Goodfellas - DVDs, Movie Quotes, Trivia and More

Martin Scorsese's 1990 masterpiece GoodFellas immortalizes the hilarious, horrifying life of actual gangster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), from his teen years on the streets of New York to his anonymous exile under the Witness Protection Program. The director's kinetic style is perfect for recounting Hill's ruthless rise to power in the 1950s as well as his drugged-out fall in the late 1970s; in fact, no one has ever rendered the mental dislocation of cocaine better than Scorsese. Scorsese uses period music perfectly, not just to summon a particular time but to set a precise mood. GoodFellas is at least as good as The Godfather without being in the least derivative of it. Joe Pesci's psycho improvisation of Mobster Tommy DeVito ignited Pesci as a star, Lorraine Bracco scores the performance of her life as Hill's love interest, and every supporting role, from Paul Sorvino to Robert De Niro, is a miracle.

DVD features
Finally, GoodFellas gets a worthy DVD release, with the feature presented in a new anamorphic digital transfer, accompanied by two separate commentary tracks. (The first DVD release was a two-sided "flipper.") Scorsese, Pileggi, and other collaborators are present on a patchwork and partial track that's too disjointed to be really satisfying; fortunately on the second track, Henry Hill himself is joined by ex-FBI agent Edward McDonald to chat about their own memories of the events depicted in the movie. On the second disc there are four new documentaries that look back at the making of the picture, its effect on other filmmakers, Scorsese's creative process, and the true-life background to the film. A gold-plated essential item for every DVD collection.

1. Rags To Riches - Tony Bennett
2. Sincerely - The Moonglows
3. Speedo - The Cadillacs
4. Stardust - Billy Ward And His Dominoes
5. Look In My Eyes - The Chantels
6. Life Is But A Dream - The Harptones
7. Remember (Walkin' In The Sand) - The Shangri-Las ove You - Aretha Franklin
9. Beyond The Sea - Bobby Darin
10. Sunshine Of Your Love - Cream
11. Mannish Boy - Muddy Waters
12. Layla (Piano Exit) - Derek An The Dominos

* According to Maxim magazine, Pesci wrote and directed the "You think I'm funny?" scene at Scorsese's request.

* The ending shot of Pesci shooting at the camera is a visual reference to The Great Train Robbery (1903), whose ending shot is of the villain, George Barnes, shooting at the camera.

* Based on the book "Wiseguy" by Nicholas Pileggi. The movie was renamed to avoid confusion with "Wiseguy" (1987).

* Mike Starr, who plays "Frenchy" in the film, plays the same role in The 10 Million Dollar Getaway (1991) (TV), a Jimmy Burke/Conway telling of the Lufthansa heist portion of "Goodfellas"

* The word "fuck" is used 246 times in this film (mostly by Joe Pesci).

* It was claimed that at the time the real life gangster Jimmy Burke was so happy to have Robert De Niro play him that he phoned him from prison to give him a few pointers. Author/screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi denies this, saying De Niro and Burke had never spoken, but admitting that there were men around the set all the time who had known all of the principal characters very well.

* In the scene where Henry and Karen Hill are negotiating to enter the Witness Protection Program, former U.S. Attorney Edward McDonald plays himself, re-enacting what he did in real life.

* Director Martin Scorsese's mother plays Tommy's mother. She ad-libbed the dinner scene. Scorsese's father plays the prisoner who puts too many onions in the tomato sauce.

* Jimmy Burke, on whom Jimmy Conway was based, would have been eligible for parole in 2004, however, he died of lung cancer in 1996 while still in prison.

* For the famous "Layla" montage, Martin Scorcese actually played the phrase of the song on the set of each scene that would have that part of the song in the final cut to set the mood of the shot.

* After Joe Pesci's mother had seen the film, she told her son that the movie was good, but asked him if he had to swear so much.

* The long tracking shot that ends with Henny Youngman performing had to be filmed many times because Youngman kept forgetting his lines.

* The painting that Tommy's mother shows to Tommy, Jimmy and Henry, is based on a picture from the November 1978 National Geographic.

* The black-and-white movie that Karen is watching on television in her house is The Jazz Singer (1927), a movie about a Jewish person trying to reconcile with his estranged parents.

* The young "extra" carrying a J&B box off the truck and into the Bamb

# SPOILER: During filming of the scene in which his character is killed by Joe Pesci, Michael Imperioli broke a glass in his hand and had to be rushed to the emergency room. When doctors saw what appeared to be a gunshot wound in his chest, they tried to treat it. When Imperioli told them what was really up, he was made to wait for three hours. Director Martin Scorsese told Imperioli that someday he'd be telling that story on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (1992). The prediction came true in March, 2000.

# SPOILER: Tommy (Joe Pesci) kills Billy Batts (Frank Vincent) by beating him. In Raging Bull (1980), Pesci's character nearly beat Vincent's character to death. But Frank Vincent finally gets revenge in Casino (1995) where he kills Joe Pesci's character in a cornfield.

# SPOILER: Michael Imperioli, who plays Spider in the movie, is shot in the foot for being slow with some drinks. In "The Sopranos" (1999), his character shoots a bakery employee in the foot for making him wait.

# SPOILER: CAMEO(Charles Scorsese): Director Martin's father is the one on the phone telling De Niro about Pesci's death.

In medieval times there were no countries and few strong kings. Monks hid in fortress monasteries while marauding knights brutalized the peasants. Most medieval people lived out their short lifetimes within a radius of fifty miles of their birthplace. Ninety percent of the peasantry was stuck in a serfdom that offered few ways out. For the luckier warlords and knights, a precarious scheme of loyalties and duties held their operations and alliances together. The Catholic Church wholeheartedly participated in and oversaw the entire feudal enterprise.

The difference between the Dark Ages and the world of Scorsese's movie Goodfellas is that the Law replaces the Church to keep society's predators at bay. Like the Church, the Law protects the people while preserving a shady relationship with the gangster/warlords. And Goodfellas underscores the Law's ineffectuality in relation to the mob. Police and FBI keep tabs on the gangsters but cannot stop them. The Law is irrelevant to a point. Inevitably, the gangsters get careless or are informed on by their colleagues.

GoodfellasNot that the same relationship between the Law and the Mafia is ignored by other gangster movies. Medievalism is inherent in the workings of the Mafia. What distinguishes Goodfellas from The Godfather trilogy, The Valachi Papers, Scarface (both versions), Little Caesar, The Public Enemy, Mobsters, Bugsy, Lucky Luciano, Lepke, Murder, Inc., and Crazy Joe, is that these other films look at the mob from the top down. Their action is operatic, concentrating on the power struggles, the rise and fall of gangsters. Goodfellas remains in the Mafia's middle layers, concentrating on the knights and an occasional lord. Based on a true story, the movie resists the "celebrity don" game; John Gotti is not mentioned, nor is the Gambino family, and there is a solitary reference to Joey Gallo. The gangsters do not pretend to be driven by anything more than a natural viciousness, a need to have a good time, and a propensity to bully people. Henry (Ray Liotta), Tommy (Joe Pesci), and Jimmy (Robert DeNiro), the "goodfellas" of the movie, are without ideals and hopes; they just do what they want to do. Jimmy loves to steal; Henry doesn't want to be like anyone else, he doesn't want to be a shnook; and Tommy, the most unsettling character in recent film history, cannot be controlled by anyone.

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Drink Every Time . . .

1. Tommy acts violently

2. Anyone goes to the Copacabana

3. Money is shown or mentioned

4. Henry laughs his crazy laugh

5. A titlecard appears

6. A named character dies

7. Anyone uses drugs