The Movie ' Goodfellas '

“That our feet may swiftly carry out thy command so we shall flow the river forth to thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be”. Forbidden to be repeated by anyone who is not a McManus, Connor and Murphy allow the family prayer to roll off their tongues, and journey into the ears of the monstrous souls they are about to exterminate. Their religious belief nourishes the idea that they can make the streets of Boston good. The Boondock Saints is a movie about religion, family, and vigilante justice.

Once Capone had reached a reasonable measure of success, he made sure to be an equal opportunity employer in order to help others around him reach his level of prosperity. A Chicago photographer once wrote, “He knew how to pick people for certain positions in certain categories… And they were not all Italians. He had people of every nationality you could think of.” Capone also valued honesty in all aspects of his life. He viewed himself as “just a businessman who supplies people with what they want to buy, in the good old American way.” Capone also noted that if he was not a gangster, he would have likely been “selling newspapers barefoot on the street in Brooklyn.” Capone understands that his life is not a safe or secure one, and values honestly and simplicity in his life.

With regards to Goodfellas, the film starts off by stating that the main character Henry Hill from as far back as he could remember always wanted to be a gangster, which is another term for mobster. Particularly, he started off working at the cab stand across the street at just about ten or eleven years old, and the cab stand was a place where mobsters worked. His parents who were working class citizens, and made lousy money were happy that he had found a job because his father had always believed that American kids were spoiled rotten. Furthermore, as he progressed into the field of a mobster living he was

The social group that is depicted in the opening scenes of ‘Goodfellas’ are white, middle-aged males. They’re portrayed as bad people. This means that even though they are the bad guys, we’re immediately fond of them. The ideological discussion of gangsters is disputed within the film. Gangsters are bad people, so ethnically we shouldn’t like or root for them, but we always do.

The critically acclaimed film, Goodfellas, is a gangster crime drama that features an incredible amount of talent. Household names such as: Robert De Niro (Jimmy Conway), Joe Pesci (Tommy DeVito), Paul Sorvino (Paul Cicero), and promising stars like Ray Liotta (Henry Hill) and Lorraine Bracco (Karen Hill), attracted numerous Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. That type of cast power, linked with the signature talent of Martin Scorsese as a director, made for cinematic gold. Unquestionably, the actors and actresses did an excellent job augmenting the verisimilitude of this film and compelling audiences to empathize with their characters. But the cinematography in this film plays just as large a role in having audiences feel what the characters are feeling at a specific moment. Through the use of freeze frames, we learn of significant moments that shape Henry into the man that he is. By means of first-person narration we are able to know exactly what is going through a particular character’s mind. Finally, wonderful editing made great use of point of view and multiple jump cuts, which added to the sensation that we are undergoing the same experiences as the characters on screen. I will go into further detail and specify scenes that convey these elements as the essay progresses. Altogether, Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas effectively depicts paramount scenes and allows the audience to empathize with the characters by virtue of stylistic editing and cinematography.

The rough environment sometimes causes people to join a gang and make easy money, that's what happened to Grillo in the novel Always Running. For instance in Chapter 3 of Always Running Grillo is entering into a life of stealing in order to make easy money. He was introduced to two key figures involved in the world of stealing . “One was Jandro Mares a 30 year old budding entrepreneur, the other guy was Shed Cowager, who was the guy who brought bikes, TVs, stereos, cameras, guns and whatever we could bring to him and paid us cash on delivery”(chapter 3 pg.74).

Mr. Fallon a close contact with Al Capone was able to answer a few questions that many others have wondered about Al Capone. One of the questions that were asked was if Al Capone as young has been violent and had the mentality he has now. Mr. Fallon mentioned that he was not in fact he was a good son to his parents and was with them every day. Then we asked “if al capone was a good kid then how did all this violence cause by him came to be.” And Mr. Fallon explained, “Even though he was a good son he had some interactions that were not that good. He was involved in different gangs: The Junior Forty Thieves, The Bowery Boys, and the notorious Five Points Gang. And ones he left with Torrio to Chicago that's where Capone became famous. He handled many jobs for Torrio and started gaining experiences, after Torrio retirement Capone became the man in charge.” Mr. Fallon was then asked if this gave more power to Al Capone. “Yes he was able to buy policemen to cover him and anything that he did. Prohibition brought big amounts of money to

This classical landmark film, The Public enemy, introduces the social context of gangster films around the same time Prohibition and the Great Depression really started to take a toll on lives. While the later well-known film, Scarface, was placed in the era of mass immigration from Cuba to Florida, with the growth in popularity of the drug ‘cocaine’. Due to these two films, people become fascinated with the idea of wealth and power both found in the typical

“You can go a long way with a smile. You can go a lot farther with a smile and a gun.” When you think of a criminal, the average crowd would assume someone dumb, violent, and notorious, but that wasn’t the case with Al Capone. Al was a world class criminal that ran a successful bootlegging business, was responsible for many murderers, and was a big time gambler, but at same time Capone has proven to be a influential leader to many people by being competitive, aware, and risk-taking throughout his career as the “Scarface”.

“Everybody calls me a racketeer. I call myself a businessman. When I sell liquor, it’s bootlegging. When my patrons serve it on Lake Shore Drive, it’s hospitality.” This was Al Capone, the most notorious gangster of the 1920’s, comparing himself to the upper class.

In order to get wealthy, one had to endorse violence and Capone made himself successful by engaging in crime.

When talking about a true American crime story, one can start and end the discussion with one of the most powerful and influential true stories ever told: GoodFellas. Based on the incredible true story, the film follows the rise and fall of Lucchese crime family associates Henry Hill and his friends throughout the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 1980s. Originally written as the non-fiction novel “Wise Guys” by Nicholas Pileggi, the story takes you deep into the world of arguably the most notorious crime posse America has ever known: the Italian Mafia. It is viewed by scores of critics and moviegoers alike as one of the greatest crime/drama movies ever filmed – so needless to say, with such a

His rags to riches life represents many ideals associated with the American Dream, but through his illegal actions he is the opposite of a dream. He achieved his status through gang violence and sale of illegal substances (The Income Tax Law is a lot of Bunk). These illegal actions began as a result of Italian oppression in Chicago where Capone lived for a majority of his life (Corsino). In an article pertaining to the start of organized crime, “Italians in Chicago heights experienced an abiding social, economic, and political discrimination” (Corsino). The isolation of a social group forces them to find an outlet to success. The success of crime groups in the 1920s does not correlate with initial violence due to it being inefficient for running illegal operations (Corsino). Instead of initial violence Italian crime groups manipulated the sale of illegal substances, which created successful ventures. In relation to Capone, society was set up for his success after prohibition and Italian

Another element of the gangster genre that is seen in Wellman’s film is the rise and fall trajectory of the central gangster protagonist. In order to avoid glamorizing the life of a gangster and his perverted American Dream, his crimes must be punished. This is a central element to any gangster film created under the auspices of the production code. To obey the rules and regulation of the PCA, any gangster in film will live “a short but glamorous life..that reaffirms the audience’s knowledge that in Hollywood, lawlessness cannot go unpunished” (Køhlert 857). The era under the PCA shaped the narrative of the gangster genre to include the death of essentially every gangster protagonist. In one of the most powerful scenes of the film, after Tom has taken revenge on the rival members, he stumbles, shot, clutching his chest into the raining streets and gutter (The Public Enemy). He is alone, isolated by the rain, and likely going to die. This is not a character the audience is supposed to sympathize with, and this is exactly to goal of the gangster genre. After the audience has seen Powers rise through the world of crime starting as a little boy

Oz on the list of greatest films ever made. Any person of any age can tell you that there is no place like home. We hit on all types of films like Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds and Rear Window. A film that I was really excited to get to was Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather. The God Father showed us the world of gangsters. A world filled with crime, violence, and more importantly, the strength of family. Every time I am trying to get something I want, I make an offer they can’t refuse.