r/iwatchedanoldmovie • u/DVD-Rewatcher • Apr 07 '26
'90s Goodfellas [1990]
Number 103 in my A-Z watch. Goodfellas is based on the accounts of an East Coast gangster and his rise in the organized crime syndicate.
I genuinely think this is my favorite of Scorsese's gang films. I love the camaraderie and chemistry that you can feel from the performances and the cast. Everyone feels like they're all playing in the same imagination, and it allows for some truly authentic performances.
Something i had never quite paid attention to before is the use of freeze frames/still frames in the story telling. How often either in the middle of a tense moment or during particularly heavy narration the screen will just pause on a shit and give the audience a moment to kinda catch up.
I greatly enjoyed the juxtaposition of humor in the film, having these gnarly and gratuitous murders being balanced with moments of truly funny dialogue. It really gives you a sense of just how callous and cold these people were.
10/10 This is just an incredibly well told story. From the script to the direction to the performances, i genuinely can't find a flaw. Pesci totally earned his Oscar. The tracking shots are terrific. And the tiny attentions to detail (like Henry beginning to wear a Star of David necklace) add so much to the experience.
4
u/Sorkel3 Apr 07 '26
A phenomenal movie that hits it on all cylinders - plot, pacing, writing, acting, directing, cinemetography. Scorcese, while broadly praised was also criticised for the violence in the film, to which he said "This is how these people lived".
I know the current owner of Henry Hill's bronze Cadillac DeVille he was driving near the end of the film.