Great Movie: ''Goodfellas''

The three men in the car hear an odd noise. It sounds like someone is pounding from inside the car. They look at each other in a suspicious way, saying, through profanity, that they must pull over and find out what the problem is. They pull to the side, away from the road on this most darkest of night, and cautiously approach the trunk, where they detect the source of the noise is. Gingerly, the driver takes out his keys and unlocks the trunk. Inside, we are startled to see a man lying there, bound and gagged and bleeding profusely. After this shock, the little guy, wielding a knife that has appeared out of nowhere, says, ''He's still alive, the fuckin piece of shit!'' And, then, the little guy stabs the victim in the trunk viciously. A moment later, the well-dressed man, who obviously is the leader of the three, plugs the trunk guy with shots from his gun. There is a moment of silence. It is broken by a voice-over from the first man, the driver. He intones, ''As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster''....... And, so begins Martin Scorsese's movie ''Goodfellas'', based on the book ''Wiseguy'' from Henry Hill, co-authored by Nicholas Pileggi. The book and the movie are based on the real-life exploits of Henry Hill, a low-level con-man/ thief who worked in the lower echelons of the Gambino mob family. The story in the movie tells of the years from 1955-1980, the years Hill ran with the mob and did its dirty deeds. Unlike many mobsters who eventually get caught, Henry Hill never stopped talking about his joy in the life of crime. There is the freedom of thumbing your nose at authority, and of stealing and murder. To be a successful mobster, one must erase whatever conscious you have that you are doing evil deeds. Once you have wiped the slate of integrity and decency from your mind, you are home free to enjoy the alleged glamorous lifestyle that comes with the job. Henry Hill sings the praises of the lifestyle, of the money and women and the cocaine. As he says in the film's narration, ''When we wanted something, we just took it.'' That code runs through the movie, a exhilarating joy ride through the amoral world of crime...... Martin Scorsese knows this world well. Early in the movie, a young Henry Hill watches the grown up hit men stand and strut on the streets of his neighborhood, the local heroes. Scorsese himself used to do the same thing as a kid. Growing up a sickly child, he watched the world of crime and religion co-exist through the safety of his window. Scorsese, the child, was laying the groundwork for Scorsese, the adult filmmaker, using his curiosity of himself and that ''other world'', and channeling that curiosity to his movie audience. Martin Scorsese has always excelled at presenting this closeted society of crime onscreen because he knew the world so well and has a fascination of this life. While he has shown his brilliance at other subjects in his films, it is the criminal world, the street thug, that his genius presents itself..... After the shocking opening scene, we are whisked back into the formulative years of Henry Hill, the years he watched and lusted after the local hoodlums. We see the story coming together. Scorsese, always an impatient director, does not slowly give us the pieces to the story in a leisurely pace but, rather, puts us on a ride, like you see at a carnival, that takes you in all different directions. We meet the Hill family, his blood family, that is a walking disaster of domestic and child abuse. And , we meet his other ''blood family'', the heroes he idolizes. Young Henry gets an after school job running errands for the hoods, and, soon, school is a forgotten place to go to for him. As a teenager, he is soon making more money in the neighborhood than most legit men who are out in the world. His father disapproves but Henry has left his real family behind in his quest to be an outlaw. Henry meets the local guys, like Paulie Cicero, the godfather of the area, who, it is said, ''didn't move much because Paulie didn't have to move for anybody''. Paulie, wonderfully played by the great Paul Sorvino, gives off all of the authority and confidence of a man who has spent his whole life with blood on his hands and soul and getting what he wants. But, the horrors of murder and stealing do not affect young Henry at all. He is now one of ''them'', selling illegal cigarettes and getting busted. When he is busted, he naturally gets off because the judges and the cops are all on the payoff. At first, Henry is ashamed he got caught. But, he is told by his mentor, Jimmy Conway, played by Robert De Niro, that he took his first pinch like a man. And, he did the two things you must do in this type of life: ''you keep your mouth shut. And, you never rat on your friends''. When Henry walks out of the courtroom, a free man, he is greeted by the neighborhood wiseguys, all celebrating that he has ''broke his cherry''....... By now, Scorsese has us. We are fully engrossed in the story. The older, young adult Henry Hill is now center stage. He is played by Ray Liotta, in a star-making performance. Liotta brings his considerable acting talents forefront, with a combination of naivete and world-weary acceptance as the film progresses. His first scenes still have the carry-over feeling that the younger scenes had. We see his glee at living among the guilty, strutting and talking like them, imitating their every move and action. Henry has driven forward in his natural way to robbing trucks and strong-arming people who have the misfortune to owe his friends money. And, his adult friends are a wicked breed. They are the now mature Jimmy Conway and the psychopath Tommy, played with frightening murderous gusto by Joe Pesci. Both men are killing machines but Tommy seems to be in love with murder. Threatening people gives him his zest for life. In a strange way, he is also fascinating to watch. Tommy is a ticking time-bomb, ready to explode at the drop of a hat. Don't try to tease him, or, to call him a ''funny guy''. He takes offense, or pretends to, to every description of him. In the famous ''How am I funny scene?'', we see the volcanic temper come to the surface at a moment's notice. It starts with his friend, Henry, telling Tommy that he is a funny guy. Where, then, Tommy, takes the innocent remark and twists it into a web of tension. We find out that he is kidding [maybe] with Henry but we have also glimpsed into the true character of these men. They live by their code, their opinions, their words. A unintentional statement or nod will must likely be fatal for you. This moment, the most memorable in the movie, both Liotta and Pesci give full range of their characters. They play the scene funny, then heart stopping dramatic, then back to funny again, all effortlessly and flawlessly. That the scene was, in fact, mostly improvised by the actors is even more extraordinary....... The other man is Henry's life, his mentor and local legend, is Jimmy ''The Gent'' Conway played by Robert De Niro. This type of mob role is not new territory for De Niro. But, he brings a freshness to the role. He leaves out all of the bluster and flash. That is Pesci's assignment in the movie. De Niro instead, plays the character close to the vest, an icy calmness of a proven killer. When he does explode onscreen, it is with his fists and feet, not with his words. In some ways, his Jimmy character is the most frightening in the whole story because, unlike Tommy and his viciousness, you don't see Jimmy coming from a mile away. He slithers up next to you, all smiles and snaky charm. It is this type of person who normally inhabits this world. The type of person who is smoking next to you being buddy-buddy. And, in the next moment, is kicking you to death on the floor...... Along with his mob buddies and fellow henchmen, Henry Hill falls in love. Or, his version of love. Her name is Karen, played wonderfully whiny by Lorraine Bracco. Karen is all stereotypical Jewish American Princess. She is, at first, angry at Henry because he shows no interest at her on their first date, and, then, stands her up on their second date. Soon, she falls for him. Or, more likely, falls into the glamour of his lifetsyle. She turns a blind eye to what he does, as do the other wives and girlfriends of these mob guys, and joyously celebrates he life and all the trappings of big money coming in. It is hard to tell if Henry and Karen truly love each other. Henry only really loves the gangster life. There is no time for his wife and kids. And, being married, he doesn't let his marriage interfere with his bachelor fun. After all, ''Saturday night is for the wives, while Friday night is for the girlfriends''. These excursions involve the famed Copacabana and the sunny locales of a luxurious vacation destinations. Henry juggles all of his world's, at first, with ease. But, the cracks are there. And, they become even more noticeable as the movie moves forward..... The middle scene in the movie is the most crucial moment in the whole story. It involves the victim in the trunk at the beginning of the movie. His name is Billy Batts, played brilliantly by Frank Vincent. Batts is a ''made man'', meaning he is a approved killer by the Gambino family. He can kill anyone but no one can mess with him. That is the code of the ''Family'' honor. To kill a ''made man'' means that, unless it has been approved by the higher ups in the ''Family'', you are now a marked man. This is the fatal mistake that Tommy makes one night because of a slight insult Batts made to him about his childhood shoe shine business. Tommy flips out and blood starts flowing. On the way to burying Batts, Henry, Tommy and Jimmy stop at Tommy's mother's house. There, in the middle of the night, the mother finds them rooting around in the kitchen looking for knives. In typical Italian fashion, Tommy's Mother, sweetly played by Catherine Scorsese, Martin's Mom, cooks them a big, grand meal. This scene brings the movie its biggest laugh [this must be said also for those who haven't seen this movie. There are plenty of free and easy laughs roaming around in the story, mingling nicely with the violence]. But, these moments of what they have just done to Batts really only registers with Henry. This was a serious error. One that will prove to be fatal...... From this point on, the film, which has moved at a brisk pace, goes into overdrive. And, the world that Henry Hill so adored begins to crumble. He is busted and sent to jail [another hilarious scene entails his incarceration}his wife finds out about his mistress, and, most alarming for him, he becomes hooked on coke while he is busy dealing it, which is against the wishes of Godfather Cicero. Soon, the paranoia rises, along with the ghost of Billy Batts. The Gambinos want to know who whacked Batts. They soon discover it was the three, Jimmy, Tommy, and Henry. But, the family can't kill them all. They need Jimmy for their earnings. And, Henry was a minor player. So, Tommy becomes the sacrificial lamb, and, in one the of the finest montages of music and filmmaking, the setting up and killing of Tommy is unfolded. The coda of the song ''Layla'' is played, with the carnage onscreen....... The last third of the movie, the Third Reel, it all comes unglued for Henry Hill in one intense day. It is May, 1980, and Henry is seriously addicted to cocaine. He gets high on his supply so often that it affects his judgement and clarity. He, by now, has also been smuggling guns along with drugs. Without realizing it, he has made himself a huge target for the feds. They are tracking his every move, even following him by helicopter. What follows in this one day is a piece of bravura filmmaking by Martin Scorsese. His camera, always a moving actor in all of his movies, is literally on fire during this section of the film. Rather, it is on coke, like its lead character. The editing, by Scorsese and the brilliant, invaluable Thelma Schoonmaker, shows a man whose world is closing in on him. The music is louder, more in-your-face. The scenes are fast-paced, befitting a man on a coke binge. The audience is on the edge of their seats because we know what is going to happen. When the hammer does strike down on Henry Hill, a gun at the back of his head and a cop barking orders to him, we breath a sigh of relief that he got what is coming to him.......The epilogue is simple. Henry turns state's evidence. The reason is simple: now that he has been caught by the government and most likely will serve a long jail term, he is now a marked man by his former ''family'' in the mob. They all want him dead because he may rat them all out, which is what Henry Hill does. Everyone, from Jimmy ''The Gent'' to Paulie Cicero gets nabbed. And, Henry, in court, testifies against them. But, what is curious about his testimony is how reluctantly Henry gives it. He doesn't want to turn against his friends. He loves the lifestyle. But, in his mind, he had to save himself. The verdict against his fellow gangsters is swift. Paulie Cicero get life in prison, where he dies in 1988. Jimmy Conway get twenty years to life. He dies in jail of cancer in 1996. The marriage of Henry and Karen Hill also bites the dust. After years of living in witness protection, they will divorce around 1990. Henry Hill will die of a heart attack in 2012....... When the film ''Goodfellas'' was released in 1990, it immediately was greeted with critical acclaim and rightfully anointed with the term ''classic''. It is a marvelous movie, freely moving back and forth between drama and comedy. The film never feels old even after constant repeat viewings. In fact, this is an example of a movie that must be seen often, at least once a year. It is the kind of film that if you come across it playing on TV, you will stick with it because it is so compelling to watch. The fact that this movie, a modern masterpiece on all levels, lost the Best Picture honor to the contrived and overpraised ''Dances With Wolves'' is a travesty in good taste and an example of Oscar meaninglessness in handing out honors. The Academy got it right just once, in terms of honoring the film, with Joe Pesci getting a much-deserved Best Supporting Oscar. But, Ray Liotta, the centerpiece of the movie and someone who gave a powerful performance, was snubbed by the geniuses in Hollywood. But, it doesn't matter because his acting in the movie, and the movie itself, is timeless in quality...... ''You know, we called ourselves, 'Goodfellas', like, 'you will like this guy, he is a good fella'. we were 'Goodfellas', 'Wiseguys'''..... So stated Henry Hill during the montage that ended with the murder of his friend, Tommy. Obviously, they weren't good fellas. They were murdering thieves whose life eventually caught up with them, be it prison or death. Til the day he died, Henry Hill lamented the fact he didn't have that life anymore. That is proof itself that he was no good fella......