Goodfellas

So I had a lot to stuff to do the other night. I was studying for a test, I was reading for grad school, I had some other stuff on my To Do list and of course, I turn on the TV very briefly and I see that Good Fellas is starting. At that point, I knew my night was shot and I was hooked. I thought it was finally time to see this classic and see what my thoughts on it would be.

Now this movie came out in 1990, almost 30 years ago. There are elements about this movie that have made it somewhat timeless, but I do think there are some elements that don't hold up as well for this film. I will for sure make note of those things, but I will note why this has become such a culturally significant film. I think I come in from an interesting perspective because being a fan of film but having waited so long to see this movie, I can recognize what elements this movie gave birth to and how it inspired a lot of films that have come out in the close to 30 years since the films release.

Goodfellas is based on the true story of Henry Hill (played by Ray Liotta). Henry narrates the majority of the film from his early childhood initiation into the Italian Crime family of Paulie Cicero (played by Paul Sorvino). He states that from an early age he was seduced by the life of being a gangster and he gets brought on as an enforcer for Paulie's crime family.

The movie chronicles the rise from rags to riches for Henry as he meet other gangsters like Tommy DeVito (played by Joe Pesci) and higher ranking gangsters like Jimmy Conway (played by Robert De Nero). It also shows the relationship he builds with his wife Karen (played by Lorraine Bracco) and how that toxic relationship forms him and his choices through this dangerous and illegal lifestyle.

If you've seen The Wolf of Wallstreet, you'll recognize that the format and progression of the story that Martin Scorsese developed first with this film. There's not so much a central conflict that drives the whole movie as much as its a chronicle of a morally compromised individual. But where Wolf of Wallstreet seemed to almost glorify that lifestyle, Goodfellas points out that all of this comes with a cost.

The other aspect of the film that was interesting was how they humanized these really horrible individuals. I know that Robert De Niro is a horrible person in this film, but he sells it when there is pain in his face when his goals are not met or someone close to him is lost. Joe Pesci is an asshole who indiscriminately murders in this film, and yet you still understand his goals of progressing in the family because this is the more important thing to him and that's very human emotions and interactions.

Furthermore it notes that crime is not without emotions and criminals are human and don't always think rationally. After a huge heist, people are going to spend money, they can't help it, even though it could hurt their chances of getting away with it. This is something very prevalent in the film and it's fascinating to watch.

De Niro and Pesci actually take a back seat to Liotta which was not what I was expecting when I was going into this film. They still give great performances and the writing for their character is exceptional but I understand now why Liotta became a household name after this film. I've never been a huge fan of him and he hasn't made the best choices since, but I get why this propelled him very quickly from obscurity to celebrity fame.

I think Liotta shines the most in his relationship with his wife Karen. From the get go, if you're a normal healthy person, you will recognize that this relationship is doomed from the get go and it's toxic. But at the same time there is some emotional moments between the two that you see the chemistry.

On top of that, it helps the audience understand the culture in these Italian Crime Families. Karen gets a couple of narration throughout along with Henry and she provides a fellow outsider experience into this culture that I don't think a lot of people understand.

Now a lot of it seems like hyperbole for dramatic effect, but at the same time there is a human element to the movie that feels very genuine, especially considering the fact that this is based on a true story. But more importantly, this movie feels like it could be set in any time period and still give off a classic timelessness feel to it that it's able to convey.

There are certain scenes that I knew were classic scenes having not a whole lot of context of the movie going into it. The film is shot beautifully and the narrative flows pretty well.

I couldn't help but compare it to The Wolf of Wallstreet because the first person narrative, fourth wall break, and chronology story telling of Goodfellas no doubt inspired The Wolf of Wallstreet years later. I think Goodfellas is leaps and bounds better than The Wolf of Wallstreet but it's fun seeing them in reverse order and seeing where all that inspiration came from.

However, some of the same issues I had with The Wolf of Wallstreet were also inspired by this film. First is that it's a little long for my taste. It starts from when Henry was a kid in the 60s all the way through the 80s and a lot happens in a very loose chronology fashion. While Goodfellas didn't feel 3 hours the way The Wolf of Wallstreet did, I think it could condense in places to be more streamlined.

Again, Goodfellas did the morally compromised character arc better, but it still makes it difficult relate to a character who is just hardwired differently where human life means little to nothing to them. These are small issues as I think Goodfellas addresses these different approaches uniquely and a lot better than The Wolf of Wallstreet, but that doesn't mean they're totally absent.

The last thing worth mentioning isn't even a bad thing on this movie, it's the cultural impact this movie had. This movie feels timeless, I couldn't believe it came out in the 90s because it feels like it could have been made in the 70s or 80s and it has that classic feel that makes it feel older than it actually is.

But the cultural impact set off a series of movies just trying to recreate the impact this movie clearly had. Some of it was good with shows like the Sopranos, some of it wasn't because it didn't understand the messages this movie had. It wasn't just a crime movie, it was a story about people. Albeit morally compromised people, but it was about a culture of violence and toxic relationships within that culture.

Since then, crime movies have been done to death and none of them have that classic feel that Goodfellas have. A good example is a movie like American Gangster, the Denzel Washington vehicle that came out in 2007.

Don't get me wrong, I like this movie. I think it's a good one and you should check it out if you haven't seen it yet. But I know for a fact that American Gangster isn't going to have the same effect on the crime film genre the way Goodfellas did. Goodfellas is up there with The Godfather in just the way it portrays crime. I don't like reaffirming what people have said in the past because everyone likes a hot take, but all the praise for this movie is totally warranted.

I think we should encourage movies like American Gangster because I think it was telling an interesting story but there are so many movies like it trying to be The Godfather, trying to be Goodfellas that more than likely they're not going to reach that level as hard as they try. And more recently, you get movies that are just trying to capitalize on the tropes and things that worked in those movies and they don't understand what made them great. (See: Gotti).

My point is that is something unique about Goodfellas that makes it a movie worth celebrating. Is it going to go down as one of my favorite movies of all time? No I don't think so mainly in being the OG for a lot of tropes that have been used over and over again I'm almost annoyed by some of it, but I will recognize a really well made movie when I see one and if you waited far too long to see Goodfellas like I did, do yourself a favor and go check it out now.

But have you seen Goodfellas? What did you think? What's your favorite part? Does it hold up almost 30 years later? Comment an Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for reading!