GoodFellas ***** (1990, Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino) – Classic Movie Review 58

Director Martin Scorsese employs Robert De Niro in 1990 for the sixth time in his 30-year real-life gangster epic GoodFellas, one of his key masterworks. It motors on the sizzling Oscar-nominated screenplay he co-wrote with Nicholas Pileggi, author of the insider-knowledge book Wiseguy. Pileggi based his main character on real-life gangster Jimmy Burke (who died in jail in 1996).

A fired-up De Niro stars as the fictionalised James Conway, a pillar of the New York Italian community of organised crime, though the movie mainly belongs to Ray Liotta, who grabs his role of a lifetime as Henry Hill, a Brooklyn boy raised to be a member of the mob. ‘As far back as I could remember, I always wanted to be a gangster,’ he says in Brooklyn in 1955.

However, unluckily for Liotta, the film is perhaps best remembered for Joe Pesci’s breathtaking performance as a monstrously unpredictable and scary mob loose cannon, Tommy DeVito, which won him a well-deserved best supporting actor Oscar. ‘You think I’m funny? How am I funny?’ he famously asks.

Starting small time, Henry Hill takes part in a robbery with Conway and DeVito. They murder all the others involved, giving Hill his chance to survive and prosper as a member of the gang.

Among Scorsese’s many talents is that he is brilliant with actors. So it is not surprising maybe that here there is perfect acting all round, and Liotta, Pesci, Lorraine Bracco (as Liotta’s wife Karen) and Paul Sorvino (as Paulie Cicero) are all seen at their most spectacular.

It is notable that nothing else these extremely fine actors have done has been quite this good. Scorsese’s mother Catherine enjoys a memorable cameo as Pesci’s mom (and his dad Charles plays prisoner Vinnie). As a lot of the dialogue is improvised, the actors must get a big share of the credit for the movie.

In one of his most scintillating films, an inspired Scorsese explores in intimate detail the complex relationships, dealings, romances and jokes of the mobsters’ world. Running 146 minutes, it is incredibly fast and furious, and never once flags or even seems to pause for breath. With its unremitting, appalling violence, endless streams of strongly foul language, savage scenes and vicious, disturbing tone, it is a brilliantly staged, edge-of-seat fear ride and not for the easily shocked.

GoodFellas is filmed entirely on New York locations by Scorsese who goes an in-your-face, almost documentary route in the style of Scarface instead of Francis Coppola’s stately studio craftsmanship of The Godfather. The long tracking shots and especially the Steadicam trip through the nightclub kitchen give the film its fresh, vibrant, ‘modern’ style.

And it is also a technical craftwork, with dazzling cinematography by Michael Ballhaus, startling production designs by Kristi Zea, an amazing soundtrack, brilliant editing by Thelma Schoonmaker and distinguished titles by Saul and Elaine Bass.

I hardly need add that it is as scary as any great horror movie, and as immensely entertaining as it is influential, repaying endless viewings.

Scorsese explains: ‘What people don’t understand is that a gangster’s job is not to go around killing people. A gangster’s job is to make money. That’s the main thing… everyone makes a lot of money. Somebody gets out of line, and it ruins that money-making for everybody. So he’s got to go. It just happens to be their line of work.’

Also in the cast are Frank Sivero, Tony Darrow, Mike Starr, Frank Vincent, Chuck Low, Frank DiLeo, Henny Youngman (as himself), Gina Mastrogliacomo, Catherine Scorsese, Charles Scorsese, Suzanne Shepherd, Debi Mazar, Margo Winkler, Welker White, Jerry Vale, Julie Garfield, Christopher Serrone (as the young Henry Hill), Elaine Kagan, Beau Starr, Kevin Corrigan, Michael Imperioli (as the ill-fated Spider), Robbie Vinton (as singer Bobby Vinton), Johnny Williams, Joseph D’Onofrio, Tony Sirico (as Tony Stacks), Illeana Douglas, Frank Pellegrino, Samuel L Jackson and Frank Adonis as Antony Stabile.

It is re-released in a new 4K restoration at BFI Southbank and in UK cinemas on 20 January 2017.

Revered cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, who reflected his visual style on the movies of Martin Scorsese (also After Hours, Gangs of New York and The Departed), Francis Ford Coppola and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, died on 12 April 2017, aged 81.

RIP Frank Vincent (15 April 1937 – 13 September 2017), who plays Billy Batts, a made man in the Gambino crime family: ‘Go home and get your shine box…’ He also played the vicious mob boss Phil Leotardo on The Sopranos and in Scorsese’s Raging Bull (1980) and Casino (1995).

RIP Frank Adonis, who died on 26 December 2018, aged 83. He also played in The Sopranos and in Scorsese’s Raging Bull (1980) and Casino (1995).

Raymond Allen Liotta (December 18, 1954 – May 26, 2022). Lorraine Bracco wrote on May 26, 2022: ‘I am utterly shattered to hear this terrible news. People will come up & tell me their favorite movie is Goodfellas. They always ask what was the best part of making that movie. My response has always been the same…Ray Liotta.’

Tony Sirico died in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on July 8, 2022, aged 79. He is best known for his role as Paulie Walnuts Gualtieri in The Sopranos, and his numerous appearances in Woody Allen films. He played gangsters Goodfellas, Mob Queen, Mighty Aphrodite, Love and Money, Fingers, The One Man Jury, Defiance, The Last Fight, Innocent Blood, Bullets over Broadway, The Pick-up Artist, Gotti, The Search for One-eye Jimmy, Cop Land, Turn of Faith, Hello Again, Mickey Blue Eyes, and Wonder Wheel. He also played policemen Dead Presidents and Deconstructing Harry.

Paul Sorvino (April 13, 1939 – July 25, 2022) was best known for his role as Paulie Cicero (based on Paul Vario) in Goodfellas, Sorvino recalled: ‘Most people think I’m either a gangster or a cop or something, but the reality is I’m a sculptor, a painter, a best-selling author, a poet, an opera singer. None of them is gangster, but, you know, obviously I sort of have a knack for playing these things. They forget that I was also Dr Kissinger in Nixon, the deaf lawyer in Dummy, and they forget a lot of things that I’ve done. It would be nice to have my legacy more than that of just tough guy.’

© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 58

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