Goodfellas
How highly skilled can a filmmaker actually be when he can come up with a movie featuring an entire cast of wholly unlikable characters while glamorizing a lifestyle that most consider to be extremely repugnant, and with a story that plays out where (arguably) the least likable character of them all not only gets off scot free, but is also able to have a fresh start in life after betraying almost everyone that he has ever known, and yet the movie itself is such a virtuoso piece of craftsmanship that it goes up for several Oscars (which many feel it should have won), makes several lists of the all time greatest movies, and is still considered to be one of the most influential in its genre for all of history? That’s exactly what Martin Scorsese accomplished here in 1990 with this amazing display in pacing, editing, and cinematography while telling the story of what was essentially the last gasp and final fall of the American Mafioso in New York City, all as seen through the eyes of one Henry Hill, possibly the most revered snitch in the history of crime, busted almost entirely due to his own stupidity while running a drug dealing operation, who then decided to not only rat out nearly every organized crime figure that he was ever associated with, but later collaborated with the film’s co writer Nick Pileggi to write a book telling his “story”, and even more amazingly, becoming a bit of a minor celebrity in his own right due to this movie’s success, including several drunken guest appearances on The Howard Stern Radio Show and overall self promotion of his own hoodlum persona, even while the Mob “death sentence” imposed on him for his big mouth seemed to peter out along with any real power that Italian organized crime ever seemed to have in this country. Funnily enough, both the book and the movie chose to portray Hill as being little more than a mere wide eyed innocent bystander, always shown looking on while the really horrible events of the story occurred, but yet we’re asked to believe (as Hill no doubt related it) that he himself never actually “sold his soul” so to speak, all while seemingly being given full acceptance and respect by those Mafia figures whom he both knew and worked with, a far fetched conceit which we are asked to accept and mostly do so despite some dubious beliefs. In the role of Hill, we have Ray Liotta in his prime before he went on to character actor land, and we immediately peg his Hill as a major weasel from the getgo just from his extremely smarmy voice over narration, openly boasting and bragging about the fun, easy, anything goes way of life he lived and how he could always go to packed nightclubs and venues through the back entrance (thus avoiding the lines) and then be treated like royalty by the staff even though he was supposedly a lower level member of the Mob ranks who had never actually killed anybody nor had ever proven himself to be a big earner on his own unless he was an accomplice to people like Jimmy “The Gent” Conway as played by Robert DeNiro. DeNiro’s position here is rather unusual, as even though he is top billed for being the biggest name star on hand, it becomes quickly apparent that his role is more that of a prominent supporting one, a character who always seems to be around and part of the action, but yet that (and other factors) actually makes this arguably the most GENERIC DeNiro turn ever, playing a guy who is just as unappealing as the others whether it be by committing robberies (where those he robs are inside guys who are a part of the heist) or mercilessly beating the crap out of people who owe him money, or even worse, someone who pulls off the biggest job in American history for a record $6 million payday, and then starts ruthlessly killing off his other accomplices allegedly because they’re spending too much money buying themselves shiny toys and attracting attention, but really because he just does NOT want to give them their full cut of the money, plain and simple. He also has a habit of being a bit too much of an apologist when it comes to backing others who make poor decisions, like Joe Pesci’s character in an unforgettable yet repulsive performance as Tommy DeVito, a stone cold, psychopathic, and possibly pure evil killer beyond any sort of real redemption made only watchable by Pesci’s magnetic, charismatic presence that makes it impossible to take your eyes off him even as you dread wondering what he’s going to do next, an easy Oscar win for Supporting Actor (though his later role in Scorsese’s Casino definitely had more depth) and the one that defined Pesci’s screen persona, that of the insecure little guy who is capable of any horrifically violent act not just to teach someone a lesson, but also to let those around him always know that he quite simply was NOT someone to be fucked with, whether it be bashing bottles over the heads of restaurant owners in their very own establishments to taking ruthless gunshots at a dimwitted kid before killing him with absolutely no remorse whatsoever to jumping on a made Mafia guy for busting his chops and losing all control while beating him to death (big mistake), Pesci epitomizes the role of scumbag bastard who can be fun to watch to a tee. The women don’t fare much better here, as we get Lorraine Bracco as Hill’s wife who is given her own voice over narration and seems to be set up for us as a sympathetic character, but soon betrays herself to be an opportunistic type who enjoys the perks of being a Mob wife and even develops a nasty coke habit along the way. Then there is Paul Sorvino as The Boss himself, Paulie Sicero, who amazingly becomes the only character in the whole movie to show even the slightest amount of decency and / or integrity, going to great lengths to protect his own people (especially Pesci) and not only warning Hill to stay away from dealing drugs in order to prevent himself from being ratted out in the event of a collar, but even when just that very exact thing does happen to Hill, still showing enough kindness and mercy towards him to at least give him some money and then simply asks him never to return (a gesture that Hill doesn’t even appreciate one bit, given his voiceover reaction). So how does Scorsese pull it off? Well, first off, this film is NOT at all like the other Holy Grail of mob movies, The Godfather, whereas that film was an extremely palatable entry where the dramatic focus there was on family values and not mob life itself (and the characters were much more humanized), which in turn makes it that much easier to watch and digest for almost ANY average, casual viewer, while on the other hand this film is a lot more grittier and (for the reasons described above) that can make it a lot harder to swallow for the more sensitive type of viewers who will come away hating everyone and everything about it, but it’s that same grittiness that also gives it an air of authenticity which allows Scorsese to take the ball and run with it, giving the whole affair a dizzying, caught up in the moment feel to it that suits its episodic nature well, when the days where mobsters could do almost anything they pleased was rapidly coming to an end but watching them going down while trying to do as much damage as possible and get every last single one of their licks in is presented in such a captivating way that there is no doubt of Scorsese’s masterful control of the medium of cinema, including getting the soundtrack music just about perfect in nearly every scene and doing such stunning work with tracking shots and camera cranes that nearly every budding cinematographer should study this just to learn how it’s really done, as we jump from one story situation to another, with the piece de resistance being the last 20 minutes, depicting the manic paranoia that Hill goes through over the course of an entire day leading up to and including his arrest for narcotics trafficking that compelled him to make his fateful decision. The only thing that seems off with the whole authenticity is Hill himself: Besides not being shown killing anybody, he is also depicted as not only being involved with every stage of the planning of DeNiro’s superheist, but yet when it actually goes down, he bizarrely is shown as being in the shower instead and hearing about it over the radio before whooping and hollering almost as if in complete surprise that DeNiro had actually pulled it off (seems strange that a master criminal like DeNiro would allow a loose end like him to walk around with no culpability in the whole thing whatsoever, and yet we even see him give Hill a cut of the money as well). Likewise, we are tempted to laugh whenever we see Liotta either acting menacing or threateningly brandishing a gun since we kinda know that he won’t even have the balls to actually use it, but that is really just Scorsese being “faithful” to Hill’s version of his “story”, whereas many faded criminals are known to minimize their own guilt and involvement while talking about actual crimes that they were connected with (even if we know better), but it still doesn’t change the fact that Scorsese tells a lot of story here and does it so brilliantly that if you don’t mind being around people whom in real life you would find absolutely repulsive for 2 and an half hours, then there’s a lot of entertainment value to be found here for what was a true life story about some really bad people…
9/10