Scorsese classic! One of his best if not THE BEST!

Rating: 10/10 (4 October 2012)

The mob is not all glitz and glamor. As you see in the movie. But also in the movie, you see that it is also violent and taboo. People will kill others in order to rise through the ranks. And that we learn about mob life that nobody is immune from violence. Not even the mobster's wives and children.
Martin Scorsese after "Raging Bull" had a "quiet" 1980s as he revived his career with this mob classic. Playing to perfection despite the rough violence and language.
Ray Liotta only in his fourth movie at the time, after "Field of Dreams" plays the protagonist, the now departed Henry Hill who rose from the lower ranks of the mob family in lower Brooklyn in the 1950s as a teenager gofer.
But due to being Irish, you can't be a made man in the mob as being a "Goodfella" you have to be 100% Italian and have it traced back to the country. A made man means you could not be touched unless it was a "just cause." But still Hill manages to be lured by the glamorous lifestyle of mob life.
Due to mob leader Paulie Cierco(Paul Sorvino) a leader of a few words but a dangerous one and Jimmy "the Gent" Conway, his mentor whom you should not get on his bad side(Robert De Niro). Both lead and guide Henry while the young man encounters both glamor and danger at the same time.
Last but not least, Tommy Devito(Oscar-winner Joe Pesci), as he is really trigger happy and has a awful temper and says lots of foul language. But only time you will see him nice is with his mom(played by the director's late mom, Catherine.
Hill also is something of a womanizer before and during his marriage to Karen, a Jewish woman(played by the "Sopranos" Lorraine Bracco). And has two daughters. At first Karen is suspicious of the mobster lifestyle but then really enjoys the perks and privileges.
But also during prison, that does not stop Henry and the others from murder, stealing, and unbeknowest to the other mobsters except for Paulie, who warns him, and Jimmy, Henry starts to deal with drugs.
And the last day he is a gangster proves nerve wrecking for Henry. While trying to avoid the FBI and doing so much. In his drug dealing ways catch up to him. Will the mob make him pay? Great script and really a great acting. And directing as it is a Scorsese classic. Liotta should had been a household name but bad picks caused him to not let him do that. Still he is great as Hill.
Same with Bracco as she revived her career with "The Sopranos." Joe Pesci is really the scene stealing. You love to hate him but still, no wonder he walked away with the award, De Niro is great. He gives way to Liotta. Sorvino is really not saying much but does not have to.
A huge classic if you can tolerate the language and violence!