| Overall Grade: |
D |
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| Story: |
C- |
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| Acting: |
C |
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| Direction: |
C+ |
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| Visuals: |
D+ |
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"I've always wanted to be a gangster."
by Blanche (movies profile)
Aug 7, 2009
3
of
3 people found this review helpful
This is how the movie opens, with Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) giving the audience his background in voice-over, as the camera travels back in time from 1970 to 1955.
Young Henry is a disatisfied,unhappy kid living in Brooklyn, with his submissive Sicilian mother, and his violent Irish father, who wants nothing more than to be part of the powerful Cicero family across the street in order to quote "be somebody in a place full of nobodies."
When he finally does get "put on" at age thirteen, parking Cadillacs for Paulie Cicero, (Paul Sorvino) he starts seriously cutting school, and -as a result- gets a severe beating from his father.
It is then that Henry goes to The Family for help for the first time. Two thugs track down the mail man delivering letters to Henry's house, and threaten to kill him should he deliver one more envelope from Henry's school.
And after getting "pinched" for selling cigarettes, Henry gets bailed out again by Jimmy "The Gent" Calloway (Robert DeNiro), an associate of Paulie Cicero's who teaches Henry the two most important lessons in life: Never rat out your friends and never tell anybody anything."
These two rules become an interesting sub-plot of
the movie since they are the pillars upon which the Mafia stands on(loyalty and silence), and which are, grossly disregarded by many but -most glaringly- by Henry himself.
He grows up with his mentors, Jimmy and Paulie, and with his partner in crime Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), a psychotically violent Italian character
eerily reminiscent of Pesci's later role as Nicky Santoro in Scorsese's "Casino" but not nearly as likeable or as believable.
In "Casino" we saw a violent hot-head who -at least in the beginning- only lost his temper when his friend Ace Bernstein was being insulted or slighted, thereby displaying a great deal of loyalty which we could admire and respect, despite the fact that Nicky was brutal.
In "Goodfellas" we don't see Tommy DeVito as having any good qualities with the sole exception of his charm with women, which isn't enough to reedem him to the audience.
He's belligerent, senselessly violent, shoots
a young kid in the foot for bringingn him a drink then shoots him again later on (and kills him), after the kid insults Tommy for insulting HIM about his foot.
He kills Billy Batts, a made man, for an insult about a shoeshine, and as a result puts himself,and the rest of his friends,in grave danger.
Robert DeNiro seems to be hardly in the movie at all, and the audience can't help but feel gyped.
It's really Ray Liotta's movie, and while he's really good in it, we can't help but feel annoyed at the character he protrays.
Henry Hill is an uppitty wise-guy (no reference to the novel intended), who acts as though he's entitled to the protection and special treatment that he gets, and never shows very much appreciation for it.
He wooes Karen (Lorraine Bracco), marries her, then cheats on her with a two bit whore named Janice Rossi whom he puts up in an apartment that looks cheap and tacky rather than the home of a wealthy man's mistress.
Everything in this movie has that tacky look which is why I gave the visuals such a low grade.
The gangsters are protrayed as being idiots rather than organized criminals. The Mafia WOULD NOT have stood a chance if this is the way it had been in real life.
Example: After the Lufthansa heist, everybody goes AGAINST Jimmy The Gent's instructions and starts buying mink coats, and hot cars, and splurges on Christmas.
I understand that this is supposed to be a true story. But I did not like,at all,how it was portrayed.
Prior to the Lufthansa heist, Henry (along with Jimmy and Paulie) gets thrown in jail for leaning on the wrong gambler who has a sister in the FBI.
It's in prison that Henry gets introduced to the world of magic dust (meaning, of course cocaine) which is ultimately what does him in.
Henry sells the stuff in prison to take care of his family, but upon being released gets warned by Paulie Cicero to STOP snorting and dealing:
"Gribbs," Paulie says "is 70 years old and he's going to die in prison. I don't need that.Gribbs got 20 years just for saying hello to some guy who was selling junk behind his back. That aint going to happen to me."
But,of course, Henry disregards him.
He begins to sell mountains of cocaine behind Paulie's back with Jimmy's help, and the help of a girlfriend who snorts more than she sells.
Henry, snorts it too, which turns his brain into mush, and leads to his eventually getting arrested by the police, which simultaneously means getting caught and disowned by Paulie Cicero.
At the end we have to hear Henry complain about how bad the food is, and how "he gets to live life like a schnook" while his friends rot in prison, and we want to punch him.
Just what kind of mentality is that?
And who wants to watch a movie about a guy with that kind of mentality?
Granted, the movie is a must-see given that it got so much recognition, but the real question is: Why did it get so much recognition?!
This really isn't the Mafia movie of all time.
It isn't really a Mafia movie at all.
It portrays them as being stumbling idiots with no honor, and no integrity, running a slap-dash operation which wouldn't last a decade (or even a year) under the scrutiny of the FBI.
The Mafia movie of all time (in my opinion) is the Godfather, with Casino being a close second.
And for those who haven't read Mario Puzo's book, I strongly recommend they do.
Puzo, being Sicilian, really knew about the sub-culture he wrote about.
This on the other hand, true story or not, is a disgrace.
Interesting to watch once. With several really great actors, and a good director, but hardly an immortal classic. |
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