I was more fixated than anything on blockbusters when Warner Bros. Pictures’ Goodfellas came out. Still, a film like this one had its appeal. A crime drama chronicling mob life from the perspective of a witness pigeonholed into taking the organization down, and based on crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi’s 1985 novel based on the real life Henry Hill.
Actors Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci, and the late Ray Liotta carry Martin Scorsese’s 1990 release with sheer excellence in their telling of Hill’s tale, from his childhood aspirations toward gang life for want of better prospects for himself and his family, to being just one wrong move away from being possibly murdered, with his own family in more danger than ever.
This film has a fast-paced energy to it with a signature and style to Scorsese’s directing that almost never lets up. It’s one of the sharpest cinematic profiles of mob cinema made in my lifetime, and the most hilarious part for me is that at this age when I used to watch “The Animaniacs” as a kid, it didn’t dawn on me right away that this show even lampooned this film through its Goodfeathers segment. Crazy.
I also love the chemistry DeNiro and Pesci shared on this film and that they get to extend their camaraderie in other films, including Casino and Raging Bull, the latter which I’ve only seen once in recent memory and might pick up the keyboard for at some point. Meanwhile, Goodfellas stands as one of the most hard-hitting and brutal crime thrillers you’ll ever see. It’ll have you on edge moment-to-moment, including in key sequences like this one in the first half which I’ll just link here in the text. The trailer below should also give you ideas aplenty in case you need it.
