic image of gangster life with Scorsese's more provincial one. Henry is actually disappointed at his predicament, even though he is relieved and lucky to be alive from the Mob life, and he would still be a gangster, even if he could reverse time.

Critic Roger Ebert (for whom the film is among his favorites in that decade) described the film as being heavily informed by Scorsese's Catholic upbringing, particularly in its understanding of guilt: what dismays Hill the most is not that he has done bad things, but that he savored them, and wants to do them again.

Awards and recognition

The film is #94 on the American Film Institute's list of 100 Years, 100 Movies and is consistently in the top 30 on the Internet Movie Database's list of top 250 films. In 2000 the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. In 2005, a British film magazine, Total Film, named GoodFellas as the greatest film of all 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. Ebert is not alone in his praise; many critics consider it a seminal film of the nineties. They consider it the third in his trifecta (Scorsese's earlier films Taxi Driver and Raging Bull were considered masterpieces of their respective decades, with GoodFellas a masterpiece of the nineties, and some say, "The Departed" in the 2000s).

A highly influential film, it is perhaps the largest inspiration for the popular HBO series "The Sopranos", which also chronicles the life of a "working class" gangster. The presence of Lorraine Bracco as Tony Soprano's therapist and Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti further solidify the connection. Other actors who have had regular roles on The Sopranos and who also made appearances in the film include Tony Darrow, Tony Lip, Tony Sirico, Vincent Pastore and Frank Vincent. In all, 24 actors appeared in both GoodFellas and "The Sopranos". (They include: Lorraine Bracco, Frank Vincent, Michael Imperioli, Tony Sirico, Tony Lip, Vincent Pastore, Anthony Caso, Tobin Bell, Gene Canfield, Nicole Burdette, Gaetano LoGiudice, Vito Antuofermo, Chuck Low, Tony Darrow, Frank Adonis, Suzanne Shepherd, Nancy Cassaro, Frank Pellegrino, Marianne Leone, Paul Herman, Frank Albanese, Anthony Alessandro, Victor Colicchio & John "Cha Cha" Ciarcia.) The Soprano's use of pop music, its exploration of tensions between nuclear and mob families, and its use of Jewish-Italian friendships and romances, also had their genesis in GoodFellas.

The famous tracking shot which circles the Copacabana nightclub is regarded by film aficionados as one of the best camera shots of all time, considered on par with the opening shot of Touch of Evil. Homages have been made to this shot in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights and in Doug Liman's Swingers, also in which the characters talk about it being the best shot in any film. Also, another lengthy tracking shot earlier in the film moves around another nightclub, accompanied by Henry's voiceover that identifies the members of the gang. One of the gang even appears in the mirror behind the bar.