Review of GoodFellas (1990) by Norman B — 23 Dec 2013

(Quick Summary).

The life and times of a gangster. As a teenager Henry Hill idolized the gangsters he watched in his neighborhood and it was only time he became one of them. Joining forces with Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito, Henry works his way up the ranks as they pull of various impressive robberies over time. But following the robbery to beat all robberies the glamorous life that Henry Hill and his wife Karen lead starts to tarnish as he gets into drug dealing and Jimmy and Tommy become more and more dangerous as they have their sights set on greatness within the family. Goodfellas is an epic movie spanning three decades as it covers the life of former American gangster Henry Hill adapting the story from Nicholas Pileggi's book "Wiseguy". In many ways Goodfellas is a movie of chapters as it covers the various parts of Hill's life starting with him as a teenager who idolized the mobsters that hung out on the street corners of his neighborhood. It's a wonderful opening building up this glamorized view of being a gangster as Henry watches them go about their business doing what they like with no cares in the world. And then getting drawn into the life as he worked at the Cab Stand run by one of the gangsters, learning how to score and make money here and there as he did more and more work for them. Goodfellas is a great gangster movie, a great movie in general. From the story line which covers the life of Henry, the action and drama which punctuates the story, the soundtrack and camera angles plus the direction and performances there is nothing to fault. And for a movie which comes in at nearly 2 and half hours packs a lot more in than you expect without feeling either rushed or padded out. But it is the fact that it is such a memorable movie for all the right reasons that it entertains from start to finish makes it one of the greatest gangster films of all time.