Review of Goodfellas

Tonight I watched Goodfellas for the I don't know how manyeth time. I used to watch it in High School at a friends house and really thought it was great. This timle I didn't think it was so great. It struck me as a rather typical Scorsese film. Q the stones. Q the period, tacky dress. Q the stylized violence. I read the script too which was good but not great. I used to think Scorsese deserved more awards. In particular Goodfellas. After I read the script and watched the movie again I though less of the film. It just didn't have the emotional pull that it did when I was a teen. Perhaps I've seen it too much. I could see myself watching Goodfellas at a bar. It seems like a bar film. Lots of rock music. Drugs, sex, violence, crime all things that you would find at a seedy bar like the ones in the film.

Still it does seduce you into "the life" as Henry Hill refers to it in the film. To watch the Mafia revealed in all it's glory is very entertaining. The names of the characters; Big Pauly, Jimmy Conway, Jimmy two times, and son on. It really drew me into the film. It caused me to ask myself, wouldn't it be great if I was one of those guys. If I was a "goodfella?" That part of it really appeals to viewers of the film. I'm not the only teen or young adult who saw the film and wanted to be part of the film. In fact it's kind of a cult film. Young kids see all the glitz and glamour. The money and the lifestyle. And they think how great. How crappy my life is. How boring to be a working stiff. It's better to be a gangster.

And the technical details of the film are unassailable. The giant crane shot of Karen running away from a suspected hit on her by Jimmy Conway is great. The perspective reveals everything in the shot; Karen, Conway, the dark alley, the street sign revealing a no name street in the maze of the city. All great. The acting is also top notch too. When Jimmy Conway learns Tommy has been killed you want to reach out and hug him. Comfort him in his loss. I thought all the roles were well played. From "Big Paulie" to Lorraine Bracco they struck me as genuine, real, and human. To go through what they go through requires a tough skin.

Goodfellas is a great film. Maybe it didn't win all the awards, but it's popularity is proof that the film endures and will endure as a portrait of not only life in the Mob, but life in New York City during those years when the city was much different than it is today. Before Giuliani and John Gotti and all the events that surrounded those characters. Before Zoo York became like Disneyland; clean, passive, and safe.The film is also a turning point in Scorsese's ouevre. From Good fellas Scorsese found his niche, the gangster film. Casino, The Departed, great films that built upon Goodfellas and will be remembered as great films done by a great director.