You gotta see it.....

Rating: 9/10 (30 July 2010)

When "Goodfellas" was in theatrical release, I did not see it. I was having a fit of "cinematic malaise"...there simply were not a whole heck of a lot of good flicks coming out during that time, and the slew of street thug movies actually made it somewhat dangerous to venture out into theaters in some cities. A lot of us said "to hell with it" and decided to concentrate on our own VHS collections and catch up on films when they became available for rent or purchase. Consequently, I did not see "Goodfellas" until 1999. I'd heard about the film, and I must say my own legs were not long enough to kick myself in the rear for waiting so long to see it. And this was just one of the films I had to catch up with...there were a number of others. I did not think that this film could top most of the other mob-type films that had already been made. I was wrong. The film was engrossing form the outset. Joe Pesci was loud and scary...and Paul Sorvino was relatively quiet and scary...in a way that was more menacing and perhaps more disturbing than Pesci...which was acting that took quite a bit of doing. I was rather roughed up at some of the language and the racial references...it took me a while to reconcile this...they were products of the times. One thing that caught my eye--and ear--was that Scorsese kept the imagery in a kind of 1960s mode. No long sideburns or long haircuts. No dog-eared shirts...no wide neck-ties or lapels. This hurt the film from a standpoint of making it flow with time...but the performances and the characters help to overcome this.
The story is very well told, and Scorsese does it masterfully. One can see that he had a direct influence on Tarantino, especially when the film opens with the murder of a "made man" in the mob...a story that we return to much later in the film. Tarantino borrowed that style and essentially made it his own. Pesci re-defined the definition of a madman in a screen performance of a character who did not live to the end of the film...but yet will not die. Sorvinos broad range has seen him playing such diverse characters as Bible-thumping fundamentalist ministers...even a rape victim. But his stature as a tough guy is secure...one glance from those steely eyes can penetrate the audience, and you can see Perdition itself through it all. Bob De Niro plays, of all things, a character who is only half-Italian, which would dis-qualify him from becoming a "made man" for the mob no matter what he does. His, too, is a very broad spectrum. I have a few reservations about recommending the film 100%. It is very realistic, very graphic and very violent. But, seldom is the truth a very pretty thing to look at. See Goodfellas...if you haven;t already. If you have...see it again. It is part of my collection now.