Why do some folks want to be gangsters? Maybe for all the reasons that other folks don’t want to be. Or for all the reasons that draw more folks still to movies like this. The power. The danger. The rules you get to make up as you go along. Thinking you’re somebody instead of nobody. And right up to the point where somebody else puts a bullet in your head.
And sometimes the money is good. Really good. But then someone [it seems] is always breaking your balls. Or you’re breaking their balls.
Anyway, here’s how Henry Hill put it:
For us to live any other way was nuts. Uh, to us, those goody-good people who worked shitty jobs for bum paychecks and took the subway to work every day, and worried about their bills, were dead. I mean they were suckers. They had no balls. If we wanted something we just took it. If anyone complained twice they got hit so bad, believe me, they never complained again.
Of course not everybody on our side is crooked. So the possibility of prison is always hanging over your head. And then there was dope. Back then to sell it or not to sell it was batted back and forth like a ping pong ball.
IMDb
[b]At Martin Scorsese’s request, associates of the actual people were always on the set of the film, giving helpful and essential information about the life, people, settings and moods.
After the premiere, Henry Hill went around and revealed his true identity. In response, the government kicked him out of the Federal Witness Protection Program.
Although Scorsese and Pileggi collaborated on the screenplay (and received Oscar nominations for doing so), much of the film’s eventual dialog was improvised by the actors.
The MPAA ordered 10 frames of blood removed from the film before granting it an ‘R’ rating.
During filming of the scene in which his character is killed by Joe Pesci, Michael Imperioli broke a glass in his hand and had to be rushed to the emergency room. When doctors saw what appeared to be a gunshot wound in his chest, they tried to treat it. When Imperioli told them what was really up, he was made to wait for three hours. Director Martin Scorsese told Imperioli that someday he’d be telling that story on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The prediction came true in March, 2000.[/b]
GOODFELLAS [1990]
Directed by Martin Scorsese
[b]Henry: What the fuck is that?
…
Henry [narrating]: For as long as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster.
…
Henry [narrating]: To me being a gangster meant being a somebody in a neighborhood full of nobodies. They did whatever they wanted.
…
Henry [narrating]: Paulie may have moved slow, but it was only because Paulie didn’t have to move for anybody.
…
Henry [narrating]: All they got from Paulie was protection from other guys looking to rip them off. That’s what it’s all about. That’s what the FBI can never understand - that what Paulie and the organization offer is protection for the kinds of guys who can’t go to the cops. They’re like the police department for wiseguys.
…
Henry [narrating]: And when the cops assigned a whole army to stop Jimmy, what’d he do? He made 'em partners.
…
Jimmy: I’m not mad, I’m proud of you. You took your first pinch like a man and you learned two great things in your life.
Henry [as a kid]: What?
Jimmy: Look at me. Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut.
…
Paulie [to Henry]: You broke your cherry!
…
Henry [narrating]: By the time I grew up, there was thirty billion a year in cargo moving through Idlewild Airport and believe me, we tried to steal every bit of it.
…
Henry: You’re a pistol, you’re really funny. You’re really funny.
Tommy: What do you mean I’m funny?
Henry: It’s funny, you know. It’s a good story, it’s funny, you’re a funny guy.
[laughs]
Tommy: What do you mean, you mean the way I talk? What?
Henry: It’s just, you know. You’re just funny, it’s… funny, the way you tell the story and everything.
Tommy: [it becomes quiet] Funny how? What’s funny about it?
Anthony: Tommy no, You got it all wrong.
Tommy: Oh, oh, Anthony. He’s a big boy, he knows what he said. What did ya say? Funny how?
Henry: Just…
Tommy: What?
Henry: Just… ya know… you’re funny.
Tommy: You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it’s me, I’m a little fucked up maybe, but I’m funny how, I mean funny like I’m a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I’m here to fuckin’ amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?
Henry: Just… you know, how you tell the story, what?
Tommy: No, no, I don’t know, you said it. How do I know? You said I’m funny. How the fuck am I funny, what the fuck is so funny about me? Tell me, tell me what’s funny!
Henry [long pause]: Get the fuck out of here, Tommy!
Tommy: [everyone laughs] Ya motherfucker! I almost had him, I almost had him. Ya stuttering prick ya. Frankie, was he shaking? I wonder about you sometimes, Henry. You may fold under questioning.
…
Henry [narrating]: Now Sonny’s got Paulie as a partner. Any problems, he goes to Paulie. Trouble with the bill? He can go to Paulie. Trouble with the cops, deliveries, Tommy, he can call Paulie. But now the guy’s gotta come up with Paulie’s money every week, no matter what. Business bad? Fuck you, pay me. Oh, you had a fire? Fuck you, pay me. Place got hit by lightning, huh? Fuck you, pay me
…
Karen [narrating]: I know there are women, like my best friends, who would have gotten out of there the minute their boyfriend gave them a gun to hide. But I didn’t. I got to admit the truth. It turned me on.
…
Karen [narrating]: After awhile, it got to be all normal. None of it seemed like crime. It was more like Henry was enterprising, and that he and the guys were making a few bucks hustling, while all the other guys were sitting on their asses, waiting for handouts. Our husbands weren’t brain surgeons, they were blue-collar guys. The only way they could make extra money, real extra money, was to go out and cut a few corners.
…
Tommy: Sure, Mom, I settle down with a nice girl every night, then I’m free the next morning.
…
Henry [narrating]: For most of the guys, killing got to be accepted. They were routine. Murder was the only way everybody stayed in line. It was the ultimate weapon. You got out of line, you got whacked. Everyone knew the rules. But sometimes, even if people didn’t get out of line, they’d get whacked. Hits just became a habit for some guys. It didn’t take anything to get yourself killed. Guys would get into arguments over nothing and before you knew it, one of them was dead. They were shooting each other all the time.
…
Henry [narrating]: Shooting people was a normal thing. It was no big deal. But we had a problem with Billy Batts. This was a touchy thing. Tommy had killed a made man. Billy was a part of the Gambino crew and untouchable. Before you could touch a made guy, you had to have a good reason. There had to be a sitdown. And you better get an okay, or you’d be the one who got whacked.
…
Henry [narrating]: Saturday night was for wives, but Friday night at the Copa was always for the girlfriends.
…
Jimmy [after Tommy shoots Spider dead]: I’m fucking kidding with you; you fucking shoot the guy?!
Henry: He’s dead.
Tommy: I’m a good shot, what do you want from me? I’m a good shot.
Anthony: How could you miss at this distance?
…
Henry [after Karen threatens to kill him with a gun]: I got enough to worry about getting whacked on the street! I gotta come home for this!!
…
Henry [narrating]: Everybody else in the joint was doing real time, all mixed together, living like pigs. We lived alone. We owned the joint. Even those hacks who we couldn’t bribe would never rat on the guys who did.
…
Tommy [after killing Morrie]: I thought he’d never shut the fuck up.
…
Henry [narrating]: You know, we always called each other good fellas. Like you said to, uh, somebody, “You’re gonna like this guy. He’s all right. He’s a good fella. He’s one of us.” You understand? We were good fellas. Wiseguys. But Jimmy and I could never be made because we had Irish blood. It didn’t even matter that my mother was Sicilian. To become a member of a crew you’ve got to be one hundred per cent Italian so they can trace all your relatives back to the old country. See, it’s the highest honor they can give you. It means you belong to a family and crew. It means that nobody can fuck around with you. It also means you could fuck around with anybody just as long as they aren’t also a member. It’s like a license to steal. It’s a license to do anything. As far as Jimmy was concerned with Tommy being made, it was like we were all being made. We would now have one of our own as a member.
…
Jimmy: What d’you mean?
Vinnie: Well, you know what I mean. He’s gone, and we couldn’t do nothing about it.
[pause]
Vinnie: That’s it.
Jimmy: What d’you mean? What d’you mean? Uh…
Vinnie: He’s gone. Uh, he’s gone.
[pause]
Vinnie: And that’s it.
Jimmy: [smashing the telephone] Fuck. Can’t fuckin’ believe that, can’t fuckin’…[crying] Fuck it, fuck… the fuck…
[Henry exits diner]
Henry: What happened?
Jimmy: They whacked him. They fuckin’ whacked Tommy.
Henry: Aw, fuck.
[Jimmy kicks phone booth]
Jimmy: Motherfucker!
[pushes over phone booth weeping]
…
Henry [narrating]: It was revenge for Billy Batts, and a lot of other things. And there was nothing that we could do about it. Batts was a made man, and Tommy wasn’t. And we had to sit still and take it. It was among the Italians. It was real greaseball shit. They even shot Tommy in the face so his mother couldn’t give him an open coffin at the funeral.
…
Henry [just busted for dealing drugs]: For a second I thought I was dead. But, when I heard all the noise, I knew they were cops. Only cops talk that way. If they’d been wiseguys, I wouldn’t have heard a thing. I would’ve been dead.
…
Henry [narrating]: I remember I had this feeling I was going to get killed right outside the jail. I knew Paulie was still pissed at me and he’s such a hothead I was afraid he might have me whacked before he calmed down. And I was also worried about Jimmy. Jimmy knew if Paulie found out he was in the drug deals with me, Paulie would have Jimmy killed even before me. This is the bad time. I didn’t feel safe until I got home.
…
Henry [narrating]: Thirty-two hundred bucks Paulie gives me. Thirty-two hundred dollars for a lifetime. It wasn’t even enough to pay for the coffin.
…
Henry [narrating]: If you’re part of a crew, nobody ever tells you that they’re going to kill you, doesn’t happen that way. There weren’t any arguments or curses like in the movies. See, your murderers come with smiles, they come as your friends, the people who’ve cared for you all of your life. And they always seem to come at a time that you’re at your weakest and most in need of their help.
…
Henry [narrating]: Jimmy had never asked me to whack somebody before - but now he’s asking me to go down to Florida and do a hit with Anthony? That’s when I knew I would never have come back from Florida alive.
…
Tuddy [as Paulie is being arrested]: Why don’t you boys go down to Wall Street and find some real crooks?
…
Henry [narrating]: It was easy for all of us to disappear. My house was in my mother-in-law’s name. My cars were registered to my wife. My social security cards and driver’s licenses were phonies. I’ve never voted. I never paid taxes. My birth certificate and my arrest sheet, that’s all you’d ever have to know I was alive.
…
Henry [narrating]: See, the hardest thing for me was leaving the life. I still love the life. We were treated like movie stars with muscle. We had it all just for the asking. Anything I wanted was a phone call away. Free cars. The keys to a dozen hideout flats all over the city. I bet twenty, thirty grand over a weekend and then I’d either blow the winnings in a week or go to the sharks to pay back the bookies.
…
[Henry leaves the witness stand and speaks directly to the camera]
Henry: Didn’t matter. It didn’t mean anything. When I was broke, I’d go out and rob some more. We ran everything. We paid off cops. We paid off lawyers. We paid off judges. Everybody had their hands out. Everything was for the taking. And now it’s all over.
…
Henry [narrating]: And that’s the hardest part. Today everything is different; there’s no action… have to wait around like everyone else. Can’t even get decent food - right after I got here, I ordered some spaghetti with marinara sauce, and I got egg noodles and ketchup. I’m an average nobody…get to live the rest of my life like a schnook.[/b]