"The way I saw it, everybody takes a beating sometime".

Rating: 9/10 (3 September 2011)

The first time I saw "Goodfellas", I didn't realize it was based on the Nichlas Pileggi book 'Wiseguy'. A lot of stuff seemed so familiar, and of course, the name Henry Hill was the tip-off, a non-Italian in the world of Mafioso high rollers and hit men. I read the book shortly after it came out, and the movie seemed to come out very quickly after. I don't remember a whole lot about the book now, but some of the things that stand out are the Air France job, the Lufthansa heist, and that bit about feeding a guy to a lion. Oh yeah, and the burial, exhumation and reburial of Billy Batts. You have to admit, "Goodfellas" has the best ba-da-bing opening of all time when Tommy (Joe Pesci) goes berserk on Batts in the car trunk and just keeps wailing.
I've read a few of the other comments in the reviews section for this picture, and can only chuckle at a few of the naive posters who think that what happens on screen here is forced and not very believable. I can only surmise that they didn't grow up in New York or it's suburb environs, because mob rub-outs were a staple on the front pages of the New York Daily News and The Post throughout the Sixties. Usually they more closely resembled Michael Corleone's first hit in the Italian restaurant in "The Godfather", but nevertheless, this kind of brutality did occur. Although I have to say, the way Tommy whacked Michael Imperioli was a little over the top.
I guess the most memorable scene in the movie for me was Pesci giving Ray Liotta the business in that 'who's funny' routine. For first time viewers, you're not really sure where Tommy's going to take things because he's such a loose cannon. Then suddenly, Pesci calls himself on it, and you know full well he was playing around with the new kid. The character Pesci was portraying, real life mobster Tommy DeSimone, was in fact a young aspiring gangster with psychopathic tendencies specializing in truck hijacking and stolen goods.
So for those who think "Goodfellas" is the best gangster flick ever, fair enough, but putting it up against the first two 'Godfathers' is a little bit of a stretch for my money. I also prefer the Coen Brothers' take on crime in "Miller's Crossing". But this one's based on a true story, and you can't get more real than some of the outrageous things that happened in the life of wise guy Henry Hill. For an outsider, he could be a real goombah.