GoodFellas (1990) – Review

For as long as I’ve known, I wanted to study movies and understand what makes certain ones so great, and GoodFellas is one of those movies, one that carries a legendary status with it that can make someone like me slightly intimidated to look and review it. It’s a very full movie with great characters and masterful direction that is definitely worth seeing multiple times, so you can catch everything, but it does hinder the first viewing with how full the movie is. Besides that, GoodFellas still stands as not only one of the best gangster movies of all time, but as an all-time classic period.

Believe it or not, the story of GoodFellas is based off of true events, with slight variations on the source material, but apparently the movie holds very true to the original story as said by the real Henry Hill. It focuses on the rise of three generations of mafia family, but mainly the rise of Henry Hill, as he learns what it takes to become a gangster. His upcoming from small beginning is really interesting and watching the life of crime consume him is even more so. His associates in Tommy “Two Gun” DeVito and Jimmy Conway are also interesting characters on their own and it’s the interactions between these three characters and how they work together that really makes you cheer and dislike them at the same time.

There are points in the story where Henry gets to reflect on his upbringing, as he tries to keep his image and realizes the power of reputation, and the one that sticks out to me is the scene were the kid gets shot in the foot by Tommy, but I guarantee there’s more that I missed. Speaking of things that I missed, the story is pretty packed and rewards multiple viewings but I do feel it hurts the first time viewing experience of the movie. Keeping track of all the characters and all their motives can defiantly take a bit to sort out but is worth it.

The performances are out standing with not a single weak performance among them. Ray Liotta plays the titular Henry Hill and he absolutely kills it. When an actor becomes that character and you no longer see that person as the actor, It’s special and immerses you into the movie. His smooth personality can flip to pure anger and violence in an instant, whether he’s with Karen Hill (played by Lorraine Bracco) or with his fellow gangsters, and he brings an intensity that almost makes his appearance of the smooth man seem like an act and it shows in the scenes when he’s angry at his wife. Speaking of the fellow gangsters, Joe Pesci gives one of his most iconic performances in the character of Tommy “Two guns” DeVito which won him an Oscar for best supporting actor in 1990. He plays the unhinged nature of Tommy to a perfection and it shows in his famous scene where he asks “How am I funny?” as they go from laughing to extremely tense, and in the scene when he meets his old boss Jimmy Conway, played by Robert De Niro as the coolest of the gangsters, really shows his experience in the three generations as unlike the other two, he always has calm nature about him, even when slightly paranoid. Lorraine Bracco does a fine job with the thankless job of wife Karen Hill, and she has a couple really good scenes but I feel she’s crying most of the time and wish I saw a bit more from her character but that’s a writing thing.

The direction by Martin Scorsese is absolutely masterful, as it drips with character and nuance that is benefited by multiple viewings, to truly appreciate the work put into the movie. The way Scorsese uses music and voice over is great, even right at the beginning when Henry closes the trunk of the car and the jazz line starts, giving you this classy flair when he says, “For as long as I could remember, I wanted to be a gangster.” The infamous one long tracking that follows Henry on a single take makes sense for the story with the one in mind as Henry takes Karen to dinner and the camera never cuts as he introduces her to people and greets others, showing his control of a situation that might seem a little chaotic to Karen. That’s not the only time he uses visual story telling as he does it with lighting and with certain thing in frame. A great example is when Karen meets with Jimmy and as he’s trying to get her to go into one of the stores, the camera goes to a wide and we can see signs pointing towards the store, saying one way and other things. There are so many things to unpack in this I guarantee I missed some.

GoodFellas is an iconic gangster film with extremely well realized group of characters, an excellent story dealing with the consumption of power and crime, outstanding performances and a masterful vision from legendary director Martin Scorsese. The attention to detail is excellent, made all the more interesting by the fact that it’s based on true events, with slight variations of course. It can be a little overwhelming on the first viewing but will 100% benefit on rewatches to understand and catch just how much of a masterpiece this movie is.

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