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Martin Scorcese co-wrote and directed this tale of lower level mob types which is based on the book "Wiseguys" by Nicholas Pileggi. The usual Scorcese techniques (amazing and creative camera work, stop action, rapid fire dialog, etc.) are in abundance, along with extreme violence and the "F" word every few seconds. The cast is uniformly perfect and there are many hilarious moments. Ray Liotta, Robert de Niro, Joe Pesci, Paul Sorvino, and Lorraine Bracco star. I have this on laserdisc but just ordered the DVD.
Follow Ups:
I have found it difficult to place Scorcese in the pantheon of great film directors. He stength as a director lies in his ability, detractors would say "willingness," to portray, without reservation, without so much as a blink, the violent underbelly of modern american society. His great achievement has been to place the fringes, the last outposts, the dark, benighted corners of modern civilization in the glare of the spotlight, and to find humanity and spirit and pathos under the grimiest rocks. I think Taxi Driver is the quintessential Scorcese film. Raging Bull is in the same company. But the problem I have with Scorcese is that he seems to be something of a one-trick pony. Goodfellas is a fine film, with outstanding performances and a very solid script. But again, we seem stuck in a mire of underclass denizens and gratuitous violence. With Casino, he almost seems to be a cinematic Chubby Checker, telling us all to "twist again, like we did last summer."Francis Ford Coppola, on the other hand, has a much greater range. Apocolyse Now, Bram Stoker's (sp?) Dracula, Peggy Sue, The Conversation, are all fine films far outside the confines of crime and violence. Scorcese, by comparison, has not succeeded well when he's abondoned the crime genre.
Compare Scorcese to the greatest American Film Director, Stanley Kubrick, and you'll see what I mean: The Killing, Paths of Glory and Full Metal Jacket, 2001, Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, Eyes Wide Shut, The Shining -- all outstanding films of their kind, all exploring different subjects and settings.
So by that definition Alfred Hitchcock wouldn't be a "great" director, as he did 99% thriller/suspense/horror pictures? Or Charlie Chaplin who was almost exclusively comedy?
/*Music is subjective. Sound is not.*/
Your points are well taken. And there are exceptions to every exception.Hitchcock's movies rarely had that "been there, done that" quality that you see so often in Scorcese's work, and Spielberg's, or that matter. Suspense was a vehicle for Hitchcock, not the objective. Foreign Correspondent, Psycho, The Birds, The Rope, Rear Window, and To Catch a Thief, North by Northwest, Strangers on a Train, Rebecca all seem to me to be very different Films. Then again, I ain't seen'em all. And there certainly is a consistent return to the themes of foreign intrigue, expecially in his earlier, pre-Hollywood work.
Chaplin seems to me to have to be taken on his own terms, because he worked so early in the era of the modern film. His body of work is also enormous, also due probably to the era in which he worked. But again, I have to concede your point.
But on balance, I think you have to take a director's range into acount in consideration of his overall talent. Peckinpaw and DePalma are both very talented and very important directors. But I think in there cases, and I would argue in Scorcese's case as well, their lack of range would tend to diminish their reputation in the annals of film history. What say you?
I think you are forgetting Scorsese's work on films such as:New York Stories
Cape Fear
Raging Bull
The Last Temptation of Christ
The Color of Money
After Hours
The Last Waltz
Taxi DriverThis represents a pretty wide range of film styles...
Hmmm. I'd have to say that "homage" films like Cape Fear and The Color of Money do not count. Neither was as good as the original either. The fact that Scorcese had an avid interest in the band, as almost every graduate of the 1960's did, does not enhance his reputation as a film maker. There was nothing about this documentary that made it unusual or original, but I do like his selection of subject matter. I believe he is currently at work on a documentary, not so coincidentally, about Bob Dylan.Scorcese was a seminary student before he became a film director. And The Last Temptation was a daring film, though not a very good one, from where I sit.
I didn't see After Hours. In New York Stories, he only had a short segment, as you know.
But I would have to maintain that his main body of work, the films upon which his reputation is made -- Taxi Driver, Means Streets,
Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Casino, even the King of Comedy -- have at their heart a fixation on the brutish side of modern civilized life, individuals who, due to the pressures and complexities of their milieu, have become twisted monsters of a kind, and who have abodoned the mores and restraints that guide the rest of us. It's not a trivial subject, but one which his films treat with a certain redundancy.I'm not saying he's a BAD director. But I would not put him in the pantheon that includes Kubrick, Hitchcock, or Fellini, and a very short list of others.
I'm with you on Francis Ford Coppola's range, but I wouldn't have put Bram Stoker's Dracula there...that was awful!
s
It was a great romantic confection, exquisitely filmed, fairy-tale like and mythic, both in it's original concept, and in Coppola's treatment. It can understand, like a too-sweet candy, how it might not be palatable to some. I liked tremendously. Oldman's performance with breath-taking and highly imaginative, right there with the Drexel character he played in True Romance.
Not all Scorcese films are about violence. Think of "New york, New York", and "After Hours" and "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore". Plus there are ther short early films, the one about his parents (I forget the title), "American Shave", and others. Plus there is his film documatary. "A Personal Journey though American Film". Also "Bringing out the Dead" and "The Aviator".
I had forgotten some of these. Guess I should check his filmography before I go shooting off my opinionator.However, New York, New York was a bad film, at least in my opinion, and so it doesn't count. Bringing Out the Dead, though not strickly about criminals, did have that same exploring the fringes theme -- but a good show all the way. I didn't see Aviator. But I heard it was a turkey, too. Gangs of New York, another of the ugly underbelly genre, stunk. Sorry, just my opinion. But Daniel Day Lewis's weird eye-ball was the height of the film.
I enjoyed his documentary about film greatly, and found his comments about other films and directors very illuminating. I would heartily recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it.
Alice was a very good film, and one that clearly shows his ability to be successful outside his "home turf." But a great film it is not, and he rarely returned to this sensibility again.
mystery.
Elevating murderers to mythic status is reprehensible for any artist.
> Elevating murderers to mythic status is reprehensible for any artist.Pesci's character gets killed. DeNiro ostensibly ends up in jail for the rest of his life. Just about everyone involved with the Lufthansa heist gets knocked off. Henry Hill ends up turning states evidence, living in the middle of a boring suburban hell of his own making.
They all get their comeuppance. Not exactly sure how this elevates these slimeballs to "mythic" status.
/*Music is subjective. Sound is not.*/
You are of course correct, nobody becomes anything close to mythic hero status which seemed to be the implication. You watch this film more than once to further appreciate the acting and directing, which IMHO is stellar. I've seen it a half dozen times at least. Perhaps tin could purchase Ghandi for repeated viewing if moral content is his aim.
I've seen it many times -- it was on my list of the ebst films of the 1990's. It is the best Mob film in my view. I saw nothing about this film that elevated or glorified mobsters. Indeed, the reverse was evident throughout. What a dire souless existence these people have being big fish in a shallow pond, where greed ignites the only passion they have and it eventually leads to their demise.
As you see below, others disagree.
;0)
Claudius, Othello, Macbeth and the murdering psyopaths in Scorscese's (and Coppola's) paeans to the Mafia... then you'd better read some more of the Bard.
What feeling do you come away with after seeing Godfather, Goodfellas, etc.?
Quite different from that of a Shakespearean tragedy, I hope.
Next, you'll be applauding Casino, for chrissakes.
I don't think the American director's efforts are bad, mind you, but just think they fall a long ways short of excellent. Jeez, I wouldn't even dare mention them in the same... week as I reverently whispered the name of Will.
...large size brush you use when saying "Elevating murderers to mythic status is reprehensible for any artist."
We are talking about Scorsese and not, ssssh, Will, after all.
;0)
directors cannot find some other subject than glorifying the worst members of the community.
African-American directors seem to have the same agenda, however, so I guess greed and sensationalism isn't culture specific.
Sure reinforces stereotypes, however, and makes for a one-dimensional portrait of an entire people.
> > directors cannot find some other subject than glorifying the worst members of the community. < <Scorsese actually has quite a number of films that don't glorify the worst members of the community. Admittedly, his work on Michael Jackson's HIStory is unforgiveable... ;-)
here... "Elevating murderers to mythic status is reprehensible for any artist."Of course Tarantino DOES do that... mafia or not. Methinks you have a bit of a double standard going :-)
"Where are we going? And what am I doing in this hand basket?"
Many directors deal with a gentler side of the Italan American experience. I think of "Big Night", "Mac', "A Bronx Tale", and others (OK,OK, maybe not "A Bronx Tale").
Paul Sorvino and Debi Mazar (Liottas coked out girlfriend in Goodfellas), resurface as pillar of society Italian-American go-to-work types who don't do drugs or kill anyone; or even talk about it, the whole seriesI am fairly sure those roles were a penance equivalent to being forced to sit and watch traffic passing through the NJ turnpike in comparison to the latitude Goodfellas would have allowed them
Disclaimer: I only ever watched this 'cos Ellen Burstyn was in it (honest) It wasn't any kind of fascination with how boring any particular ethnic group could be portrayed; or anything like that
And in the hope that Joe Pesci would make at least a cameo appearance and liven things up a bit.... Alas, it was not to be
Grins
Tarantino does that at least as much as Scorcese... if not more so.
"Where are we going? And what am I doing in this hand basket?"
s
So, it is okay to glorify organized crime, which Tarantino most certainly does, but not okay to glorify (for the sake of argument) organized crime as organized by Italians. Commonly known as the Mafia. Yep. No double standard there.
s
One of the very best gangster movies ever made--right up there with the original "Godfather," IMO. I lived in Queens, New York, for 29 years, and I recognized a lot of the sites they used in the movie. Brought back a lot of cool memories. My dad used to run with a pretty rough crowd, and he knew quite a few wiseguys. They used to come over to the house all the time and drink and play poker. I can tell you from direct experience that Scorcese's portrayal of these people was spot-on. It was almost eerie how accurate it was.
"I can tell you from direct experience that Scorcese's portrayal of these people was spot-on. It was almost eerie how accurate it was."Apparently, accurate portrayls of killers are not what some people want. Probably too sqeamish. Rather Samuel L. Jackson mercilessly killing defenseless people, being portrayed as a cool guy, saying witty things, then riding off into the sunset like David Carradine, holding a wad of cash, with nary a negative consequence, is a o'kay.
Well, some people just are squeamish about the truth. I don't hold it against them--there are some realities I'd rather remain blissfully ignorant of--but the fact remains that Scorcese's portrayal of the Queens mob at the time was incredibly accurate. If people don't like the so-called mythologizing of killers (which it most certainly isn't, if you watch carefully enough), then just don't watch it. There are plenty of alternatives.
When I worked at a video store during college, I would watch Goodfellas in half hour increments during my lunch break on the tape repair set in back. I probably watched it a dozen times a year. I can still sit down and watch it over and over again. It's simply jammed with fantastic editing, acting, camera shots (the long take from the outside of the club to the inside is *amazing*) dialog, scene juxtapositions... I could go on and on. It's never boring, or trite, or predictable, it's just an amazing film.Dances with Wolves was a very good movie, but I can't fathom how it could beat Goodfellas for best move, AND best director. Then again, I lost all respect for the Oscars when I found out Oliver beat 2001 for best picture and director in 1969. Ugh.
/*Music is subjective. Sound is not.*/
They repeated their egregious error in 72 when The French Connection beat out Clockwork Orange. Alfred Hitchcock, I believe, and Stanley Kubrick never won oscars for best director. 'Nuff said about the Oscars -- nothing more than a publicity machine to drive audiences into the most box-office oriented trivialities.
by Ray Liotta, intrusive and unnecessary
One of the best casts ever assembled; I had no problem watching this again!Grins
There is no rhyme, reason, or logic to them. Sometimes the best film does win but not often.
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