Is Being A Gangster Better Than Being President of the United States? Goodfellas Clearly Says No.

Rating: 10/10 (7 September 2017)

Roebrt De Niro,Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci star in this film about the mob and gangsters in "Goodfellas". Based on the bestselling book of Nicholas Pillegi, director Martin Scorsese provides the viewer of a clear picture of what being part of organized crime is all about.
Goodfellas is a true story that is being told on the eyes of Henry Hill,who spent 25 years of his life being a member of the mob from 1955 to 1980, until he became an informant and made deals with the FBI to bring down and put behind the bars his mob underboss Paul Cicero and his fellow mobster, Jimmy "The Gent" Conway. The story whose script was co-written by Scorsese and Pileggi narrates Hill's story on how he started being of service with the mob when he was 12 years old when he considered being a gangster is better than being the President of the United States until he became a full-time gangster who was involved in extortion,hijacking,stealing,robberies and murders together with Tommy DeVito and Jimmy "The Gent" Conway when he became an adult. It shows how much money he has had that made him and his wife - Karen Hill - have made their married life extremely comfortable,appealing and glamorous.Added to that,the viewer is treated to the glory years - the 50's,60's and 70's - of the mob when these crime families have many law enforcers in their pockets and how much impact they had in American society until they started to decline and experience downfall in the 80's when the FBI started to intensify their campaign against the mob and putting these mobsters into prison.
No question that we have a great film.There are many reasons behind it.First,the viewer is given a clear portrait of the mob's way of life particularly the life of crime as told by Henry Hill.It definitely does not intend to put any glamor into their way of life as it clearly shows how violent this way of life is despite the money that they are able to earn.This was shown particularly in the scenes wherein Tommy DeVito,portrayed by Pesci in an Oscar winning role,shoots Spider on the foot and later killed him by shooting his chest six times after losing his temper.It also shows how much crime they commit in their daily life.Added to that,it also demonstrates how mob life has declined throughout the years starting in the 1980's when the FBI intensified in bringing down members of the mob and putting them behind bars with the use of advancement in technology that the Feds are using particularly in investigating mobsters. It definitely shows that the mob no longer has the same impact unlike during their glory years from the 1950's to the 1970's and the viewer probably laughing to Henry's mindset that being a gangster is better than becoming US President.Many will see that Henry himself became an FBI informant and corroborate against his fellow mobsters in the end receive lighter sentence instead of spending the rest of his life in jail.
Aside from these reasons,we also get to see a lot of great performances from De Niro,Liotta,Sorvino,Bracco,who was nominated for an Oscar Best Supporting Actress; and Pesci,who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.In addition to performances,we also get to see a great direction from Scorsese that told the story in a fast pace that made 2 hour and 28 minute movie far from being boring; and a wonderful screenplay from Scorsese and Pileggi as well that made many scenes memorable up to day since this was first shown in the theaters many years ago back in 1990.
No wonder the "Goodfellas" remains popular today since it was released 27 years ago.