scorsese’s goodfellas--1/24/25

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Today's selection--from The Curious Movie Buff by Jennifer M. Wood. Martin Scorsese’s classic movie Goodfellas:

“Whereas Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather films tried to examine criminality of the Corleone family from a historical and socioeconomic perspective interlaced with the origins of America itself, Martin Scorsese took a different track. Goodfellas– Scorsese’s mob masterpiece—trekked through the invigorating minutiae of a young lieutenant and his hard­ stolen success in a world that didn't recognize his brand of overachieving, which is also why it couldn't stop him sooner.

“Ray Liotta's portrayal of mobster-turned-informant Henry Hill jolts through the details of his life of crime, from the wild affluence to the peaks and valleys of living outside the law, while Scorsese's propulsive direction draws a powerful question mark about whether it's worse to be a criminal or just to get caught—and what each viewer’s answer says about them.

“The first scene filmed wasn’t directed by Martin Scorsese. For Goodjellas, the first scene that was shot was the Morrie's Wigs commercial. To get the feel just right, Scorsese contacted Stephen R. Pacca, who had created his own low-budget ads for his replacement window company, to write and direct the ad.

“Frank Vincent and Joe Pesci go back a long way. Before whacking Frank Vincent as Billy Batts during the most disappointing ‘welcome home’ party in human history, Pesci gave Vincent a proper beatdown in Raging Bull. Vincent would eventually have his revenge, brutally whacking Pesci's character in Casino. But Pesci and Vincent go way back off-screen as well, having started their entertainment careers as bandmates and partners in a comedy duo in the late 1960s.

“The Copacabana tracking shot is meant to seduce everyone. The Copacabana tracking shot, one of the most famous shots in cinema history, shows Henry and Karen (Lorraine Bracco) walking from their car on the street, through a kitchen, and into the famous New York City nightclub. According to Scorsese, it ‘had to be done in one sweeping shot, because it's his seduction of her, and it's also the lifestyle seducing him.’

“Paul Sorvino had trouble connecting to his character’s cruelty. Servino came very close to quitting the project because he didn't think he could pull it off. ‘What I wasn't sure I would find was that kernel of coldness and absolute hardness that is antithetical to my nature except when my family is threatened,’ Servino told the New York Times.

‘The movie’s body count is surprisingly small. Despite its reputation as a violent movie, the number of on-screen deaths seen in Goodfellas is a surprisingly tame five (Spider, Billy

Batts, Stacks Edwards, Morrie, and Tommy)—or ten if you include the results of Jimmy Conway's handiwork following the Lufthansa heist.

“The ‘Funny How?’ scene wasn’t in the script. The most famous (and most quoted) scene comes at the beginning, when Pesci's Tommy DeVito jokingly—yet uncomfortably—accosts Henry for calling him ‘funny.’ In addition to being the driving force behind the scene on-screen, Pesci is also responsible for coming up with the premise. While working in a restaurant, a young Pesci apparently told a mobster that he was funny—a compliment that was met with a less-than-entlrnsiastic response. Pesci relayed the anecdote to Scorsese, who added it in.”

author:	Jennifer M. Wood
title:	Mental Floss: The Curious Movie Buff: A Miscellany of Fantastic Films from the Past 50 Years (Movie Trivia, Film Trivia, Film History)
publisher:	Weldon Owen
pages:	99