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| 5/5 Stars |
Director Martin Scorsese is on my personal Mount Rushmore of film directors. He’s made so many good films including “Mean Streets”, “Raging Bull”, “Taxi Driver”, etc. For me, the film that I feel is his masterpiece is still the movie that got me into Scorsese films in the first place: “Goodfellas”.
In the 1970s, director Francis Ford Coppola gave us two of the greatest gangster films of all time with “The Godfather” and “The Godfather Part II”. However, it can’t be denied that the life of organized crime is glorified to a certain extent in those movies. You surprisingly find yourself rooting for Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone as he attempts to take out his enemies and secure his family’s future.
In 1990, Scorsese hit us over the head with a hell of a gangster film that does the reverse. The movie is based on a true story and follows the life of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta). As a young teenager, he loves the gangster lifestyle as he becomes involved in petty crimes on behalf of crime boss Paulie Cicero (Paul Sorvino) along with Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) and Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro).
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| Henry takes down scores with Tommy and Jimmy in 'Goodfellas'! |
Over the years, he becomes an accomplished gangster and seems to be living the American Dream with his eventual wife, Karen Hill (Lorraine Bracco). However, as time goes on and the bodies start to pile up, Henry develops a nasty cocaine habit and learns that he may be the next victim of organized crime if he doesn’t watch his back.
Henry Hill’s descent throughout the movie shows audiences that the “glamorous” life of a gangster is a fleeting one. It often ends with the person in question becoming a witness of the state or the person being put into a body bag… or ice truck… or a vacant field in the middle of nowhere.
The direction from Scorsese is flawless. Whether it’s the hard hitting violence that can sometimes come out of nowhere or a grand one-take shot that follows Henry and Karen to the back of a club in order to be ushered straight to the front table, Scorsese has never been better as a director than he was with this movie.
He successfully combines brilliant cinematography (courtesy of cinematographer Michael Ballhaus) with excellent songs from the times to help sell the story as well. You don’t just feel like you’re witnessing the world of organized crime, you feel like you’re living in it with the characters.
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| Joe Pesci is the true scene stealer as Tommy in 'Goodfellas'! |
As usual, Scorsese surrounds himself with fantastic actors. De Niro, the filmmaker’s frequent collaborator, is in top form with this movie. Jimmy can be charming on one hand before completely flipping out if he sees something that he doesn’t approve of such as someone spending too much money after pulling off a successful score.
Pesci is the absolute scene stealer as Tommy DeVito. The character is a man who knows that he will be made one day within the family, so he tends to act erratically and with a certain sense of entitlement as a result. This is the movie that earned Pesci the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and it is easy to see why when he begins to successfully chew the scenery.
Someone who I don’t think gets enough praise for this movie, though, is Liotta as Henry. As the de facto main character, Liotta has to not only narrate the movie but also hold the film on his shoulders and he does this flawlessly. Thanks to Liotta’s performance, you somehow both sympathize and despise Henry at various points and it is a crying shame that Liotta wasn’t even nominated for an Academy Award.
At the end of the day, it will be debated which of Scorsese’s films is truly the best. To be honest, most will probably be in agreement that a movie such as “Raging Bull” or “Taxi Driver” will take that title. For me, though, I’ll always consider “Goodfellas” to be his biggest accomplishment.
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