GoodFellas

Martin Scorsese's GoodFellas (1990) is a landmark crime film that chronicles the rise and fall of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Italian kid from Brooklyn who idolizes the local mobsters and spends his life trying to become one of them. Based on Nicholas Pileggi's non-fiction book Wiseguy, the film is a gritty, kinetic exploration of the Mafia's inner workings, told from the perspective of an associate who never quite makes it to 'made man.' With a budget of $25 million, it was Scorsese's most expensive production at the time, and it grossed over $47 million domestically, cementing its status as a commercial and critical success.

The film is renowned for its electric performances, particularly Joe Pesci's Oscar-winning turn as the volatile Tommy DeVito, and for Scorsese's signature stylistic flourishes: the famous Copacabana tracking shot, freeze-frames, voiceover narration, and a soundtrack that spans decades. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September 1990, where Scorsese took home the Silver Lion for Best Director, and it has since been preserved in the National Film Registry for its cultural and historical significance. More than three decades later, GoodFellas remains a touchstone of American cinema, influencing countless filmmakers and redefining the gangster genre by showing the mundane, brutal realities behind the glamour. [edit]

Growing up in the 1950s in Brooklyn's Brownsville neighborhood, Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) is a bright but restless boy who admires the flashy mobsters who run his block. He starts running errands for Paulie Cicero (Paul Sorvino), a capo in the Lucchese crime family, and quickly proves his worth by parking cars and running numbers. Henry's narration opens the film with the famous line, 'As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster,' setting the tone for a life that seems glamorous and exciting.

As a young man, Henry works alongside Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro), a suave and calculating hijacker, and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), a hot-headed enforcer. The trio engages in a series of heists and rackets, and Henry's world is one of money, power, and respect. He meets Karen (Lorraine Bracco), a Jewish girl from Long Island, and their courtship is punctuated by the legendary Copacabana tracking shot, where Henry navigates her through the club's back entrance, past the kitchen and through the crowd, to a front-row table. It's a dazzling display of the perks of being a gangster, and Karen is hooked.

But the glamour is undercut by violence. Tommy's temper explodes when a young bartender, Spider (Michael Imperioli), mouths off to him; Tommy shoots him in the foot, then later kills him in a fit of rage. When a made man named Billy Batts (Frank Vincent) insults Tommy, Tommy beats him to death in a bar, with Jimmy and Henry helping to dispose of the body. This unsanctioned killing of a made man is a serious transgression that will have consequences.

In 1978, Jimmy orchestrates the Lufthansa heist at JFK Airport, netting $5.8 million in cash and jewels. The heist is a triumph, but Jimmy's paranoia about being caught leads him to systematically murder the crew members, eliminating witnesses. Henry watches as his friends are killed off one by one, and the fear begins to replace the excitement.

Henry's downfall accelerates when he starts dealing drugs, a business Paulie explicitly forbids because it attracts federal attention. Henry and Karen become addicted to cocaine, and their lives spiral into chaos. The film's most famous sequence, set on May 11, 1980, depicts Henry's frantic, drug-fueled day as he tries to juggle a major drug deal, his wheelchair-bound brother, cooking dinner for his family, and his mistress, all while under surveillance. He is eventually arrested, and his world begins to crumble.[edit]