1990
146 mins dir. Martin Scorsese stars - Robert De Niro - Jimmy
Conway Ray Liotta - Henry Hill Joe Pesci - Tommy De Vito Lorraine
Bracco - Karen Hill Paul Sorvino - Paul Cicero Frank Sivero
- Frankie Carbone Frank Vincent - Billy Batts
There
is no doubt that Goodfellas is a true gangster classic which
represents high points in the careers of those involved in
it. Scorsese tells the true story of Henry Hill and his cohorts
superbly, starting as he means to go on - with a violent,
profanity ladened fast paced tale of Hill's rise to prominence
in New York's organised crime underworld during the sixties
and seventies and his subsequent rapid demise as he goes from
airport heists to drug dealing and finally ends up in the
witness protection scheme where he remains to this day.
As
Scorsese takes us on this twenty five year journey we are
introduced to and get to know the various wiseguys that Hill
associates with, from those at the very top like Paulie Cicero
to people like Morrie (Chuck Low) and brief introductions
to Jimmy "Two Times" and Fat Andy etc. And then there is Tommy
De Vito. Let's make no mistake about it, this is Pesci's finest
performance which rightly won him the Best Supporting Actor
Oscar. Unlike Casino in which he basically plays the same
character but with a different name, in Goodfellas Pesci is
far more believable as a guy who will kill people without
thinking twice but despite this, he doesn't make the audience
dislike him, he is a far more rounded character and despite
all his violence, and after all the fast talking and wisecracks
you can't help but like him and find him amusing.
Pesci is the one with most of the best lines in the film,
the most famous of which is the Funny How? scene which legend
has it was written and directed by Pesci at the request of
Scorsese. It is a scene that demonstrates both sides of Tommy's
character perfectly and which couldn't have been bettered
in any way. It's definitely one of my favourite movie moments.
Pesci's
undoubtably steals the show in Goodfellas but every single
character in the film is played to perfection. Liotta, despite
not going on to bigger and better things after Goodfellas,
is convincing as Henry and De Niro despite not having as much
screen time as one might expect in such a film plays the charismatic
but also "violent when necessary" Jimmy Conway, who holds
a lot of sway within the organisation and is the orchestrator
of most of the heists. Others of note include : Lorraine Bracco,
Frank Vincent, Paul Sorvino and Catherine Scorsese who plays
Tommy's mother, all of whom fit their respective roles in
the film perfectly.
Goodfellas
is good enough to be compared in quality to Martin Scorsese's
other two films that can legitimately be described as classics
- Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, some may even say that it betters
them. There is even an argument when comparing it to The Godfather.
Whilst in The Godfather Coppola romanticised mob life, Goodfellas
shows the dream life that Henry Hill imagined in it's full
bloody and violent glory and the fact that they are completely
different films on most levels could, if you are looking to
have an argument with someone, give rise to debate about which
of the two films is the superior of the two. I'll be conspicuous
by staying right out of this argument.
BBM
BBM
Enterprises Online
|