Director: Martin Scorsese
Year: 1990
Country: US
Language: English
After The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Martin Scorsese's gangster epic Goodfellas is commonly considered one of the greatest American gangster films of all time by film buffs and critics alike. Indeed it is one of the many films that have made Scorsese's name synonymous with Gangster Cinema, though I personally like his non gangster films like Hugo, Last Temptation of Christ and Raging Bull a lot more. I have seen Goodfellas at least three times a year for the past five years, it seems to be a favorite among movie channels, and every viewing I find more to like about it.
The film begins with a narration by Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster. To me, being a gangster was better than being President of the United States." Indeed Hill is a small time gangster, who takes pat in a robbery with his friends Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) and Tommy De Vito (Joe Pesci). Their sights have been set a little higher, to rise in the mob hierarchy by killing off everybody else who chose to join the robbery. The film follows Hill's quest to live the life of luxury he never had as a child.
One thing that is a little bit unusual for a gangster film is the amount of screen time the women in Goodfellas get.. Usually screen time for women is sparse, they are usually seen as an object to obtain (A quote from Brian De Palma's Scarface goes "First you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the women") and are subservient to the male lead. Karen Hill (Lorraine Braco) get narration to show her side of the story. She is as strong as her husband, yet has the same amount of flaws. She has equal power, yet equal fault as well.
Goodfellas is essentially about the nature of power and what can happen if you take shortcuts to obtain that power. Joe Pesci plays his role as the maniacal Tommy De Vito phenomenally well; he definitely deserved the Oscar he received for Best Supporting Actor. He demands respect and when he isn't given that respect he often resorts to violence. When a bus boy tells De Vito to f*ck himself h shoots him in the chest out of blind rage because he feels his power has been taken away from him. Unfortunately this negative characteristic is what leads him to his downfall. Everybody's lust for power in this film affects them quite negatively.
In conclusion, Goodfellas is an incredibly well made Gangster film. There is immense character development as well as inventive cinematography that seems to change style the further along we are into the film. It's quite interesting to see how different the first half of the film looks and feels compared to the second half of the film. Is it better than The Godfather? I would say that it's less historically important, but more entertaining. Praise it! 4/5
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