The Crime of Their Lives

Rating: 10/10 (8 October 2009)

"Raging Bull" director Martin Scorsese received his third Oscar nomination as Best Director for "Goodfellas," starring Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, and Joe Pesci, an engrossing epic about life in the mafia based on Nicholas Pileggi's bestselling biography about real-life gangster Henry Hill. This blue collar crime saga differs from mafia melodramas like Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" because Scorsese refrains from either eavesdropping on the upper echelons of organized crime management or depicting the actual logistics involved in its major heist. In other words, scenes concerning the hierarchy of mob bosses convening to resolve rivalries among their families or scenes about the actual heist are never shown. Nevertheless, "Goodfellas" is violent, profane, and unrelenting in its R-rated portrayal of crime and punishment. Pesci won the Best Supporting Actor's Oscar, while "Goodfellas" received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Film Editing, and Best Screenplay based on material adapted from another medium. Incidentally, Kevin Costner's "Dances with Wolves" trumped "Goodfellas" for the Oscar.
Essentially, Scorsese's film traces the rise and fall of Brooklyn-born, Irish/Sicilian American Henry Hill from working as a teenager at a mafia cab stand to his adult exploits as a full-fledged mafia soldier. Scorsese glamorizes Hill's life during the first hour as a crook, and the young Hill wins sympathy as an underdog. Everything turns to sour in the second hour, however, as the mutt mutates into a murderer. After several years of getting away with his crimes, our protagonist winds up in prison, gets paroled, resorts to selling cocaine, finds himself at odds with his own mafia types before he decides to participate in the Justice Department's Witness Protection Program. Incidentally, the title "Goodfellas" refers to the mafia concept that when an individual works for the mob then he becomes one of mob. In other words, the family that slays and steals together stays together.
The opening scene in "Goodfellas" sets the tone for this grim film. Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro of "Raging Bull"), Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci of "Lethal Weapon 2") and Henry (Ray Liotta of "Article 99") are cruising down the highway at night when Henry gets curious about a noise that sounds suspiciously like their sedan has had a flat tire. After Henry pulls the car over, Jimmy and Tommy inspect the trunk where they have stashed the bloody body of a man swathed with sheets. Tommy stabs the man repeatedly and Jimmy blasts at the man with his revolver. The camera pushes in on Henry watching Jimmy and Tommy kill the man sprawled helplessly in the trunk and then we hear Henry utter in a voice-over, "As far back as I can remember, I've always wanted to be a gangster." Intermittently, the Liotta character addresses the audience, furnishing important information about the mafia milieu, until the last few minutes when the protagonist breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience.
"Goodfellas" qualifies as a slam-bang crime thriller. This is not a film about set-pieces like you see in Coppola's "Godfather" movies or Sergio Leone's "Once Upon A Time in America." Scorsese infiltrates the audience into the mafia and shares many of the mob's secrets that have become familiar with film-going audiences in a way that seems fresh and off-the-cuff. Initially, we sympathize with young Henry (newcomer Christopher Serrone) who takes a job at Tuddy Cicero's cab stand running errands for the gangsters in the neighborhood. Before long Henry is earning more money than his hot-tempered father, and he loves the respect that the mobsters lavish on him. Tuddy (Frank DeLio of "Kiss of Death") lets him park Cadillacs, sell contraband items, smash car windows and play fire-bug. Unlike his working class Irish father who takes a belt to him when he discovers that his son has quit attending school, the mobsters are more of a family to Henry than his own kin.
As an adult, Henry becomes fast friends with Jimmy, who Henry assures us is "one of the most feared guy in the city" and pint-sized Tommy who isn't afraid of anybody. This insider's look at the mafia follows these three mafiateers as they steal, rob, lie, cheat, and kill their way to the a fortune. When Tommy cannot convince a girl to go out on a date with unless he finds a suitable fellow for her friend, Tommy twists Henry's reluctant arm. Henry meets Karen (Lorraine Bracco, later of HBO's "The Sopranos") who becomes his wife. There is one scene when Henry escorts Karen to a popular nightclub that dazzles her because everybody showers them with respect and praise. Although she doesn't know exactly how Henry makes his living, Henry tells her that he works for the union in the construction business. No sooner does Henry marry Karen and have kids than he starts cheating on her with whores that he sets up in nearby houses and Karen initially believes him when he cannot come home for business reasons. One morning Henry awakens to Karen straddling him in bed with a snub-nosed revolver aimed between his eyes. This is a chilling scene.
It is a testament to Scorsese's skill as co-writer and director that the repugnant world of crime looks so compelling. Jimmy and Tommy are brutal, unrepentant thugs. A life of crime turns Henry into a cold, calculating operator who enjoys all the advantages of mob living. Like a movie made during the Production Code era (1934-1968) that dictated that crime should not pay, our protagonist gets his comeuppance. Nevertheless, Scorsese shows his sense of humor in one scene when Tommy, Jimmy, and Henry awaken Tommy's mother at his house and she insists on cooking a meal for them. Scorsese never lets the momentum of "Goodfellas" slacken and this crime drama boasts enough surprises to keep audiences on their toes. Altogether, "Goodfellas" rates as one of the top ten mob movies and its soundtrack of nostalgic tunes doesn't hurt it.