A Rat in the "Hill"

Rating: 9/10 (10 December 2010)

An enthusiastic adolescent stares longingly out of his bedroom window at the gangsters hangout, dreaming to be a gangster... Bunks school, works with them and eventually grows up to be one of them. This boy narrating his story is half Irish, half Italian, New York based mobster, Henry Hill(Ray Liotta). He is lashed by his father but he complains to the mob bosses who help him out. His mother looks at him in a suit and shrieks "You look like a gangster!" This scene marks his transformation into a "WiseGuy", one among the Goodfellas. How he grew up surrounded by the mafia and worked and lived off them for 3 decades forms the basis of this film.
Based on the book "Wise Guy" by reporter Nicholas Pileggi (to whom the real Henry Hill reportedly gave his true-life account), whose also penned the screenplay with Director Scorsese, the 146 min movie successfully packs 3 decades of mafia life without compromising on the pace or the details, thanks to the brilliant direction of Martin Scorsese and the editing(Thelma Schoonmaker).
The beauty of this movie was it was full of violence, murder, theft, smuggling, substance abuse, adultery, profanity and other unsocial acts, all of which were spoken of very casually in the same breath with no feeling of remorse or guilt. It delved deep into the subject of the power of Mafia but it never advocated their use or glorified it. Neither was it a typical moral bedtime story that are narrated to children. This is effectively expressed by the gradual change in the character of Hill's wife, Karen Hill(Lorraine Bracco) through her narration. She initially feels as uncomfortable as any outsider would feel with the movie's theme but slowly gets absorbed just as the viewer into the mafia lives and in certain places, even makes you feel a certain sympathy for the lead character and other people but leaves a stranger taste when you realise that all their sufferings are well deserved. They are casual with their criminal acts but deep down, they know they are wrong. And as Roger Ebert said, they know they are guilty, not because they did wrong but know that they want to do the wrong again.
The music & tempo("Rags to Riches", "Pretend you don't see her" and so on) seem hand picked for the occasions, perfectly echoing the mood of the scenes. In addition to this, the screenplay of some scenes(which I heard was mostly improvised by the actors, spot on) stand out for their sense of sheer brutal-ism while some for their humour while some others explaining a subtle point or thought or a transition in character.
The acting cast comprising of Robert DeNiro(Jim Conway), Joe Pesci(Tommy DeVito), Paulie Cicero(Paul Sorvino), Ray Liotta(Henry Hill), Lorraine Bracco(Karen Hill) ...the list goes on....put an earnest performance. We also have some interesting small-time roles played by significant actors - Ed Stacks (Samuel Jackson), old Vinnie(Martin's father, Charles Scorsese), Tommy's mother(Martin's mother, Catherine Scorsese), Diane(Kate Wallach, daughter of legendary Eli Wallach of Good, Bad, Ugly fame) and so on...
I admit to first seeing this movie in bits and parts(as I heard it was one of Scorsese's best) as and when it was telecast on Television and wasn't very impressed but decided to hold my view until later. But when I got a chance to see it from start to end, I was impressed and mesmerized by this piece of art.
The primary goal of movie is to keep a viewer engaged through its runtime and leave the viewer with a feeling of having experienced a story which GoodFellas successfully does.
So, here we have a gangster movie ranking (almost) equivalent to the likes of Godfather.
9 / 10
(minus one, not because the movie was flawed, but as I respect the 10 stars for a once (or twice) in a lifetime movie - and I have chosen Fight Club for now)