Review of GoodFellas (1990) by Joe C — 10 Jul 2015

Scorsese had sworn off gangster movies before this, but cinema's divine entity had other plans. When handed gallery proofs from Nicholas Pileggi's biography on Henry Hill, a onetime mobster who rose through the ranks as a young man before famously turning informant in the early 1980s, Scorsese rescinded his genre-retirement and crafted what many believe to be his greatest film ever.

And he approached Goodfellas in a way he never had with any of his films, releasing an arsenal of technical tricks to match the frenetic pacing of the script; dueling narratives, freeze-frames and tracking shots all rise to the occasion and keep Goodfellas from being just another cannoli fest.

As evidenced by the shocking opener, Goodfellas isn't afraid to get its hands dirty and spare no blood or bullets in showing you exactly how Henry Hill and his buddies climbed the ranks of the Mafia.

Where The Godfather positioned itself in the dark corridors of Mafiosi management, GoodFellas rolls around in blood and sawdust on the shop floor.