GoodFellas

Goodfellas is directed by Martin Scorsese and stars Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Brasco, and Paul Sorvino. It is based on a book called “WiseGuy” by Nicholas Pellaggi.

Goodfellas tells the story of Henry Hill, a small time gangster who with his friends, James Conway and Tommy Devito, slowly work up the hierarchy of the mob business. Hill soon lands in the Witness Protection Program.

From the opening scene where Hill says in a narration, ”I always wanted to be a gangster, I knew I was in for a great film.

And what a film it was.

The acting was great. Ray Liotta is Hill, a Irish-Italian boy who adored the gangsters in their cool cars, bribed police to let them pass, and Hill wanted to get in on it. Though Robert De Niro isn’t in the film much, he does fine. Not one of my favorites from him though. Lorraine Brasco is great as Karen Hill, who, at first, doesn’t like Henry, grows to love him later on. Paul Sorvino was good too, as the gangster who gets young Henry to the mafia.

 

Now, let’s go on to Joe Pesci and his nearly scary performance as Tommy Devito, who is a Italian man who is a fast-talking killer. He has a deadly sense of humor, and steals all the scenes he is in. One particular scene he just completely flips out, and it is just movie making genius.

Scorsese is the master at making gangster films. He writes the script very well and commands the directing. He does a lot of great one-shot scenes, like the nightclub scene that is one of the most memorable scenes for me.

Goodfellas is the film that defined gangster films. It has great performances from the cast, and a stellar script.