This film views the mob lives of three pivotal figures in the 1960's and 70's New York. Ray Liotta plays Henry Hill, a local boy turned gangster in a neighborhood full of the roughest and toughest. Joe Pesci plays Tommy Devito, a pure bred gangster, who turns out to be Henry's best friend. Robert De Niro plays Jimmy Conway, the man who puts the two of them together, and runs some of the biggest hijacks and burglaries the town has ever seen. After an extended jail sentence, Henry must sneak around the back of the local mob boss, Paulie Cicero, played by Paul Sorvino, to live the life of luxury he has always dreamed of. In the end, the friends end up in a hell of a jam, and must do anything they can to save each other, and stay alive.I know, yet ANOTHER gangster film. But this one clearly outranks them all, best of the best. It differs from the rest because the story isn't told from the third-person point of view of the head of the gang...it's told in the first-person point of view by one of the guys who actually carried out the dirty work. It has witty screenwriting, brilliant images, outstanding acting, realistic violence, and 247 F-Bombs. Joe Pesci was perfect for the role of Tommy, and he actually wrote the "Funny how?" scene himself, and ad-libbed the late-night meal scene with his character's mother. Some real mobsters have actually declared that this movie is very highly accurate in its portrayal. And interestingly, I was banned from seeing this movie (Clockwork Orange too!) by my mom when I was 15 or 16, and now they're second and third respectively. How about that?
Goodfellas was nominated for six Oscars and won one...Best Supporting Actor (Joe Pesci.) The Academy hates Martin Scorsese. It's a fact!
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