Gang violence has always been a big problem in the world. Martin Scorsese takes the viewer into the life of an active gang, in the movie “The Goodfellas.” This award winning movie, which is based on a true story, has an all star cast consisting of Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, and Paul Sorvino. These actors bring to life the backstabbing world of criminals and con artists.
The movie for the most part is narrated by Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) a notorious gang member. We first see Henry as a boy growing up with Paul Cicero (Paul Servino), a mob boss, for a mentor. As Henry grows older he cannot seem to get enough of the mob life. He stays in the mob and becomes a respectable member of the gang. He makes friends with Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), a crazy killer and Jimmy Conway (Robert DeNiro), a calm and collective smuggler. As they grow up together, they end up getting into lots of trouble. Tommy is a trigger happy guy that will kill anyone who crosses him the wrong way. His biggest mistake is killing Billy Batts (Frank Vincent) a head mobster. Henry has his own share of mistakes as well. Henry gets involved in the drug business which is what Paul explicitly told him not to do.
Robert DeNiro does an amazing job in playing Jimmy, a smooth, cool mobster. Rob DeNiro has had much experience in playing this type of role. He has been in criminal film such as: Mean Streets, The God Father: Part II, and Cape Fear. In most of Robert DeNiro’s films he is portrayed as a quiet, powerful man. This movie fits that portrayal as well. He didn’t seem to talk a lot other then when he was trying to break up fights or when he had something to say. People say that Robert DeNiro’s persona is depicted realistically. He is said to be one of the most private celebrities and that he rarely does interviews.
I felt that Joe Pesci was able to capture the intense personality of Tommy DeVito. Joe’s character was constantly energetic and found everything annoying which is a role I don’t think most people could pull off. Joe is a compact Italian- American actor which was part of the reason he was chosen for this role. Joe Pesci has acted before with DeNiro in another Martin Scorsese film called Raging Bull. He also acted in Martin Scorsese’s other violent gangster film, Casino. Joe Pesci won an Oscar for his character Tommy and his role as Tommy was dubbed the ninety-sixth best performance in Premier Magazine’s 100 Greatest Movie Characters of all Time.
There were so many things that made this movie so great, but all in all I found the acting to be the thing that tied everything together. The combination of characters and actors is what made the mob theme so interesting. I have honestly never seen mob members depicted so realistically. In real life there would be someone that is the silent type or a person who loves to kill people. This movie covered all of the characteristics of a mob member and that is what made this such a great movie.
The Goodfellas
The movie for the most part is narrated by Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) a notorious gang member. We first see Henry as a boy growing up with Paul Cicero (Paul Servino), a mob boss, for a mentor. As Henry grows older he cannot seem to get enough of the mob life. He stays in the mob and becomes a respectable member of the gang. He makes friends with Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), a crazy killer and Jimmy Conway (Robert DeNiro), a calm and collective smuggler. As they grow up together, they end up getting into lots of trouble. Tommy is a trigger happy guy that will kill anyone who crosses him the wrong way. His biggest mistake is killing Billy Batts (Frank Vincent) a head mobster. Henry has his own share of mistakes as well. Henry gets involved in the drug business which is what Paul explicitly told him not to do.
Robert DeNiro does an amazing job in playing Jimmy, a smooth, cool mobster. Rob DeNiro has had much experience in playing this type of role. He has been in criminal film such as: Mean Streets, The God Father: Part II, and Cape Fear. In most of Robert DeNiro’s films he is portrayed as a quiet, powerful man. This movie fits that portrayal as well. He didn’t seem to talk a lot other then when he was trying to break up fights or when he had something to say. People say that Robert DeNiro’s persona is depicted realistically. He is said to be one of the most private celebrities and that he rarely does interviews.
I felt that Joe Pesci was able to capture the intense personality of Tommy DeVito. Joe’s character was constantly energetic and found everything annoying which is a role I don’t think most people could pull off. Joe is a compact Italian- American actor which was part of the reason he was chosen for this role. Joe Pesci has acted before with DeNiro in another Martin Scorsese film called Raging Bull. He also acted in Martin Scorsese’s other violent gangster film, Casino. Joe Pesci won an Oscar for his character Tommy and his role as Tommy was dubbed the ninety-sixth best performance in Premier Magazine’s 100 Greatest Movie Characters of all Time.
There were so many things that made this movie so great, but all in all I found the acting to be the thing that tied everything together. The combination of characters and actors is what made the mob theme so interesting. I have honestly never seen mob members depicted so realistically. In real life there would be someone that is the silent type or a person who loves to kill people. This movie covered all of the characteristics of a mob member and that is what made this such a great movie.
The Goodfellas
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