Henry’s Story’Hill’s ego, who “has wanted to be a gangster for as long as he can remember”, still arouses admiration to this day. Martin Scorsese’s daring work skillfully balances between humor and violence. A vivid portrait of the New York criminal world of the 1950s and 1960s was based on the real testimony of a gangster contained in the book “Wiseguy” by Nicholas Pileggi.
Apart from the engaging script, “Goodfellas” is also distinguished by its excellent acting. The cast included such outstanding stars as Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta Whether Joe Pesci. The main character’s mother was played by the director’s parent, Catherine Scorsese.
The production was appreciated at many industry events. In 1991, Joe Pesci won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The title also won five BAFTA awards, including for best film, director and editing. Martin Scorsese was also honored with the Silver Lion at the Venice International Film Festival. Critics still agree that it is one of the most interesting gangster films in the history of cinema.
In one of the most famous scenes from “Goodfellas”, Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) tells Tommy’DeVito (Joe Pesci) is a funny guy. However, he doesn’t take it well and starts aggressively asking for details. The atmosphere is getting thicker by the second, and Henry realizes that ill-considered words may even result in his death. In the end, it turns out that DeVito was joking, and everyone breathes a sigh of relief.
The terror and confusion on the other actors’ faces was not the result of skill. Some time before shooting this scene, Pesci told the director a story from his youth. When he was a waiter in a restaurant, he told one of the local gangsters that he was funny, but the compliment was not well received. Scorsese liked this anecdote so much that he decided to adapt it to the screen. However, he did not include it in the script – he asked Pesci to improvise the whole thing in front of the other actors and caused a huge surprise.
Despite many positive reviews and recognition around the world, texts about the film drew attention to a large number of strong scenes and obscene words. In an article that could be read in “Kultura” (a supplement to “Dziennik Polska-Europa-Świat”), it was pointed out that one of the curse words appeared in the production as many as 246 times.
“The film (…) shocks with the amount of aggression and violence in some scenes, and obscene words are used 246 times. Scorsese increases the tension with quick editing, and also likes to enhance the importance of important episodes with strong counterpoint.”
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