GoodfellasHenry Hill is a "goodfella"...the kind of guy who gets respect, who calls the shots, and when he wants something, he takes it. Things seem to be going pretty well for Henry, leading a charmed life in organized crime. He has money, he has a pretty wife...he has a pretty girlfriend, he has a couple of kids and a nice place. Henry Hill's not going to get stuck behind a desk, riding the subway like some jerk, scraping by to make ends meet. Since he was a kid, he could see behind the curtain, and knew what real living was. But over a career of twenty-five years, he's fighting for his life and busting his butt to scrape by. How did it all go wrong?
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Based on the true story of the Lucchese crime family accounted in the book "Wiseguy" by Nicholas Pileggi--and adapted with Pileggi alongside director Martin Scorsese--Goodfellas cuts a swath of bloody crime and underworld violence from 1955 to 1980, all with our protagonist and often narrator Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) behind the wheel. With a shocking introduction of a murder being executed by his partners-in-crime Tommy (Joe Pesci) and Jimmy "the Gent" Conway (Robert DeNiro), Henry makes it perfectly clear--quite ironically in the face of such horrible violence--that all his life he "wanted to be a gangster". For Henry, the rules of the world didn't make much sense--it was easier to steal than to work, and if you gave enough people a cut, everyone wanted to be in on the game...even the cops in his neighborhood took a cut; it was the rare straight arrow that would "pinch" you. But Henry's talent for crime even gave him the foresight and tact to uphold the two most important rules of the game, advise shared by Jimmy: "Never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut." But for Henry, it was just good advice, something that still ultimately worked in his favor; and make no mistake, Henry was always looking out for Henry. But Henry's ride was not a perpetually lonely one. When cajoled into a double date by Tommy, and then later standing his date up, she comes after him, confronts him in the street...and wins his heart. Enter Karen (Lorraine Bracco), a smart, pretty young Jewish girl who has enough self-respect not to put up with that kind of humiliation, and that fire is just the kind of temptation that draws Henry in. So he woos her by taking her out to the fanciest restaurants (featuring a bravura tracking shot at the Copacabana), introducing her to his big shot friends, and beating up her neighbor who had attempted to molest her. And when Karen begins to understand just what "line of work" Henry really is involved in, she knows she should run from the danger...but like Henry, she too is seduced by the forbidden fruit, and allows herself to be drawn into "the family", even taking up some of the narration now and again.
Like much of Scorsese's films, Goodfellas has a rich, full musical score, plush with hits representing the twenty-five year span that makes up the story of Henry Hill. Each musical selection underscores key scenes, and establishes a tone in the film that, like much of his work, also feels as though the selections belong as the background music for life itself, fitting neatly into scenes set in bars and clubs, or pumping away on the radio. Like Henry's story, in the early days the music is mostly wistful and upbeat, full of love, romance, and even dreams. Music like "Leader of the Pack" by The Shangri-Las and "Then He Kissed Me" by The Crystals tell us more about Karen and why bad boys like Henry are the ones who always get the girls. A personal fave, "Jump into the Fire" by Harry Nilsson, burns with manic energy and underscores Henry's frantic paranoia fueled by a drug habit and juggling too many things out of his control...tearing himself apart by working day and night--suddenly, Henry's got a day job and it's illegal. And I don't think anyone who sees this film will be able to hear Derek and the Dominoes "Layla" ever the same way, and that's a good thing, since it pronounces a kind of melancholy and bittersweet end of a dream, of friendships cut loose, and that there is no honor among thieves. And that concept of "honor", of "family", even the thieves have stolen the purpose of these words, and use them to paint themselves as heroes--and Henry fell for it from day one. But this is the one thing that Henry believes in...other than himself. When push comes to shove (or threats of getting "whacked"), Henry understands that his time in the sun has come and gone. And though there is no great fanfare and no sense of justice being served, Henry's story remains. And as Henry gives us his closing lines--feeling like a "schnook"--we get that last piece of deftly appropriate music, a cover of a song popularized by the "Chairman of the Board", Frank Sinatra, "My Way", delivered by punk rock renegade Sid Vicious...what better anthem for a wiseguy like Henry Hill?
Recommended for: Fans of mafioso crime drama but with a grounded, believable setting and characters...unbelievable in as much as it's hard to think of a system which allows such crime to prosper. But I imagine Henry Hill would ask us to look around and see for ourselves; that's what Goodfellas is.
Like much of Scorsese's films, Goodfellas has a rich, full musical score, plush with hits representing the twenty-five year span that makes up the story of Henry Hill. Each musical selection underscores key scenes, and establishes a tone in the film that, like much of his work, also feels as though the selections belong as the background music for life itself, fitting neatly into scenes set in bars and clubs, or pumping away on the radio. Like Henry's story, in the early days the music is mostly wistful and upbeat, full of love, romance, and even dreams. Music like "Leader of the Pack" by The Shangri-Las and "Then He Kissed Me" by The Crystals tell us more about Karen and why bad boys like Henry are the ones who always get the girls. A personal fave, "Jump into the Fire" by Harry Nilsson, burns with manic energy and underscores Henry's frantic paranoia fueled by a drug habit and juggling too many things out of his control...tearing himself apart by working day and night--suddenly, Henry's got a day job and it's illegal. And I don't think anyone who sees this film will be able to hear Derek and the Dominoes "Layla" ever the same way, and that's a good thing, since it pronounces a kind of melancholy and bittersweet end of a dream, of friendships cut loose, and that there is no honor among thieves. And that concept of "honor", of "family", even the thieves have stolen the purpose of these words, and use them to paint themselves as heroes--and Henry fell for it from day one. But this is the one thing that Henry believes in...other than himself. When push comes to shove (or threats of getting "whacked"), Henry understands that his time in the sun has come and gone. And though there is no great fanfare and no sense of justice being served, Henry's story remains. And as Henry gives us his closing lines--feeling like a "schnook"--we get that last piece of deftly appropriate music, a cover of a song popularized by the "Chairman of the Board", Frank Sinatra, "My Way", delivered by punk rock renegade Sid Vicious...what better anthem for a wiseguy like Henry Hill?
Recommended for: Fans of mafioso crime drama but with a grounded, believable setting and characters...unbelievable in as much as it's hard to think of a system which allows such crime to prosper. But I imagine Henry Hill would ask us to look around and see for ourselves; that's what Goodfellas is.