Goodfellas Movie Essay

Title: Goodfellas

Film Origin

Goodfellas was based off of the non-fiction book Wiseguy, which was released in 1986 by Nicholas Pileggi. Director Martin Scorsese worked extensively with Pileggi when writing the screenplay, as Pileggi is credited for co-writing. Originally named Wise Guy due to the book, Scorsese and Pileggi changed the name to Goodfellas. In addition, Pileggi also worked with the main actors of Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, and Joe Pesci to understand from both the screenplay as well as from the book.

Summary of the film

The film is a biography of Henry Hill, who was born and raised in the mafia, and his story of how he advances through the system. Along the way, Hill finds himself very successful due to the work he was able

to accomplish. Through his journey, he creates terrible habits that affects his success, such as creating an addiction to drugs and putting his family and friends in danger. Ultimately, Hill is able to stay alive and tell his life story.

Film’s Genre
Biography, Crime, Drama

Possible Themes
Respect, Image, Power, Privilege, Family

Title Meaning
By definition, Goodfella is “a gangster, especially a member of a Mafia family.” Thus, the title meaning of Goodfellas was the story of gangsters that had an impact on Hill’s life, who was the ultimate Goodfella of the story.

Character Development
The most detailed character development was Henry Hill. The tone of his character was set within the first couple of lines of the film, Hill’s narrative voice says “as far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.” From that point on, the viewer understood the type of character he was going to be. As character was introduced as someone who was driven to be successful in the mafia world. Even though Hill eventually was able to be successful, his character developed in a way where his power influenced how he acted. For example, he became to feel indestructible, develop a drug habit, cheat on his wife – all of these traits were developed through his success in the mafia world. But, especially in the final scene, Hill confirms that even with everything that he has been through, he does not regret a second of it.

Besides Henry Hill’s development as a character, the development of the relationship with his wife, Karen Hill, was also very detailed as well. Karen was first introduced to the film as Henry’s date on a double date with Tommy DeVito. They there ‘dates’ because Henry wanted to help his friend go on a date with another woman, who would not go on the date unless Karen had a date for herself. When Karen and Henry met, she was in such disbelief of how Henry acted at dinner, “I couldn’t stand him” was the exact quote when first describing how Karen felt about Henry. When Tommy set up a second date, Henry bailed on Karen and never showed. But, Karen forced Tommy to go find him, only for Henry to fall in love with her. Their relationship continued to develop through their love and understanding for each other, as Karen understood his gangster lifestyle and Henry understood Karen’s religion. But, as Henry continued to climb the hierarchy of success in the mafia world, their relationship began to crumble. Fights between the two became more frequent, Henry would display more disagreements than love when interacting with Karen, Henry committing infidelity towards Karen – at one scene in the film, Karen points a gun at Henry’s face in order to kill him. But, as Karen put it, “How could I hurt him, I couldn’t even bring myself to leave him. The truth was, no matter how bad I felt, I was still very attracted to him.” This also ties back into the development on how Henry changes as a character throughout the film, but the connection between his success in his mafia life had a direct relationship to the decrease in his love life, creating very rich character development.

Memorable Scenes / Mise en Scene
One memorable scene in the film is between Karen and Henry in the early stages of their relationship. One afternoon, Karen comes to Henry crying because one of their neighbors sexually harassed her. In order to defend his lady, Henry gets angry. He then takes Karen home, and confronts the man who sexually harassed her by beating him with his pistol and threatening to kill the man. Afterward, Henry returns to Karen with the gun and says, “hide this.” From there, Karen does a narrative voiceover and has one of the best quotes of the movie, “I know there are woman like my best friends, who would have gotten out of there the minute the boyfriend gave them a gun to hide. But I didn’t, I got to admit the truth, it turned me on.” This is one of the more memorable scenes in the film because it was an acceptance of Karen towards the interest Henry had with his life.

Another memorable scene from the film was the “funny guy” scene. In the shot, Tommy is telling a story of his work at a dinner with presumably business partners, as well as with Henry. As Henry continues to laugh, he tells Tommy “really funny”, causing a reaction from Tommy to say “what do you mean I am funny?” The mood of the scene becomes joyful to treating in a matter of moments, as Tommy turns the tables and becomes angry at Henry due to his funny comment. Because of that reaction, Tommy says his icon line of “funny how? Funny like clown funny?” Tommy continues to be intimidating towards Henry, beginning to get in his face. Henry eventually calls Tommy’s bluff of seriousness, which then lifts the weight off of everyone’s shoulders at the table and the scene becomes joyful again.

Commonalities between characters
The biggest commonality between the characters came from the Goodfellas themselves, Henry, Tommy, and Jimmy Conway.

Throughout the film, the most obvious commonality is their interest in the mafia industry. But, their common interest also is found in their drive for success. As each character is successful with their business, they share that commonality as well as leaning on each other through the process to make sure each will be successful. Even though things change throughout the film due to their success with the mafia, the trio share that commonality of leaning on each other and protecting each other in the

business.

Symbolisms & Meanings
Because of the nature and tone the film provides, the mafia culture always provides the symbolism of respect and power. In Goodfellas, this is especially true because it displays the addiction of getting to the top of the mountain, and only craving the respect and power that come with that success.

Family is also an important symbol in the film because it provides a complex meaning. On one aspect, family is a symbol because of the mafia itself. To Henry, in some aspects, the mafia was his family. That was how he was able to be successful and make money. But, Henry also had a physical family at home with Karen. The symbol of family can provide multiple different meanings for this film because Henry balances both his mafia family as well as his own family with Karen. This expresses that meaning of finding the proper balance for life in general.

Lighting
As with most movies in this genre, the use of both high-key lighting and low-key lighting are essential in expressing setting the tone for each scene. Scorsese does an excellent job in using both of these lighting techniques. For example, most of the dark scenes which involved the gangster topics included low-key lightening, due to the dark content that the characters were dealing with. The use of low-key lighting was also important for the film because it was able to symbolize the actions that Henry was making as he balanced the mafia life and home life with Karen.

Even though there was very little, the use of high-key lighting was important to express the scenes that were intended to be joyful. One of those scenes was the wedding of Karen and Henry, as high-key lighting was used to express the promise and opportunity of their lives together. High-Key lighting was also used when Henry, Tommy, and Jimmy would go visit Jimmy’s mothers house. This was important because it was trying to demonstrate that when they were at Jimmy’s mothers house, they were clean and innocent. The use of natural lighting in these scenes were also important, because it brought a level of authenticity for the viewer.

Sound
The use of sound by Scorsese was incredibly detailed to provide that extra level of emotion for the viewer in every scene. The biggest use of sound was the technique of voiceovers throughout the film, as the characters narrated themselves as scenes developed. This was unique because the viewer could understand the character’s thoughts as they were watching a scene unfold. Also, the accuracy of the violent sounds created that layer of authenticity for the film, because without those sounds it does not get portrayed the same way.

Including music into the film was also a key aspect of sound, because it provided more emotion of the scene. The trend Scorsese created was with the use of music, the viewer could anticipate something big was able to happen in the film. Scorsese also used music that were associated with New York City, to match with the setting of the movie being in New York.

Editing
Scorsese provided multiple different editing techniques in the film. One noticeable one was the use of continuity editing, were there was a created sense of uninterrupted time throughout the film. This was used with a scene when the guys went to Jimmy’s mothers house, as the scene continued as if everything was happening in real time and interrupted while in the same setting.

The use of freeze-frame was also an important editing technique used in the movie. Without the freeze frame editing, the scenes might not have the same power as they would with them. For example, in the opening scene, after Henry says his line about being a gangster, there is a freeze-frame shot of his face. This was an exceptional editing technique used my Scorsese because it got the viewer to think more about the dialogue that was just said, as well as collect their thoughts on what they just watched.

The film also provides closure at the end, leaving no unanswered questions.

Even though the film is a biography, there was still a provided closure for the viewers.

Camera Techniques

Goodfellas does an excellent job including different camera techniques. One scene in particular when Karen was pointing a gun at Henry’s face was using both a point-of-view shot as well as breaking the fourth wall. Also, it seems as if they were using a crane to film the scenes due to the accuracy of the shot moving horizontally. This technique is not new, but it makes the shot much more crisp for the viewer.

There was also usage of a long take in the film. In the particular scene, it was Henry and Karen entering the nightclub. But, the entire shot of the scene was a long take, because continued the scene until the subjects sat down. Not only was it a unique camera technique, but it was also an important scene in the movie, as it symbolizes the combination of Henry’s mafia life and love life in one area.

Signatures of the

Director
Martin Scorsese is famous for many successful films such as Taxi Driver, The Departed, and The Wolf of Wall Street. What Scorsese is known for on camera is his usage of freeze frames, slow-motion, and creativeness with his structure of the film’s narrative is what makes him stand out from other directors.

Possible cultural effects of the film
Besides leaving a significant legacy for critics and viewers, the film provided cultural value. One of the most successful outcomes from Goodfellas was it was an inspiration to create the television show The Sopranos, which shared twenty-seven actors between the two.

Subjective perception of the film’s value
Considered one of the best gangster films of all time, Goodfellas provides not only cinematic value, but also a storyline that was always be retold and watched multiple times. With an 8.7/10 on IMDb and a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, Goodfellas does not disappoint as still one of the elite gangster films.