
It all begins with the narration: “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.” Middle class white boys like me may never understand this sentiment, but to a kid living in the midst of Brooklyn with strict parents, there is nothing more attractive. Henry Hill watches out of his bedroom window as all the “wiseguys” sit around and play cards all night. These guys don’t have to ask for anything, they just get it.
However, when we hear Hill narrate this opening line, we have not been warmly welcomed into the film. Driving down a road he, Tommy DeVito and Jimmy Conway hear a bump in the trunk. It is revealed there lays a man, barely alive. Tommy and Jimmy finish the job in brutal fashion. We then begin the flashback, wondering how a man can find such a lifestyle appealing. As a child Henry drops out of school to work for the local gangsters. He knows this is the only way to make a name for himself around town, and he works his way up the ladder much to the dismay of his parents.
After being arrested the first time, he is given the advice that would come to shape the rest of his life, courtesy of Jimmy (Robert DeNiro): “Never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut.” No matter what happened, this is the code he is to follow. We are then taken to Henry’s adulthood and we observe how his lavish lifestyle soon begins to dissolve into something much less glamorous.
This is the definitive mob movie. The Godfather is a terrific film to be sure, but there is barely an inch of truth to it. That is a romanticized mob, for the truth is the mob does not sit around speaking Italian at each other in their mansions. Real mobsters don’t have mansions. They have a lot of money, to be sure, but they tend not to look it. Business is done in back rooms, poor lighting and all. They sometimes dress well, but they don’t waltz around in tuxes all day. This is the most powerful man in the Goodfellas universe:

Certainly no Vito Corleone there, but I feel I might have done both films a disservice by comparing them, as these are two films that probably should not be compared. It does not matter whether or not a movie is about mobsters, but the question is why is a movie about mobsters? In that case comparing The Godfather to Goodfellas is apples and oranges.
The genius of Goodfellas is in the details, something Scorsese has been all about from the beginning. As recently as The Departed it was reported that in his mind Scorsese debated how much Leonardo DiCaprio’s Billy Costigan should receive from the Massachusetts police to go undercover. He needed to know the amount of money, but at no point in the film is it revealed to the audience. In Scorsese’s mind everything needs to be accounted for. Goodfellas, along with Casino, shows Scorsese completely immersed in the world he creates. At one point Ray Liotta’s Henry Hill is sent to jail, and in this sequence the life therein is described to us in detail, down to what goes into the sauce they eat every night.
For the first half of the film life is going swimmingly for Hill, all of it encompassed in one extended shot. Let’s watch:
The Copacabana was a symbol of luxury for New York City residents back in the 70’s, one of them being Martin Scorsese. In fact, at the beginning when we watch the young Henry Hill looking out his window in awe of the local gangsters it is hard not to see that as a young Scorsese. Perhaps Goodfellas is a depiction of an alternate life for Scorsese, had he not had asthma and was forced to sit inside all day. Instead of going outside, he would go see movies with his dad. It was the only activity he could do. As he grew older he would watch many of his friends get involved with the mob.
The Copacabana shot beings outside on the street, and every door on the way in is opened for Henry Hill. He is respected by everyone he sees. He meets many of his fellow mobsters inside. By getting involved he is able to get help with anything he needs, including impressing a girl, in this case Karen (Lorraine Bracco) who becomes his wife. This shot could also be seen from her point of view, as seen at the end, when she asks exactly what he does. There is an extended sequence where Karen takes over narrating duties from Henry, describing how she falls into the world herself. She is not the normal movie wife who asks for her husband to fix his ways. She wants him in the mob.
The narration is key here. Scorsese has used narration multiple times in his films, but unlike when others use it, it is not to fill in plot holes. Here, as in Taxi Driver, if there were no narration we would have a hard time sympathizing with the “protagonists”. Henry Hill describes to the audience slowly and precisely exactly what is going through his mind at all times, and thus we are fully immersed into the world of a gangster.
But what of the fall? I don’t want to spoil too much of the second half for those who have not seen it, but I want to stress the importance of it. All it takes is a couple mistakes and suddenly everything goes downhill. One of Henry’s best friends is Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) a hot headed guy who is prone to sudden bursts of ill-advised violence. His explosions provide the most shocking parts of the film, and it is this type of guy who can get you in the most trouble. Towards the beginning we witness the infamous “You think I’m funny?” scene, which provides some of the tensest moments in the film. It’s alarming how fast a man can be killed. At one point Henry alerts the audience as to the exact moment he knows a man is going to be killed, only to have the threat revoked a few minutes later. As Hill states, the guy will never know how close he was to getting killed. Scorsese doesn’t glorify violence, it happens out of nowhere and it’s done quickly. Just like in real life, things don’t slow down as bodies are riddled with bullets.
The music is also crucial here, and it is something Scorsese pays special attention to in all his films. There is no original score here, only various pop songs from the era the movie is in. The music is used to describe the glamour of the life, and eventually the downfall. My favorite sequence in the movie is when the film breaks its normal style and is cut at a breakneck pace. It follows Hill as the walls close in around him over the course of the day. He has seemingly hundreds of errands to run, all while he is on drugs and he thinks he’s about to be arrested. The music is equally chaotic, going between fast and slow seemingly at will. It is as if there is a jukebox behind the screen scoring the action of these character’s lives. If only to symbolize the course of the life in the mob, the film begins with Tony Bennett, and ends with Sid Vicious.
Once you are in the mob, there is no way out. You don’t go on to fortune for long. There may be temporary rewards, but in Goodfellas characters have only one of three fates: they go in hiding, they go to jail, or they die.
SUMMER OF SCORSESE
Original Post
Goodfellas
Up next: Taxi Driver
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