Goodfellas

***Goodfellas*** (stylized as ***GoodFellas***) is a 1990 American epic crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is an adaptation of the 1985 nonfiction novel, *Wiseguy* by Pileggi and stars Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco and Paul Sorvino. The film follows Lucchese Crime Family associate, Henry Hill (Liotta) and his rise and fall throughout his criminal activities.

Not only has *Goodfellas* been credited as one of, if not Scorsese's best film, but has also been cited to be one of the greatest films of all time with it being placed as the 94th greatest film of all time on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies and 92nd on the list's tenth anniversary. The film has also been nominated for numerous Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing, with the actor Joe Pesci winning the award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film.

Ever since *Goodfellas* has premiered it has been extremely influential to the gangster genre with it also been cited as the second greatest gangster film of all time, with it being just under *The Godfather* (1974). The film has also been called "culturally, historically, or aesthetically" significant by the U.S. Library of Congress.

## Plot

In 1955, Irish and Italian-American preteen, Henry Hill becomes influenced to become a gangster after witnessing various criminal activities committed by associates of the Lucchese Crime Family in his neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. Eventually, Henry begins doing small jobs for the mobsters and starts working for Lucchese Family caporegime, Paul "Paulie" Cicero. Later, he is introduced to Cicero's associates, the infamous Irish trafficker, Jimmy "The Gent" Conway and fellow juvenile delinquent, Tommy DeVito.

During the 1960's, Henry becomes more closely associated to the mob. Around this time, Henry also meets and begins dating Jewish woman, Karen Friedman, who is hesitant to Henry's criminal activities. However, Karen, similarly to Henry, eventually becomes infatuated with the criminal lifestyle. Karen then marries Henry, despite her parent's disapproval of Henry's activities.

On June 11, 1970, Billy Batts, a made man in the Gambino Crime Family, is having a welcome home party at a nightclub owned by Henry, after being released from prison. Billy soon starts to patronize Tommy, due to his past of shining other mobster's shoes when he was younger. After everyone, except for the trio and Billy has left Tommy and Jimmy murder Billy, despite this act being extremely dangerous due to Billy being made and non of the trio being made. The trio then bury Billy somewhere in upstate New York, with them having to relocate the decomposing corpse six months later when the burial site is slated for development.

Later that same year, Henry, Tommy and Jimmy are playing cards with various other gangsters when Tommy has an argument with the bartender, nicknamed Spider, leading Tommy to shoot Spider in the foot. After Spider's foot is repaired, Tommy begins to patronize Spider, leading Spider to tell Tommy to "go fuck himself". This combined with the praise of Spider by the other gangsters, leads Tommy to murder Spider. Around this time, Karen also learns about Henry's mistress, Janice Rossi, which nearly leads Karen to murder Henry until he forces the gun out of her hand before leaving. Later, Henry and Jimmy are sent to Miami to beat up a man who owes money to Paulie. They are later arrested due to the man's sister being a typist for the FBI. While in prison, Henry has Karen smuggle in food and drugs for him to sell in prison.

In 1978, Henry is put on parole and begins to sell cocaine despite the mob's disapproval of selling drugs. Later, Jimmy starts organizing a robbery of the Lufthansa vault at John F. Kennedy International Airport, where they end up stealing six million dollars in cash and jewelry. However, several members of the crew start buying various expensive things, which went against Jimmy's orders, leading Jimmy to have every crew member of the robbery killed except for him, Tommy and Henry. In 1979, Tommy is led to believing he will be made by the mob, due to him being the only one in Jimmy's crew to be 100% Italian. However, when he is brought to the meet-up spot, he is murdered, which was due to his murder of Billy Batts.

By 1980, Henry has grown a serious addiction to cocaine. While setting up a drug deal, he is arrested but is bailed out due to his worry of Paulie hearing about his arrest. Afterwards, Henry is informed that Karen had flushed $60,000 worth of cocaine down the toilet to prevent FBI agents from finding it during their raid, which causes Henry to now become extremely in need of money. Henry asks Paulie for money, to which Paulie then ends his association with him. Karen goes to Jimmy for help, but nearly survives a murder that Jimmy had planned for her. Henry goes to Jimmy, who requests a job for him, but Henry declines, now realizing that Jimmy wishes to murder him. Henry then becomes an FBI informant with him then testifying against Jimmy and Paulie in court, leading them to be put in prison. Henry and his family are placed in the witness protection program, much to Henry's disappointment, ending the film by stating; "I'm an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook".

## Cast

* Ray Liotta as Henry Hill
	+ Christopher Serrone as young Henry Hill
* Robert De Niro as James "Jimmy" Conway
* Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito
* Lorraine Bracco as Karen Hill
* Paul Sorvino as Paul Cicero
* Frank Sivero as Frankie Carbone
* Tony Darrow as Sonny Bunz
* Mike Starr as Frenchy
* Frank Vincent as Billy Batts
* Chuck Low as Morris Kessler
* Frank DiLeo as Tuddy Cicero
* Henny Youngman as himself
* Gina Mastrogiacomo as Janice Rossi
* Catherine Scorsese as Tommy's mother
* Charles Scorsese as Vinnie
* Suzanne Shepard as Karen's mother
* Debi Mazar as Sandy
* Margo Winkler as Belle Kessler
* Welker White as Lois Byrd
* Jerry Vale as himself
* Julie Garfield as Mickey Conway
* Elaine Kagan as Henry's mother
* Beau Starr as Henry's father
* Kevin Corrigan as Michael Hill
* Michael Imperioli as Spider
* Robbie Vinton as Bobby Vinton
* John Williams as Johnny Roastbeef
* Illeana Douglas as Rosie
* Frank Pellegrino as Johnny Dio
* Tony Sirico as Tony Stacks
* Samuel L. Jackson as Stacks Edwards
* Paul Herman as Dealer
* Edward McDonald as himself
* Louis Eppolito as Fat Andy
* Tony Lip as Frankie the Wop
* Anthony Powers as Jimmy Two Times
* Vinny Pastore as Man w/Coatrack
* Tobin Bell as Parole Officer
* Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Doctor
* Richard "Bo" Dietl as Arresting Narc
* Ed Deacy as Detective Deacy
* Victor Colicchio as Henry's '60s crew
* Vincent Gallo as Henry's '70s crew
* Joseph Bono as Mikey Franzese
* Katherine Wallach as Diane
* Bob Golub as Truck Driver at Diner

## Deaths

* **William "Billy Batts" Bentvena:** Beaten, stabbed and shot to death by Tommy DeVito and Jimmy Conway.
* **Michael "Spider" Gianco:** Shot to death by Tommy DeVito.
* **Parnell "Stacks" Edwards:** Shot in the back of the head by Tommy DeVito on Jimmy Conway's orders.
* **Morrie Kessler:** Stabbed in the neck with an ice pick by Tommy DeVito on Jimmy Conway's orders.
* **Johnny Roastbeef:** Shot to death by either hitmen or Tommy DeVito on Jimmy Conway's orders.
* **Johnny Roastbeef's Wife:** Shot to death by either hitmen or Tommy DeVito on Jimmy Conway's orders.
* **Robert "Frenchy" McMahon:** Shot to death by either Jimmy Conway or Tommy DeVito on Jimmy Conway's orders.
* **Joe Buddha:** Shot to death by either Jimmy Conway or Tommy DeVito on Jimmy Conway's orders.
* **Frankie Carbone:** Killed in an unknown manner by either Jimmy Conway or Tommy DeVito on Jimmy Conway's orders.
* **Tommy DeVito:** Shot in the head by a Gambino goon.
* **Paul Cicero:** Died from a respiratory illness.

## Production

While directing his 1986 film, *The Color of Money*, Scorsese read Pileggi's nonfiction novel, *Wiseguy*, which inspired him to make a film adaptation of the novel. According to Scorsese, when he was younger, he was drawn to the Mafia lifestyle and stated that the depiction of the mobsters in *Wiseguy*, was extremely accurate and how it focused on the various hobbies and past times the mobsters did throughout their lives. Not only that but, Scorsese felt he absolutely needed to write an adaptation for the novel and even told Pileggi, ""I've been waiting for this book my entire life." However, Scorsese had to postpone the film in order to fund *The Last Temptation of Christ*. Real life mobster, Henry Hill was paid $480,000 for the film. *Goodfellas* was also meant to be titled, *Wiseguy*, after the book, however their was already a film titled *Wiseguy*, so Scorsese and Pileggi changed the title to *Goodfellas* from the commonly used expression, "he's a good fella", that mobsters would use when describing someone.