I remember the first time I watched Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas. I was in high school, and I was in awe as I watched it. I had never seen a crime mob movie like that before and it’s one of those films that took my love of movies to a new level. I started looking for and watching all kinds of mob movies after that, expanding my film knowledge in the genre.
Legendary director Steven Spielberg recently wrote an essay about Goodfellas for Variety and in it he shares that it’s an “epic masterpiece” with “intoxicating energy,” and I couldn’t agree with him more. Spielberg says that is “lost count” of how many times he’s experienced this “epic cinematic masterpiece” and shares:
It’s no longer a guilty pleasure to sit for 2 hours and 26 minutes, but rather a master class for any aspiring filmmaker who wants to see a breathtaking balancing act of multiple storylines, timelines, shocking violence and violent humor. The film has an intoxicating energy expressed not only through masterful editing, but also the greatest needle-drop score since “American Graffiti” and the best spoken narrative since Billy Wilder’s “Double Indemnity.”
And not since Peter Clemenza instructed Michael Corleone how to cook for a crew in “The Godfather” has food played such a critical role in creating bonds that last a lifetime — or in this case, right up until the time you get whacked.
Everyone has a favorite Scorsese picture, and this is the one for me, in a photo finish with my other favorite picture of his, “Raging Bull.”
What are your thoughts on Scorsese’s Goodfellas? What would you say your favorite Scorsese movie is?
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