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One of my favourite movies ever is the amazing Goodfellas (Dir-martin scorsese-1990). It tells the story of Henry Hill, who grew up with the mob and eventually turned on them by joining the witness protection programme, and testifying in court.
The main character in the film is Henry Hill (played by Ray Liotta), the film
follows an almost un-fathomable plot for the average outsider and demonstrates
superb camera work interspersed with classic "mafia" music (Toni
Bennet).What makes this film so different from many (all?) before it is the
sheer brutality and diversity of the many characters involved.
From the manic Tommy (aka tommy de-simone), to the almost workmanlike Jimmy Conway (real name James Burke, birth mothers name was conway), the film portrays a cold periferel, almost superficial world where everything appears ok on the outside, with insulting phrases in jest ("hey Tuddi, mingha!" - "hey tuddi - prick!") to the sudden unexpected violence, which comes at you with a hammer blow.("shine these shoes you motherfucker" - tommy to billy batts in roberts lounge (actually called the my place lounge in 1973 of queens blvd)).
All in all this wonderful movie has no real message, after all, Hill actually wins in the end, by using the government to pull the provebial trigger on his once mafia pals!
Try www.goodfellasweb.com
Want to know about the mafia? try www.americanmafia.com
want to read the true story, try www.amazon.co.uk
the author of the book is Nicholas Pileggi.
PS did you know that Martin Scorsese's mother and father appear in the movie?
