Goodfellas

1990 US Martin Scorsese
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Goodfellas get born, get made, get dead. So: who doesn't remember the opening lines, Joe Pesci, bug-eyed, brain-fried Ray Liotta watching helly-copters, that sub-urban ending? This is pop culture. And it's good, too. On this viewing, I remember: the wedding scene, the feeling that you can keep your money bags under the table and no one's gonna swipe 'em. That's the dream, the national dream, the personal dream. It's also the mob tragedy: nations have myths; Henry Hill had the real thing, real security, and lost it. Of course, he had to lose it (illusory). From perfect trust to Florida whack jobs. Power breeds paranoia. I've also decided Karen Hill's narration is a welcome voice—though Karen Hill (character, acting) has fits of unwelcome hysteria. What else? Goodfellas is a technical marvel, a good story, entertaining. It's the Scorsese second only to Mean Streets, overcoming with style and blood-laughs interplay what it loses in depth.