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Goodfellas (1990)

Name: Goodfellas
Director: Martin Scorsese
Genre: drama film, period drama film, biographical film
Duration: 146 min
Rating: 8.7

Directed by Martin Scorsese.

Directed by Martin Scorsese · Shot by Michael Ballhaus · Cut by Thelma Schoonmaker · Music by Pete Townshend · Ratio 1.85:1 · 146 min

How it was made

Scorsese and Nicholas Pileggi wrote twelve drafts of the script, cutting the source book into pieces and reassembling them without a conventional linear structure.
Scorsese modelled the film's rapid narration and quick edits on the opening of François Truffaut's Jules and Jim, describing the approach as using “all the basic tricks of the New Wave from around 1961.”
The “Funny how? Do I amuse you?” scene grew out of rehearsal improvisation: Scorsese recorded four or five takes of Joe Pesci and Ray Liotta ad-libbing, then rewrote their dialogue from the transcripts into the shooting script.
Freeze frames were used deliberately to mark moments where “a point was being reached” in Henry's life, part of a style Scorsese wanted to fragment further by the film's end to mirror Henry's unravelling final day as a gangster.
The painting of a bearded man with dogs shown in the improvised dinner scene was actually painted by Nicholas Pileggi's mother, copied from a 1978 National Geographic photograph.

Behind the scenes

Behind the Scenes: Goodfellas (Scorsese, 1990) with Robert De Niro and Ray Liotta — Serious Feather · 24 min
Goodfellas Behind the Scenes Documentary | Filmmakers: Martin Scorsese | Warner Bros. Entertainment — Warner Bros. Entertainment · 46 min
How Scorsese and the GOODFELLAS Cast Created Iconic Performances — The Back Focus · 29 min
Goodfellas (1990) - 'Getting Made' | The Making of Goodfellas — Out of Pocket Cinema · 29 min
The Goodfellas Copa Shot: As Told by the Guy Who Shot It | Art of the Scene — CineFix · 13 min
Goodfellas - Scorsese's Masterclass in Visual Storytelling — Just an Observation · 13 min

Elsewhere

More by Martin Scorsese

What Happens at Night
The Wager
A Life of Jesus
What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? — 1963
It's Not Just You — 1964
The Big Shave — 1967
Who's That Knocking at My Door — 1967
Street Scenes — 1970
Woodstock — 1970
Boxcar Bertha — 1972
Mean Streets — 1973
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore — 1974
Italianamerican — 1974
Taxi Driver — 1976
New York, New York — 1978
The Last Waltz — 1978
American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince — 1978
Raging Bull — 1980
The King of Comedy — 1982
After Hours — 1985
The Color of Money — 1986
The Last Temptation of Christ — 1988
New York Stories — 1989
Made in Milan — 1990
Cape Fear — 1992
Scorsese X 4: Four Short Films By Martin Scorsese — 1992
The Age of Innocence — 1993
Casino — 1995
A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies — 1995
Kundun — 1997

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