Goodfellas (1990)

We recently watched Goodfellas to continue with the AFI 100 Greatest project (which we are hoping to get back on its feet soon). I had never seen it before, and was told by Max that there were virtually no women in the movie. This did not fill me with the greatest anticipation because it is beginning to bug me that so many of the films that made the top 100 are disproportionately male in their actors, characters, content and target audience.

This, however, was an exception to my rule that male = dull. I thought it was a brilliant movie - particularly the cinematography. From the outset, the film was engaging in its choice of camera angles and movement. I remarked to Max that the camera was treated as a character all of its own, rather than a passive observer. In the beginning we hear the voice of the narrator, Henry Hill, and how he had "always wanted to be a gangster." From the moment the music of Tony Bennett's "Rags to Riches" began, I had high hopes... and I was not disappointed!

Martin Scorsese is a wonderfully talented director. We are taken through the early life of Henry Hill. The qualities that make gangster life so appealing to Henry are atrocious, but through the use of the camera we understand that it offers a fast pace of life for a young man with few other options. The film follows the mob lives of three pivotal figures in 1960s, 70s and 80s New York. It really takes you into that life and culture in a way that is deserving of a spot in the 100 Greatest Movie list.

Although you would have to be something less than human to sympathize with the characters in this movie, it still takes you on a whirlwind journey and lets you understand the game that they were all caught up in. I give the movie two thumbs up!