Goodfellas (1990)

 Genere: Crime/Drama   

 Time: 2h 26mins    

Director: Martin Scorsese

Quick summary: Young Henry Hill, with his friends Jimmy and Tommy, begins the climb from being a petty criminal to a gangster on the mean streets of New York.


This is a gangster film like no other and I can definitely see why this is considered a classic.

So for a start, I found it very interesting that this is based on a true story! (Even if it is loosely). I found it to be a brilliant and mature film that romanticizes the brutal, violent life of the mafia, yet shows us how gritty and reckless it can be.

The film is constantly narrated by our main character, an interesting choice but I liked it since it reminded me of someone else selling me a story. It switches between him and sometimes his, who you'll learn later on to be his wife, Karen. This voiceover is one of the best I've heard it's interesting because it definitely comes across as himself bragging about his amazing life but yet it's compelling and you want to hear more.

Henry (our main character) meets this woman, Karen, and takes her out to a nightclub which involves this absolutely amazing one long uncut shot of them, bypassing the long line at the front door and entering instead through the kitchen — gliding down service corridors, greasing palms and shaking hands and then finally emerging into the luxe interior of the club to be greeted like visiting royalty, leaving Karen absolutely in awe as a table is brought out purely for them with champagne at the ready. Now, she definitely knows what's up here but that doesn't seem to bother her one bit, for her, it's the money. I see why this shot is considered iconic as it was really well produced.

This is where Karen's voiceover comes in. Most of her voiceovers explain her actions and give an insight into her thoughts which you don't often get in films like these and I really liked that. She states in one of the violent scenes that it "turned her on" and that really she should have run as far as she could have gotten from henry, but she also falls into the trap of romanticism of the Mafia life, like henry and pretty much defends his actions and crimes for the duration of their marriage.

 The shots become more erratic and tighter, as henry's life becomes more chaotic and I think this is a great way to portray his paranoia growing. He suffers constant anxiety and with the constant worry that he's going to be killed at any point and that he will be caught, his actions become more and more reckless. But the film throws in scenes of the group having fun, doing "normal" group activities almost to throw you off that they're doing all these crimes. It jumps from deep emotional stuff to lighthearted good times almost effortlessly, but that's what is interesting. Any one of these characters can flip and can fly off the handle into rage within seconds, so there is always that underline anxiety even in the fun moments.

You see this in one of its most iconic scenes when Henry comments on his buddy saying he's funny, but the guy responds in a severe tone acting all pushy towards him demanding to know "How the fuck am I funny? What the fuck is so funny about me? Tell me. Tell me what’s funny." Henry clicks on that it's supposed to be a joke and they all laugh about it, though that was one of the top most tense scenes I have ever seen.

This film has become one of the best mafia films I have seen and one I will most definitely recommend. Each character deals with power and authority complexes in their own way, and it shows that animation for the wrong things can lead to dark cruel endings.

9/10

“You know, we always called each other goodfellas. Like you’d say to somebody: ‘You’re gonna like this guy, he’s all right. He’s a goodfella. He’s one of us.’ You understand? We were goodfellas, wiseguys.”

"Paulie may have moved slow, but it was only because Paulie didn't have to move for anybody."