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The real life Henry Hill was a rat; a very high profile rat who took down everyone around him. A rat who continues to walk around with impunity today. No longer in witness protection, Henry Hill is a very public person – and the crippled mafia is unable or unwilling to be a credible threat to his life. In some ways, that’s the larger story of this film: It displays, on an individual level, the collapse of the classic mafia.

It all comes to life through some incredible performances. It goes without saying that each and every actor in GoodFellas had the performance of a lifetime. Liotta’s opportunistic, easily manipulated, charming, slightly greasy Henry Hill seemed to be effortless on his part. His “coked-out Henry” worked so well, that he has ripped himself off in a number of paycheck movies that came afterwards. DeNiro as Jimmy was a man at the very pinnacle of his craft, showing himself as the Brando of our age before he, like Brando, eventually fell into a caricature of his once-powerful self. Pesci’s Tommy was a stone-cold killer and a madman like no one had ever seen. A dangerous man who was always true to what he was, yet, like Henry, we somehow grew to love him. Pesci walked the tightrope to perfection. Any misstep and the fate of Tommy would have had zero impact with the audience. Paul Sorvino provided a master class on the art of subtle, under-acting as Paulie… much as would be expected from a man who was the highest ranking member portrayed in the film. Paulie without question must have served as the template for Tony Soprano. Lorraine Bracco’s Karen gave Henry his humanity, all the while capturing the screen with her own frustrations and rage. More than just a “wife and mother role,” Karen was Henry’s accomplice, enabler, adversary, support system and victim. In addition to the “big stars” that are expected to be able to turn in a good performance, Scorsese populated the film with countless non-actors who brought the perfect level of look, sound, and presence to the screen… and he directed them into actors.

As if the great performances, script and visuals weren’t enough, Scorsese has a killer soundtrack on GoodFellas, using songs to set the tone, mood, and place in the decades-spanning saga. Scorsese, long a fan of popular music (he shot the final concert for The Band in The Last Waltz, edited Woodstock, and used The Rolling Stones to perfection in Mean Streets) knows his stuff. He chose songs that not only did the obvious job of movie music, but also songs that carried lyrical messages and tonal qualities that worked on a more subtle level and brought their own complimentary baggage to the mix.

But the real secret of the movie is one thing: Food. This movie is a foodie’s paradise, showing so many key, transitional scenes centered around a meal. When I think of this film, I crave the sandwiches served by the teen Henry, the giant spiral of sausage on Paulie’s grill, the steaks frying in the pan while Henry is in the slammer, the giant salami and slabs of cheese Karen smuggles in for him, the huge meal at Paulie’s house when Henry gets out of prison, the “final meal” Henry and his family prepare during the climax (and anyone who has made a good red sauce knows that it does take all day). Henry even sums up his downfall by telling us that, where he is now, an order of spaghetti and marinara gets you egg noodles and ketchup. There is one scene that everyone always talks about: the close-up of Paulie slicing the garlic with the razor blade. Nearly everyone I know who has dabbled in the kitchen has tried that trick after seeing GoodFellas. (Note: it is more trouble than it’s worth). I once said that minus the killing and crime, GoodFellas was a perfect representation of my Italian-American upbringing.

Close, personal, and simply brimming with the kind of small details that bring a great film to life, it all came together through the singular vision of a director who knew exactly what he wanted to do – and almost always in spectacularly creative fashion.

Over the course of this film’s more than two-hour running time, we are treated to a true cinema masterpiece. Scorsese takes his camera through authentic locations, showcases a cast of hundreds (with nearly all the lesser characters getting poached for projects like The Sopranos, Analyze This, Cop Land, and others), and offers a sense of time and place equal to none. There are several instances of incredible camera movement by cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, but the most impressive by far is the scene where the camera follows Henry and his future wife Karen (Lorraine Bracco) from their car, down to the kitchen of the Copacabana nightclub, through the busy innards of the club’s back rooms, through a hallway, and into the main room of the club where we follow a table and setting being whisked in and set up right in the front of the room. The kicker to all of this was it was one, fluid, continuous four-minute shot. It was an amazing scene that struck me when I first saw this in the theater and continues to have an impact on me every time since. This moment, recalling Orson Welles’ breathtaking tracking shot in Touch Of Evil, is one of many that showcase Scorsese’s film-school roots. In addition, he treats us to a clip of Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer (the first “talkie”) and a Joe Pesci homage to the silent classic The Great Train Robbery just before the end credits.

Truly, GoodFellas shows us a Martin Scorsese at the peak of his creative powers – which is saying quite a bit, since he is universally considered one of the best filmmakers of the last 30 years. Yet despite this praise, I think America takes Martin Scorsese for granted. They must, because it is the rare film of his that has ever been sub-par. And when he strikes gold, as he did several times in his career, he strikes gold big time. For the masterpiece that is GoodFellas alone, Scorsese has earned his place as a filmmaking legend.

Presentation 
At the dawn of the DVD age, Warner Bros. was on the forefront. They had a financial stake in the technology and were anxious to get as much product into the market as fast as they could. Unfortunately, the runtime of GoodFellas (145 minutes) was prohibitive to the early version of the format, and movie fans were saddled with the maddening “flipper disc.” After seven long years of getting up to turn the disc over in your DVD player, fans were finally rewarded with a long-awaited special edition release.

As with every title in Warners' impressive library that has received the two-disc treatment, this package was created with real care and well worth the wait. Not only do we have the film, with remastered video and sound, presented in an uninterrupted fashion, but we are treated to a whole host of new special features. More on that…

Extras
On the first disc, along with the feature we get two commentaries. One is a cast and crew commentary that is quite engaging. The interesting thing about this commentary how well produced it actually is. Instead of slogging through minutes of silent screentime, clips of the film are shown to reflect what is being said instead of the film running in its entirety. Also, the voices are introduced prior to their speaking, allowing the viewer to follow along properly. The second commentary, and a real highlight, is with the real life Henry Hill and Edward MacDonald, the federal agent who nabbed Hill (and who played himself in the film). If you’ve ever heard Henry Hill in his many radio interviews (Howard Stern has Henry on as a frequent guest) you know that he is great to listen to. While coming off a little more like Pesci’s Tommy than the suave, cool portrayal by Liotta, it really helps to remind the viewer of the reality of the situation. MacDonald was probably well suited as a G-man as he has the color and personality of a federal employee.

The second disc includes four featurettes: Getting Made, a standard making-of with way better than average production values. The Workaday Gangster gives a look into the reality of being a low-level mobster. The GoodFellas Legacy is a look at the cultural impact that the film has had, and continues to have, in our culture. Finally, Paper Is Cheaper Than Film is a collage of Scorsese’s original blocking storyboards. While initially dry-sounding, it gives real insight into how much thought was put into the movie before one frame of film was shot and how fanatical Scorsese’s attention to detail could be. Finally, the absolutely essential (for me) theatrical trailer is included.

The Bottom Line
To me, there are few films that top GoodFellas. The trick that Scorsese pulled off is that as you watch it, you don’t even realize that you are seeing cinema genius. And unlike a lot of “great cinema,” it isn’t medicine and doesn’t need to be forced on the viewer. It’s fucking enjoyable. This is a piece of pop art that will survive the test of time. It not only fits comfortably among the Godfather films, it is one of the few modern day gangster movies that doesn’t borrow liberally from Coppola’s masterpiece. In fact, more filmmakers have ripped off Scorcese’s GoodFellas than Godfather. This is one of the few movies that I will watch any time, any place, even if it has already started.

“All my life I wanted to be a gangster…” This is as close as most of us will ever get.

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