REVIEW #161 Goodfellas (1990)

Goodfellas is a crime drama directed by the legendary Martin Scorsese. Based on a true story, the film follows a young Henry Hill as he rises from a petty criminal to a high ranking mobster on the streets of New York. 

CAST & THE ACTING 

The usual Scorsese favourites return for another one of the directors crime dramas and once again they do not disappoint. Helmed by Ray Liotta who plays Henry Hill, supported by Hollywood icons Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci who play Jimmy Conway and Vinny DeVito respectively. My favourite performance comes from Ray Liotta and that’s because of the versatility he displays throughout the film. He plays the rising mobster well but how he executed the downfall of his character is what impressed me the most. The body language, facial expressions and his verbal ques personified a man struggling with addiction and that authenticity tied into the ending of the film extremely well. De Niro and Pesci also impressed and no matter what film they’re in together they always deliver amazing chemistry and that’s why the pair are always a genius casting, especially for a film in this genre. What I love about the acting in these classic Scorsese films is that although they are playing on the stereotypes of ‘classic’ gangsters, at no point do the performances feel like stereotypes, they are so authentic and that assists the storyline by making it believable and realistic. 

THE STORYLINE

On the surface, the plot is something we have seen over and over again, it’s not exactly unique. We start with a young criminal who slowly rises through the ranks before becoming one of the main players in the mob. Then usually in the final act we see some sort of downfall that includes the deaths or incarcerations of the central characters. However this is what Scorsese does best, so why change a formula that clearly works, as long as I don’t sit there and watch a bunch of these films all in one day, then I find them perfectly entertaining. What’s interesting about Goodfellas is the drug addiction twist for the main character Henry Hill, that aspect did actually feel quite unique and it set up the ending nicely. Of course this is actually based on true events, another area in which Scorsese is no stranger to. For me, a sign of a true story being executed well is if I want to research the characters and the story after the film has finished and I certainly did. It left me wanting to know how accurate Goodfellas was and what finally happened to these people. I will say that the film felt a little too long, they could have shaved off twenty minutes and still told the same story but nonetheless it still held my attention for the two and a half hour run time.

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS 

Goodfellas is full of highlight reel shots for Martin Scorsese, there were some absolutely beautiful scenes in this film. There was clearly a lot of thought put into every aspect of the cinematography, to mention a couple of examples; the red colour pallet used in grave scene, Red which reflects anger and the murder was born out of Vinnies anger and inability to control his emotions. There was also the camera angle used for when Karen holds a gun to Harrys head in bed, switching from Henry’s viewpoint look up at the gun and then to Karen’s perspective. This helped shift the audiences focus to understand each perspective during the emotional outburst, it also made for a nice cinematic shot too. There was a nice soundtrack through the film, which actually goes under the radar a bit but it contributes a lot to the film. It’s easy to under appreciate the cinematography in classic films with the huge developments of modern cinema, I am guilty of that myself at times but Goodfellas is another example of excellent filmmaking. 

OVERALL (9/10)

This was my first time watching Goodfellas, I am trying to catch up with all of the crime dramas from the late 70’s to early 90’s but this film has certainly motivated me to do so. I would argue Goodfellas actually tops The Godfather, it’s faster paced and held more of my attention.  The acting is great and there is a nice variety of characters that keep the film exciting. Granted it’s very similar to the other classic crime dramas but it does have a couple of unique aspects that helped boost the score up to a 9. This is Scorsese’s bread and butter, he knows how to make great films for this genre and that is evident in his cinematography. I have included some beautiful examples at the end of this post, so be sure to take a look. If you’re like me and have been putting off watching this for far too long, make sure that changes because it’s a great film. Currently on Sky Movies in the UK! 

Thanks for reading.

Callan