Goodfellas

Released: September 19, 1990

Studio: Warner Bros.

Genre: gangster/crime drama

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 46.84 Worldwide: ?

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: 99.0 Worldwide: ?

Directing: Martin Scorsese

Screenwriting: Nicholas Pileggi, Martin Scorsese

Starring: Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino

Review:

“Another Mob picture: De Niro and Scorsese again, both in top form.” ^T98 “Based on Nicholas Pileggi’s non-fiction book Wiseguys,” ^FS this is a “fascinating look at the allure – and the reality – of day-to-day life in a Mafia family.” ^LM This is a “definitive and stylish, violent gangster film” ^FS “Screen murder has rarely been committed with such cocky assurance.” ^T98 “The violence is (necessarily) harsh and off-putting, like the film itself at times, but it’s brilliantly realized by Scorsese and cinematographer Michael Ballhaus.” ^LM

The story “chronicles the passage of time through three decades of crime (the 50s to the 70s) in the life of a mid-level, aspiring mobster Henry Hill (Liotta).” ^FS He “dreamed as a kid of becoming a member of the glamorous mob who ran his New York City neighborhood.” ^A07 As an adult, “he marries Karen (Bracco) and slowly advances up and climbs the Mafioso ladder.” ^FS “In the end as his life unravels, after dealing narcotics and becoming hooked, Hill protects himself and his wife by testifying and becoming part of the federal witness protection program – and being left in anonymous, suburbanized exile.” ^FS

With superb performances by Joe Pesci as meanly psychotic wiseguy Tommy DeVito, and Robert DeNiro as paranoid James Conway.” ^FS “Producer Nicholas Pileggi has gone on record to say real mobsters were enlisted as extras. Mystery surrounds how these men were paid, since they were unable to give Warner Bros. their Social Security card numbers.” ^MSN