Innocent To Goodfella To Schnook.

Rating: 8/10 (26 July 2012)

A fine tribal study of modern gangsterism in New York City. There are one or two allusions to being a "made man" but the words "Mafia" and "Cosa Nostra" never appear, though all the main figures are Italian, observe Italian moral codes, and occasionally lapse into the language of the Old Country. If you really want to be a member of the Goodfellas, it's not enough to be simply part Italian. You need to be ALL Italian, with traceable ancestry to the motherland, preferably Sicily.
Everyone except some Federal Agents are corrupt. The wives know what's going on and are often complicit, though they have little to say about business decisions. They're satisfied with the solidarity of the larger family, the special parking places, the secret entrances to the Copacabana, the respect shown themselves and their well-groomed husbands, and the general opulence of their life styles. The girl friends enjoy many of the same privileges but are mainly the subject of jokes, which wives and children are not. Well, some are Madonnas and some are whores.
The cops are partners in crime, whether the gangsters are on the streets or in prison. They become your major domos for a few cartons of cigarettes and an occasional big bill tucked into a shirt pocket. Your first jail term turns into a rite of passage, and you're given a celebration before you're packed off. The men clap and cry out "Your cherry is broke now." Prison itself is not a bad place if you're a wise guy. No one would dream of trying to rape you. You live with friends and share elaborate dinners and good wines with them.
There are only two problems; one is interactional, the other moral and economic.
As for the interactional problem, you can never really tell whether someone will become a "rat," not even if you've known him all your life. From the point of view of a protagonist like Henry Hill, whose story this is, it's very bad to be a rat instead of a stand-up guy. On the other hand, it's much better to be a rat instead of a dead guy. Severe beatings are common, even for men who are no more than irritating or even for innocents like mailmen. And when an important deal is at stake, whacking is necessary.
Whacking is also applied to men who unwisely insult others, because this is a culture of honor. It's like the Old West without Wyatt Earp. "When you call me that, smile." And sometimes smiling isn't enough. The derision must be clearly couched. Half a couch may not do. Personal affronts call for a passionate butchery, but business transactions are cold blooded and maximally effective.
This social system is real enough. In certain bars in New York and New Jersey I was unwise enough to make some joke about Mafia hangouts and received warnings. And in Little Charlie's Restaurant on Kenmare Street in Little Italy, two tables were always kept empty in case some local businessmen decided to drop in unannounced.
The movie is told from Henry Hill's (Ray Liotta's) point of view and he narrates most of it. Hill was half Irish and married a Jewish girl but was accepted, within certain limitations. That brings up the moral questions built into the film. These guys are friendly and generous to each other. But who pay for all that reckless spending? You and I. The gang isn't a charitable organization. Every time we buy something or rent an apartment, it costs a little more because of them, and they contribute nothing except mutual support.
It's an immoral subculture in which the goals of society -- respect, wealth, material satisfaction, friendship -- are accepted, but society's means of achieving those goals -- following the rules, upholding the law, respecting the rights of strangers -- are rejected. The sociologist Robert K. Merton called them "innovators" and that's what they are. They invent and follow illegal rules for achieving society's goals. From an ethical perspective, it's a much better story than Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" series, which was an apologia for the Mafia, portrayed as a neighborhood organization that simply fills certain control functions that the regular police will or can not. No one was killed in "The Godfather" unless he was a coward and a traitor and deserved it. In "Goodfellas", a kid gets shot through the foot for being slow in delivering drinks to a table, and the incident is treated as a stupid joke. No one even TRIES justifying the act. When the same kid is later slaughtered for a resentful remark, the dead body is treated as a nuisance.
The acting is unimpeachable, and so is the production design. You can almost smell the cigars, the perfume, the marinara sauce cooking in the large pot on the stove. (Everybody eats a lot in this movie.) You should definitely see it if you haven't already. It's naturalism is convincing and there is no Marlon Brando to sympathize with.