"Bustin' balls"

Rating: 7/10 (19 April 2011)

The gangster movie has gone through a lot of changes, especially since being reinvented as high drama with The Godfather pictures in the 1970s. Such classics soon become clichés and in the 80s gangster movies were often spoofs (Prizzi's Honor, Married to the Mob). Goodfellas opened a new chapter of serious yet very stylish crime flicks.
Goodfellas was, back then, a comparative rarity in the genre in that it is based on a true story. And storywise it is as a much a documentary as it is a good yarn. Most scenes, when considered individually are simply revelations of gangster life, and the almost constant narration more or less acknowledges this. It's only when viewed as a whole that an entire story arc starts to emerge. But there is also continual structure in the arrangement of each little anecdote. Take for example the pair of scenes in the bar with "Spider". These go together, but you need to know that some time has passed in between them. Writers Nicholas Pilleggi and Martin Scorsese throw in a quick in-between-scene of Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco arguing. This demonstrates that other events have gone on in the meantime, but also keeps the tense, gritty atmosphere riding along. The vibrant language and frequent diversions into wisecracking make this a forerunner to the dialogue-for-the-sake-of-dialogue school of screen writing which Quentin Tarantino would soon specialise in.
Martin Scorsese's direction closely follows the narration, both in its content and its snappy pace. Like Hitchcock his camera is constantly roving around, leading us by the hand and making us look at things. In effect he's illustrating Henry Hill's words. And often he's showing a little more than that. Sometimes there's a cheeky counterpoint between words and images. There are also some clever pull-back-and-reveal shots. In one early shot we see a close-up of some liquor changing hands. The camera pulls out to show that the booze is being used to bribe a couple of cops. We are continually bombarded with ideas, continually pushed and pulled through the narrative. Of course, a lot of Scorsese's technical business here – the zooms, jump cuts and lengthy tracking shots are just cinematic wheelies, and headache-inducing ones at that. But so long as you can put up with them you have to admire the rhythmic precision with which the whole thing has been put together.
There is however another downside to the overtly technical style at work here. We don't really get to see the performances at their best. Poor old Ray Liotta probably did the best work of his life here, but it's all chopped up in little bits, and all we get is occasional looks, flashes, half-gestures. The same goes for Lorraine Bracco. Robert De Niro apparently did extensive research into his character, but there doesn't seem to have been much point since he is more or less the same as all the other Italian American gangsters he has played in his career. The only player who really comes out well here is Joe Pesci. Pesci has such charisma and presence that he commands attention even in small doses. It also helps that his style is very much in tune with the punchy dialogue and staccato rhythm of the whole piece.
Coming from the peak in Scorsese's abilities as a director of tight control over every aspect, Goodfellas could easily have fallen into the trap of being nothing but a showy technical exercise. The only thing that saves it is the fact that its subject matter is so interesting. Old and established as the gangster movie is, this one reveals so many sordid truths and fascinating facts about that lifestyle, and does so in such a direct, never-a-dull-moment manner, that it gives the whole genre a jolting jump-start.