Widely regarded as one of the best films of all time, Goodfellas is one of Martin Scorsese’s finest and enshrined as a classic of the genre. The film tells the story of Henry Hill – a poor Irish-Italian kid from New York whose admiration of the Mafia members in his Brooklyn neighbourhood spawned a life of crime.
As per the iconic opening line of the film: “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.” The riveting movie, which is based on a true story, spans Henry’s rise and fall from the 1950s to 1980. It’s often ranked just below The Godfather in lists of the greatest ever gangster films, but according to legendary American film critic Roger Ebert, Goodfellas was better.
Ebert gave the film a perfect score in The Chicago Sun-Times, saying: “No finer film has ever been made about organized crime – not even The Godfather.”
Goodfellas is probably Scorsese’s most loved film. Dubbed “a whopping good time” by USA Today upon its release, it’s stood the test of time.
The Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus reads: “Hard-hitting and stylish, GoodFellas is a gangster classic — and arguably the high point of Martin Scorsese’s career.”
Interestingly, it’s more popular with regular viewers than critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with members’ reviews 97% positive, higher than the already stellar 94% rating from critics. It is ranked 8.7 out of 10 on IMDB.
Writing in New York Magazine in 1990, David Denby said: “GoodFellas, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorsese, and directed by Scorsese, is the greatest film ever made about the sensual and monetary lure of crime, and the whole perversely brilliant movie comes into focus in a single, staggering shot.”
Empire ranked it eighth on its list of ‘100 Best Movies of All Time to Watch’ – five spots below The Godfather.
“No film hits like Goodfellas,” said the film magazine. “Just like the cocaine that turns effortlessly charismatic gangster fanboy Henry Hill into a reckless maniac, that drives him to the edge of a heart attack, that makes him paranoid (OR IS HE?), the film enters your system with a jolt, giving you an immediate rush, and keeps you wanting more, more, more, MORE, until it finally comes crashing down, back to bleak reality, and then just finishes.
“And you have to live the rest of your life like a schnook, because, frankly, no other film compares to Goodfellas. The only solution: another big snort of Goodfellas. Scorsese, writer Nicholas Pileggi and editor Thelma Schoonmaker constructed almost the entire film like a trailer, one scene bleeding into the next, not giving you the opportunity to stop watching, to let go, to take a breath. It’s an unstoppable feat of propulsion. Now that’s cinema.”