#30 - GoodFellas (1990)

Oh dear, has it really been a month since I started doing this? Yes it has. Nevermind, here's another Scorcese film I kept overlooking. Until I was forced to watch a Simpsons episode that pretty much stated "this is a GoodFellas parody" at the end. This is why I refuse to watch that show from season 12 onwards. Having to explain your own jokes, that's the show's quality standards now? So anyway, I was reminded of this film so I decided to take a look. And I ended up really liking it.


The movie narrates the lives of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) and several of his acquaintances. Most of which are involved with the mafia. That's it, I can't really highlight any events. It's your typical rise-and-fall story, but the focus is not on what happens, but the lives of these characters from 1955 to 1980. And you know what? It totally works. While none of the events really stand out and all the scenes are rather short, I can't pick any one of them in which I lost interest. The relationships between the characters and the depiction of their bloated lifestyles is more than enough to keep you invested.

  

Looks like a bunch of guys playing poker, right? Even then some heavy shit is about to go on.

So, in order to keep us invested in the plot, the characters have to be really good, right? They are. The protagonist Henry Hill and his wife are those characters you are not supposed to identify with (since, you know, they kill people or bribe or do coke and all that) but the tone of the film reflects their emotions so well that you can't help but do it. Robert DeNiro's Jimmy Conway and Paul Sorvino's Paul Cicero are also very good characters but Joe Pesci's Tommy DeVito totally steals the show. His character is both hilarious and terrifying at the same time: he tells all these stories and everyone laughs his ass off... until someone makes fun of him and he goes completely serious or apeshit crazy. Only to break into laughter again or pop a cap on someone. Tommy is so unstable he's borderline insane, and it is incredibly amusing to watch.

  

Plus he delivers the most memorable quote from the film. "I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown?"

Other things that are very memorable are details like how the inner decoration of Henry's home evolves along with the style of said decade (and his income). Plus, I think this film nails some crime themes better than, say, the Godfather. Yes, I said it. Mostly because the characters are not related: they trust each other as if they were a family but deep down they know they are all power hungry criminals. Pesci's character wraps it up perfectly: you feel comfortable with him but at the same time you know he's about to snap at any moment. Also the dangers behind money and power are very cleverly portrayed here. At the end of the film Henry is pretty much a helpless paranoid, unable to rely on anyone.

The script, the characters, the narrative structure, the themes... This film does everything right. And I love it. Even though I'm getting a little sick of watching crime films lately.