Goodfellas (1990)

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Goodfellas (1990)

8/10

Starring
Ray Liotta
Robert De Niro
Joe Pesci


Directed by Martin Scorsese

Goodfellas is the best way to see the mafia, with Godfather given you a thrill of what the mafia life is about from the top; Goodfellas gives you the view of it from the bottom, as we see three guys work their way to the top.

Goodfellas is based on New York crime reporter’s (Nicholas Pileggi) non-fictional book Wiseguy, about the life of Henry Hill.

Goodlfellas starts in the middle and moves backwards then forward. The screenplay was done by both Scorsese and Pileggi, who had to pull out 12 different drafts before they finally wound up with the script that was used to shoot the film.

The movie is based on the life of Henry Hill; Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) always wanted to be a gangster, to help him along the way he got a job with a mob boss when he was in high school and there he met two other gangsters Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) and Tommy De Vito (Joe Pesci) with whom he grew up with and they took part in many crimes in the city.

After being involved in a heist that took America by storm, the group decided to kill off everyone else involved in the robbery, and slowly start to climb up through the hierarchy of the Mob.

Boasting of a notable cast of Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, Goodfellas is noted as one of the greatest films ever made in the crime genre and during its initial box office success run it was nominated for six Academy Awards, which included Best Picture and Best Director for Scorsese. In the Oscar’s Goodfellas went home with one award for Joe Pesci in the Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The film also got notable acclaim in the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, winning five awards including Best Film and Best Director.

Goodfellas was Scorsese's most expensive film to date although the movie budget is small compared to other movies of such standard and was well received by critics holding a 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it is ranked the second greatest gangster film by AFI (American Film Institute) behind Godfather (1972)and before Godfather Part II (1974).

Goodfellas is a good watch any day any time and it will always standout as one of the best adaptation of mafia life, one you will like to own along side Godfather.