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Organized crime has been the subject of many Hollywood films, but few have explored the topic so thoroughly and realistically as Martin Scorsese's 1990 masterpiece GoodFellas.
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The script is based on Nick Pillegi’s book Wiseguy (Pillegi, incidentally, also wrote Casino, the basis for another Scorsese film). The book tells the true story of the life of Henry Hill, an associate of the Lucchese crime family in New York City who later turns and rats out his mob buddies. The movie faithfully illustrates many episodes of the critically-acclaimed book, thanks in part to Pillegi’s role as co-author of the script with Scorsese.
GoodFellas traces Hill’s rise and fall from his youthful infatuation with streetcorner hoodlums to full-fledged middle-aged coke fiend. Ray Liotta plays Hill in a career-best performance. Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) and Jimmy Conway (Robert DeNiro) are his two friends in crime – scheming, stealing and killing in order to make a living. It is worth noting that GoodFellas marks Scorcese’s sixth collaboration with DeNiro, and the ease with which the two masters of their crafts feel produces an excellent performance.
The film features a strong cast in addition to these three powerful actors. Lorraine Bracco ("The Sopranos") and Paul Sorvino (Romeo + Juliet) are two standouts. Also present, as in most Scorcese movies, are brief cameos by his parents, Catherine and Charles Scorsese.
This film, along with Casino, signaled the end of an era for Scorcese. He took a hiatus from the portrayal of gangsters, the genre with which he is most often associated, after completing these epics. The under-appreciated Kundun (1997) and the questionable Bringing Out the Dead (1999) followed. Only recently has he returned to his first love, re-imagining the gangster milieu in 2002's Gangs of New York and this year's The Departed.
As with these later pictures, some reviewers took issue with GoodFellas for its uncompromising vision of the violence and amorality inherent in the gangster lifestyle – a lifestyle the movie pointedly refuses to condemn. In fact, when viewers see Henry as a “regular Joe” at the end of the movie, he complains that he gets to live the rest of his life “like a schnook.” In other words, just like you and me. But Scorsese chose to not yield in depicting the realism of the world he creates in GoodFellas by telling a story that differs from what Pillegi wrote about in Wiseguy, and the film is better for avoiding the temptation to sanitize.
Scorsese prefers to work with certain writers, and his collaboration with Pillegi provides a contrast to his work with Paul Schrader. Schrader had a deep Calvinist sense, one that shows through in pictures such as Taxi Driver, where actions have much more clearly defined consequences than in GoodFellas, and viewers are meant to struggle with the moral issues at play on screen.
Some critics also criticize the movie for far smaller details. We are thinking here of the conservative right’s favorite movie critic, Michael Medved. Since this is a truly great film, we wouldn’t expect Medved to appreciate or understand it, and he does not fail us in our expectations. According to his view, cinematic violence is part of a pop culture "war on traditional values." As usual, then, he goes one step beyond mere criticism of style or plot, instead nitpicking by counting all of the swear words in the film. As the characters in the movie might say, “[Screw] you.” Cleaning up the language of these figures would distort the reality of their portrayal beyond recognition.
GoodFellas is truly a masterpiece of the nineties. One of Scorsese’s best efforts, it deserves repeated viewings, cuss words and all.
