Goodfellas Revisited

A lot of people I know consider Goodfellas one of the greatest movies of all-time. My impression of it had always been pretty lukewarm. Ray Liotta annoyed me, I wasn't a fan of the constant voice-overs, and the ending seemed to be a letdown. (Although I'm pretty sure that I never actually watched it from beginning to end.)

I love Martin Scorsese, I'm generally a fan of gangster movies, and I'm a huge fan of the Sopranos, which was heavily influenced by Goodfellas. (24 actors have appeared in both productions, most notably Lorraine Bracco and Michael Imperlioi.) So I decided to give it another shot, and go into it with no expectations. I remain disappointed.

(If you've never seen Goodfellas, but plan on seeing it someday, you might want to stop reading- there will be spoilers.)

Here's what I liked about the movie:

• Scorsese's directing- this guy is undoubtedly one of the best motion picture directors ever. The visual style of the film is great throughout. I especially like the occassional freeze frames.
• One of my favorite scenes in the film is when the camera slowly fades in, and, as it focuses, we realize we're looking down the barrel of a gun, held by Henry's wife. Then we figure out it's Henry's point-of-view, and he just might be waking up to his demise.
  
• The soundtrack- great stuff covering a huge time period, including plenty of 70s-era Stones.
  
• Joe Pesci- he stole the movie with his portrayal of the brutal Tommy DeVito. The scene at Tommy's mom's house, when they've got a not-quite-dead Billy Bats in the trunk is brilliant.
• The best scene in the movie, hands down, is the montage that begins with the two corpses in the pink cadillac. The instrumental piano interlude/outro to Layla begins as the camera slowly pans up the grill of the car, revealing Johnny Roastbeef and his new bride, gunned down in their hot new ride (she's wearing the flashy fur coat that enraged Jimmy, as well). The music continues, as we are shown the dead bodies of everyone Jimmy has double crossed, simply because he doesn't want to share the spoils from the big airport job. (Wow. This may be DeNiro's least redeeming character ever. At least he doesn't want to bump off our hero. At least, not yet.)

Here's what I didn't like about the movie:

• The constant voice overs- I've never felt strongly about VOs one way or another. If the movie flows, I'm usually cool with it. Didn't Stand By Me have Richard Dreyfus narrating throughout? However, Ray Liotta's constant yapping got to me, big time.
  
• The aging of characters seemed to be indicated solely by adding some grey to their hair color (and, in DeNiro's case, give him big, ugly glasses).
• The long, drawn-out scene towards the end, where Henry's being followed by a helicopter, and has to make dinner, unload guns, and deal with a bunch of dope in just a few hours didn't work for me. It was supposed to be extremely dramatic, but the only thing I enjoyed about it was the background music.
• I guess my biggest problem with Goodfellas remains Ray Liotta. To love the movie, you've got to love the protagonist. And I don't love Ray's Henry Hill.
  

Overall, I liked Goodfellas quite a bit. But I certainly don't consider it a great movie. It may crack Scorsese's top 10, but definitely not his top 5.