Life--Mafioso Style

Rating: Null/10 (13 June 2007)

Have you ever found yourself wondering what it would feel like to be a big time gangster? Well, Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) had this exact same dream in "Goodfellas." Henry started working for the mob in his early teens. He eventually met the girl of dreams, Karen (Lorraine Bracco), or so he thought. As Henry and the gang started bringing in the big bucks, they also felt that they were unstoppable. Henry and the main wise guys he worked with was Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), whom Henry had been working with since his early teen years in the mafia, and there was also Jim (Jimmy the Gent) Conway (Robert De Niro). It was all going good for the guys until one day when Tommy's extreme temper was unleashed. All of the sudden the guys had to bury a made guy (a mafia man that was deemed untouchable). However, that was not Henry's only problem. Karen had been noticing outside women around Henry. As if that wasn't enough, Henry began selling cocaine despite the fact that his boss (Don Paul Cicero) had strictly told him not to get into the drug business.
Martin Scorsese's film "Goodfellas" is striking in many ways. It brings all those childhood wishes of becoming a mobster to life. He exemplifies the ups and downs of mafia life. The ups being getting the hot girl or driving the fast cars--not to mention getting to do whatever you feel like and not get reprimanded for it; but with that comes the downs: looking behind your back constantly in fear of someone looking to throw you in jail or (even worse) getting whacked.
This film shows the concept that cheaters never prosper. Although they may live a life full of luxuries and power, at the end of the day they are no better of than regular law abiding citizen. And Scorsese does a good job of showing this. He shows the early glory days when Henry and the guys could walk into a restaurant and not have to wait in line, tables were brought from the back of the restaurant and set right in front of the stage just for the wise guys. As they say, what goes up must come down and, after living the golden life, it wasn't worth it in the end. Henry is thrown in jail, he is caught cheating on his wife, he betrays the Don, who he had remained loyal to all those years, and worst of all, they have a dead "made guy" on their hands that they have to figure out what to do with before they get killed.