Scorsese's panoramic examination of the mob. Goodfellas is nothing less than a masterpiece.

Rating: 10/10 (14 October 2007)

Goodfellas (1990)
Number 1 - 1990
Top 3 - 1990s
Top 30 - All Time
Top 5 - Gangster Films of All Time
Martin Scorsese's long and distant masterpiece about the mob, is a cinematic colossus, an account of Henry Hill's life and, told in narrative by Hill (who is played flawlessly by a young and eager Ray Liotta), who openly tells us that "as far as I could remember I always wanted to be a gangster"... Scorsese shows us why: A young Henry, living in a small flat, with his mother and siblings and his Irish father who was angry at his low life job and often channelled his rage by beating Henry.
Henry stares in awe, at the mafiosi across the street and their hedonistic lives with girls,fast cars, money and cops working for them. Hill gets a job across the street working for Pauli, and it all evolves from there...
Scorsese is the right man for this film. The man who knows the material so well through his experiences of growing up in Little Italy; this allowed Marty to observe and perhaps wonder about such operations such as crime and the people behind it.
Goodfellas is a Scorsese film for obvious reasons. The themes are evident all around; the troubled misguided leading characters, bonds of loyalty and betrayal, a strong element of Catholicism from the characters backgrounds and all the other themes that are incorporated into the film.
The character study in Goodfellas is perhaps the deepest Scorsese has ever reached, it is a riveting study of the operations, feelings, thoughts and actions of the Wiseguys, focusing on Henry Hill. The world of the Mafia and the values it withholds are fascinating and at times complex, but the film goes in out, left and right to study every single aspect of these people's lives.
Although I do prefer 'The Godfather' overall, Goodfellas is arguably better in many respects. It is a direct, unsavoury and often brutal display of the Mafia. Scorsese's film is a more modern gangster tale, where the industry has evolved into a more violent, more unglamorous and elaborate business from Coppola's mafia world.
The glamour and power that may come from the mafia lifestyle is contrasted by Scorsese, with the bloodshed, cheating and paranoia that follow Henry Hill and those around him as the film progresses...It is indeed the truth, that crime does not pay...
This film is another example of how Martin Scorsese films bring out the best in every actor, push everything a step further. Look at Robert De Niro in 'Taxi Driver', 'Raging Bull', 'The King of Comedy'. Ellen Burstyn in 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore', Daniel Day Lewis in Gangs of New York... Scorsese films are known for boosting actors to otherwise undiscovered levels...In this film, Liotta is strong and De Niro gives another masterclass, but it is perhaps Joe Pesci that outdoes himself with a calculated fleshy portrayal of Mafiosi Tommy De Vito, a man of outrageous violence...
This is a masterful film, and possibly the best films of the 1990s.
As Roger Ebert put it, Many of Scorsese's films have been poems about guilt. I leave it at that.
10/10