9. "Goodfellas" (1990)

"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster."
(Ray Liotta as Henry Hill)

"Goodfellas" has been a whole lot of surprises for me! First, I did not realize it was directed by Martin Scorsese (and I now understand the line in "The Holiday" where Cameron Diaz's character says "Happy red, not Scorsese red."). Second, it is based on a true story, which I did not know. And third, it has many lines which I have heard in eclectic settings and didn't realize where they came from (a la "Get your shine box!"). "Goodfellas" won an Oscar in 1991 (Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Joe Pesci) and was nominated for five more (Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Director, Best Picture, Best Film Editing, and Best Screenwriting), won five BAFTA Film Awards (Best Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Film, Best Screenplay - Adapted) and was nominated for two more (Best Actor and Best Cinematography), won a Bodil Award (Best Non-European Film), won three Boston Society of Film Critics Award (Best Film, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor), and won five Chicago Film Critics Association Awards (Best Director, Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Screenplay).

The Plot: The film stars Ray Liotta as Henry Hill, a half Italian/half Irish boy in Queens who gets a job as a teenager doing errands for the Italian guy across the street, Paul Cicero. Paul also runs the crime syndicate of Queens, so his father isn't so happy, but Henry likes it because he belongs. He gets older and gains more trust and clout within the organization, though he is never "made" because he's not full-blood Italian. The film goes through his life, including his marriage to a non-Italian Jewish woman and her perspective of the "mob life." The traditions and values of the mob - "Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut" (Robert De Niro as Jimmy Conway) - come crashing down around Henry when, in the 1980s, he decides to take up dealing cocaine, but does so under Paul's nose with the help of two gangsters (not part of the Cicero family organization, more like "consultants" with no home office) Jimmy Conway (Robert Di Niro) and Jimmy DiVito (Joe Pesci).

The Criminal Justice System: Sadly, the film is pretty accurate when it comes to the criminal justice system's traditional approach to organized crime. Typically, the system attempts to get an informant (a rat), which usually will not bode well for said informant (they don't tend to last long). Many cops, since they are vastly underpaid and terribly overworked, come under the thumb of the organizations, looking the other way for what seems like free money. At the end of the film, Henry and Karen Hill are offered spots in the witness protection program in exchange for dropping drug conspiracy charges and rolling over on the Cicero crime family as well as Jimmy Conway. This, too, is accurate - the Federal Witness Protection Program offers protection to many people involved in crimes, some of them criminals themselves and some of them simply witnesses who were in the "wrong place at the wrong time." The American criminal justice system has yet to create a comprehensive plan for dealing with organized crime, and the film probably best illustrates why: The organized crime families are providing a service that is needed by people who cannot go to the police because of their own criminal involvement.

"That's what the FBI can never understand - that what Paulie and organization offer is protection for the kinds of guys who can't go to the police. They are like the police department for wiseguys."
(Henry Hill)

All in all, the film is an excellent one, and a great masterpiece of Scorsese that really typifies the organized crime enterprise. Though it has a good amount of swearing, most of the violence is in the old-school fashion (it happens off-screen, but is implied) so it's not too gory.

Oh - and this post is dedicated to my friend, Lisa Dario, who has been wanting me to add this film for months. :)