Simply great

Rating: 10/10 (4 November 2011)

What is the formula behind making the perfect gangster movie? It has to be long, short gangster movies seldom work. There has to be a wide variety of characters, movies like "The Hoodlum" were dull because there were only a few main characters there. Here even the minor characters are well developed, enough to catch your eye. And last, it has to show some violence but in moderate quantities. There is some violence here, most notably in the "Billy Batts scene", but it never overflows, "Casino" had far more violent scenes than this film. If there is no violence whatsoever, then the movie can't be an effective gangster/mafia movie.
But what is perhaps most appealing with this film is that, in contrast to movies like The Godfather trilogy, Scarface and Casino, this movie is based 100% on real events and characters. Only a few names are altered, the rest is all authentic.Robert De Niro again delivers, even though I think he has been somewhat miscast as Jimmy (Burke) Conway. Jimmy the Gent was Irish-American and even though DeNiro is part Irish himself, he doesn't look like a typical Irish-American. Burke was also a tall and imposing man, unlike DeNiro and he always chomped on a cigar. Doesn't help that DeNiro also has that unmistakable Italian-American drawl: "Wats da madda wit u?"
Pesci is just incredible and a delight to watch, despite playing a very unsympathetic character. Liotta fits his part perfectly as well and what I liked here is that they show his corruption by the mob world that embraced him in the beginning. If he had been shown as just some innocent naive sweet guy, it wouldn't look authentic, would it? Several scenes have since become classics, deservedly so. The "Shinebox scene" aka Billy Batts scene is perhaps the most unforgettable, but also the "Funny Guy scene". Elizabeth Bracco, even though not my favorite actress, offers a strong supporting role as mrs. Henry Hill, the headstrong and hot tempered Karen. Paul Sorvino is also marvelous in his somewhat restricted but pivotal part as Henry's close friend and first mentor Paulie Cicero. Frank Sivero from "Godfather II" is a welcome sight and his character is like a counterpart to Pesci's, a silent and unintentionally humorous sidekick.
Scorsese scored big with this big screen adaptation of one of the most intriguing real-life mafia stories. This remains one of his crowning achievements.