Film Review - Goodfellas

Year of release: 1990

Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Cast: Robert De Niro ... James 'Jimmy' Conway
Ray Liotta ... Henry Hill
Joe Pesci ... Tommy DeVito
Lorraine Bracco ... Karen Hill
Paul Sorvino ... Paul Cicero

Both of Scorsese’s parents, and Samuel L Jackson, had small cameo roles within the film.

The film follows Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) on his journey to becoming a member of the mafia. The film starts off with Henry as a young boy, with a part-time job running errands for the local mob capo, Paul Cicero. Henry soon quits school and continues to work for the mob; working with Cicero’s close friend Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro). As adults, Henry and his associate Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) conspire with Conway to help out in a key heist, stealing over half a million dollars from the Air France cargo terminal.

As the film continues, we see that Tommy DeVito becomes more and more aggressive. Aided by Conway, DeVito brutally murders Billy Batts (Frank Vincent), a made man in the competing Gambino crime family; a major offence that could get them all killed by the Gambinos if discovered. Henry, Conway and DeVito bury Batts' corpse in an abandoned field. Henry also meets and falls in love with Karen (Lorraine Bracco), who feels uneasy with her boyfriend's career, but they eventually marry.

The plot thickens as Henry and Conway are sent to prison for four years. When inside, Henry begins dealing drugs for money and carries on dealing once freed. Henry and his courier are eventually arrested by police. After this arrest, Cicero and the rest of the mob abandon Henry. Convinced that he and his family are marked for death, Henry and his family enter the federal Witness Protection Program. The film ends with a few title cards of what became of Hill, Cicero and Conway. Henry's marriage to Karen ended in separation with her getting custody of their children, and Cicero and Conway spend the rest of their lives in prison. Cicero died in 1988. Conway was eligible for parole in 2004, though he died in prison in 1996.

While watching the film, I picked up on a few elements, which I thought I should discuss. Firstly, the film opens with a trade-mark Scorsese opening – a flash-forward to the scene where Henry, Conway and DeVito are burying the body of Batts. The film then cuts back to when Henry was young, and starts to piece the film together. I thought this was a very ingenious way to start the film because it intrigues the viewer from the very beginning, without giving too much away.

I thoroughly enjoyed everything about the film; from the actors cast to the camera shots used, and also the use of different types of sound (all of which I will be addressing in the following posts). Goodfellas captures the audience from the very beginning and leaves us wanting to watch more as the story dramtically unfolds. A very well thought out, smartly directed film, no wonder why Scorsese is considered one of the greatest directors of our time!