Goodfellas
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Goodfellas (also spelled GoodFellas) is a 1990 film directed by Martin Scorsese, based on the book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, the true story of mobster Henry Hill. The film stars Robert De Niro as Jimmy Conway, Ray Liotta as Henry Hill, Lorraine Bracco as Hill's wife, Karen Hill, Joe Pesci, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the irascible Tommy DeVito (based on Tommy DeSimone), Paul Sorvino as Paulie Cicero, Frank Vincent as Billy Batts, Frank DiLeo as Tuddy Cicero, Chuck Low as Morrie Kessler, Gina Mastrogiacomo as Janice Rossi, Frank Sivero as Franky Carbone, and Michael Imperioli as Michael Gianco, aka Spider.
The film is noted for having many uses of the word "fuck".
Story
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, 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 a month, and beats him. Upon hearing this, Henry's "friends" threaten the post office not to send any letters from the school board to his house anymore. The local Lucchese mob boss, 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 he always manages to bribe them. When Henry is arrested for selling stolen cigarettes, he wisely tells the police and court nothing and is lauded by his superiors for "being a standup guy."
As an adult, Henry and his friend Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci, in a widely acclaimed and Academy Award-winning performance) conspire with Conway to steal some of the billions of dollars of cargo passing through Idlewild Airport (later JFK). They help out in a key moneymaking heist, stealing over half a million dollars from the Air France cargo terminal in 1967 and paying Cicero his percentage of the take as per the mafia's code of tribute.
Henry also meets and falls in love with Karen (Lorraine Bracco), a young woman whose spunk and personality interest him deeply. Although there is conflict between the families because Karen's parents are Jewish and Hill is half-Irish and half-Italian. (Because of his and Jimmy Conway's own Irish ancestry, they can never be actual "made men" – full members of an Italian and Sicilian crime family.) Despite their religious backgrounds, Henry pretends to be half-Jewish ('just the good half' as he says to Karen's mother) and marries her. Later, after he and Jimmy threaten a competitor out of business, Henry discovers that a neighbor tried to rape Karen, and he storms back home and pistol whips the man's face. When Karen learns firsthand what Henry actually does for a living, she is fascinated instead of repelled; it impresses her that Henry has the nerve to steal instead of just "sitting around, waiting for a handout."
As the years go by and Henry earns Cicero's trust, his friends become more daring (and therefore dangerous) – Conway's love of truck hijacking and grand theft is bad enough, but DeVito is nearly psychotic in his need to prove himself through violence - with an explosive quick-temper to boot. In one memorable scene, DeVito thoughtlessly shoots an unarmed young man, Spider (played by Michael Imperioli), in the foot for not bringing drinks fast enough during a card game. Later, DeVito fatally shoots Spider for talking back to him.
DeVito's long violent streak reaches a crest in June 1970 when he (with the help of Jimmy Conway) brutally murders Billy Batts (Frank Vincent), a made man in the competing Gambino crime family; a major offense that could get them all killed by the Gambinos if discovered. Henry, Conway and DeVito place Batts's bloody corpse in the trunk of Henry's car, stop by DeVito's mother's house to pick up a shovel and a knife, finish killing Batts upstate (this scene opens the film), bury him in an abandoned plot of rural land. They discover six months later that the land has been sold to a real estate developer and the (badly decomposed) body must be exhumed, moved, and reburied. (The scene serves as an example of the movie's black humor; Tommy, Jimmy and Henry go to dig up the body, a scene shot mostly in silhouette bathed in the red light from the car's rear lights; while Henry reacts badly to the excavation of the corpse, eventually vomiting, both Jimmy and Tommy remain nonchalant - even joking about it; the exhumation is just business to them). During this time, Henry's marriage deteriorates when Karen finds he has a mistress. Karen tracks her down at her apartment and threatens the other woman so violently that even Cicero has to mediate. Karen confronts Henry with a gun as he wakes up. She angrily demands an explanation from him and asks if he loves her, to which he says "there's nobody but only you, Karen." In a voice-over, she admits to not killing him, because she still feels attracted to him and he's done so much for her.
After dangling a debt-ridden Florida gambler over a lion cage at the Tampa zoo, Henry and Jimmy are caught and sent to prison for four years when it turns out the man's sister works as a typist for the FBI. There, Henry deals drugs to keep afloat and to support his family, and, when he returns to them, he has a lucrative drug connection in Pittsburgh. Although Paul Cicero tolerated Henry's prison drug deals, he sternly warns him not to deal drugs on the outside and to identify those who do (any association with drugs is strictly forbidden in most Italian crime families). Henry ultimately ignores Paul and involves Tommy and Jimmy (as well as his wife, and new mistress (Debi Mazar), and babysitter) in an elaborate smuggling operation. About the same time, in December 1978, Jimmy Conway and friends plan and carry out a record $6,000,000 heist from the Lufthansa cargo terminal at JFK airport. Soon after the heist, Jimmy grows disgusted and paranoid when some of his associates foolishly flaunt their gains in plain sight, possibly drawing police attention, and begins having them gradually eliminated. Soon, many of the mobsters turn up dead. Worse, after promising to welcome DeVito into the Lucchese family as a "made man," the elder members of the family instead kill him as retaliation for Batts' death. Conway is crushed by the news that DeVito is dead. Henry reports that DeVito is shot in the face "so his mother couldn't have an open coffin at the funeral."
In an extended, virtuoso sequence titled "Sunday, May 11th, 1980," all of the different paths of Henry's complicated criminal career catastrophically collide. He must coordinate a major cocaine shipment; cook a meal for his wife, children and paraplegic younger brother; placate his drug-addled, emotionally unstable mistress; cope with his clueless, superstitious babysitter/drug courier; avoid federal authorities who, unknown to him, have had him under surveillance for several months; and satisfy his sleazy customers, all the while a nervous wreck from lack of sleep and snorting too much of the product he deals. The editing and scoring of the sequence have been acclaimed as some of Scorsese's best work, with a montage of popular songs such as The Who's "Magic Bus" and Harry Nilsson's "Jump Into the Fire" forming the soundtrack. (The rest of the film also uses the same sort of scoring strategy, where the music provides not only an emotional backdrop but a sense of historical context.) With around four different songs playing and cutting into each other in this last sequence, it shows how Henry's mental process is scattered, and he is unable to think straight. After serving dinner, he and his courier plan to fly out to Florida, but they are arrested by police as he is backing out the driveway. Karen is later able to bail him out, after her parents mortgage their house to help her out.
After Henry's drug arrest, Cicero abandons him (after giving him $3,200), and the rest of his mob cohorts quickly follow suit. Convinced he and his family are marked for death, Henry acts swiftly and decisively, acting as an informant on his former criminal cohorts to the FBI, sending them away for long prison terms. He and his family enter the federal Witness Protection Program, disappearing into anonymity to save their lives, but not before he testifies against Paulie and Jimmy in court. He is now an "average nobody"; as he laments in the film's closing line, "I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook." A moment after Henry's voiceover finishes we see a quick shot of Tommy firing a pistol directly into the camera much like the final shot of The Great Train Robbery.
The film closes with a few title cards before the closing credits explaining what became of Hill, Paul Cicero and Jimmy Conway (Burke). Henry's marriage to Karen has finally ended in separation, and Cicero and Conway will practically spend the rest of their lives in prison. Cicero died in 1988. Conway's title card explains that he was eligible for parole in 2004; however, he died of stomach cancer in 1996.
Production
The film originated with New York crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi's book "Wiseguy", which was read before publication by Martin Scorsese. 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" soldiers in a larger family, but the film never shows us who their ultimate superiors are, Paul Cicero's bosses. (According to Nicholas Pileggi's book, Wiseguy, Cicero was a Capo for one of the Five Families, the Lucchese Family.)
Additionally, while The Godfather presents the audience with sympathetic characters (particularly Michael Corleone and Kay Adams), the mobsters in Goodfellas are often seen as antisocial, cold-blooded, and violent. The young man who lives across the street from Karen (whom she's "known all her life") attempts to rape Karen 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 afraid to use violence when he feels it to be necessary.
Other viewers, however, find that the character that they can sympathise 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's 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 without much of a 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 Bats, 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. 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." 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 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 lucky to be alive from the Mob life, and he would still be a gangster, even if he could reverse time.
Awards and recognition
Academy Awards
Joe Pesci received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Tommy DeVito in 1990.
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).
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 and its exploring of the tension between nuclear families and mob families 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. It was homaged 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.
Trivia
- Ray Liotta was offered the role of Harvey Dent in Batman, but he turned it down to star in this film. The role of Dent was given to Billy Dee Williams.
- According to Martin Scorsese and Ray Liotta, the real Henry Hill has a cameo as a chef in the three-minute non-stop tracking shot of Henry and Karen going through the Copacabana's kitchen facilities.
- The unedited guide through the Copacabana ending with Henry and Karen sitting down to watch Henny Youngman had to be shot many times. Youngman kept forgetting his lines.
- When Joe Pesci won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, his whole speech was "This is an honor and a privilege, thank you." It is the second shortest Oscar-acceptance speech next to Alfred Hitchcock's, who merely said "Thanks," when he received an honorary Oscar. Later, Pesci admitted that he didn't say more, because "I really didn't think I was going to win."
- In preparation for their roles, De Niro, Pesci and Liotta met with the real Henry Hill to discuss the story, the characters, what they sounded like, and what real life gangsters Jimmy Burke and Tommy DeSimone were really like. De Niro often called Hill ten times a day to ask how Burke walked, held his cigarette, etc.
- The scene where Paulie slaps Henry as a warning not to be dealing behind the family's back was added by Paul Sorvino, hence Liotta's expression. The shocked look on his face is actually real; as he had not expected this, and Scorsese kept it in the final cut because he liked Liotta's reaction.
- Al Pacino was offered the role of Jimmy Conway, but he turned it down due to fears of typecasting. Ironically, he ended up playing Big Boy Caprice, another mobster, in Dick Tracy (film), he admits he regrets this decision.
- Driving to and from the set, Ray Liotta listened to FBI audio cassette tapes of Henry Hill, so he could practice speaking like his real-life counterpart.
- Surprisingly enough, Scorsese was also interested in directing the Dick Tracy adaption, being a comics fan, but he lost interest when Warren Beatty came on board for the project.
- William L. Petersen was offered the role of Henry Hill, but he turned it down.
- When Robert De Niro's character starts crying after he learns that Tommy has been killed, the man on the other line who tells him is Martin Scorsese's father, Charles Scorsese. In addition, Charles is the cellmate who puts "too many onions in the [tomato] sauce" during Henry's jail stint.
- According to Maxim magazine, Pesci wrote and directed the "You think I'm funny?" scene at Scorsese's request.
- Most of the dialogue, especially Pesci's, was ad-libbed by the actors, with the urging of De Niro. The entire 'hoof' scene with Tommy's mother (Martin Scorsese's mother Catherine), after killing Billy Bats was completely improvised.
- When he heard that Robert De Niro was going to play him Jimmy Burke actually called de Niro from prison, telling him he was happy he could play him. Although many denied that they never really met, they later met in Burke's prison to discuss the character. Burke never saw the whole movie, although he did see an incomplete version of the film.
- In one of the last scenes in the movie, the Hills real-life US Attorney, Edward Macdonald, is shown advising Karen to join Henry in the Witness Protection Program. He re-enacted what he told them in real life on the screen.
- Michael Imperioli, who went on to star in The Sopranos, did a scene in that show where he enters a bakery in a bad mood and the young man at the counter is not serving him. He gets angry and shoots the young man in the foot, which was reminiscent of he himself, as Spider, is shot in the foot by Joe Pesci.
External links
- [}}}] at Rotten Tomatoes
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