Goodfellas

Started by Recce, February 06, 2003, 11:50:57 AM

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Alethia


mogwai

just wondering, is this a blooper that made it into the movie? it just feels so because liotta seems to break character when the wig comes off. he starts to laugh but continues to act how the scene was scripted. but it feels a wee bit that it was a mistake. or not?

does anyone feel the same way? just wondering...










Tryskadekafobia

Well, the scene does start with the commercial for Murray's wig store and how his wigs don't come off at the wrong time.  It seems like the set up of a gag in the beginning and the punchline is his wig comes off at the wrong time, i.e. using the money he borrowed from Jimmy to pay for his commercial.  Not a mistake; just an "a ha" moment.

mogwai

thanks for sorting that out. it just had a realistic feel to it. which is great for a scorsese movie.

modage

Getting Made The Scorsese Way
Source: GQ

Yes, indeed, The Godfather is masterful. The Sopranos? We never missed an episode. But you want to talk about a movie that leaves a mark? Twenty years after the release of GoodFellas, the good people behind it—Scorsese, Liotta, De Niro!—re-create the making of the truest, bloodiest, greatest gangster film of all time

It's hard to imagine that the obsessive and frenetic Martin Scorsese ever endured blue periods in his career, but twenty years ago, he was going through one. On the eve of the premiere of his new movie, GoodFellas, he was still recovering from the protests, denunciations, and death threats that had accompanied The Last Temptation of Christ. But GoodFellas—based on Wiseguy, a nonfiction best seller by legendary crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi—would restore Scorsese's place in American film, and then some. To mark the film's anniversary, GQ interviewed nearly sixty members of the cast and crew, along with some noteworthy admirers of the picture, to revisit the making of one of the most endlessly rewatchable American movies ever made.

Read More http://www.gq.com/entertainment/movies-and-tv/201010/goodfellas-making-of-behind-the-scenes-interview-scorsese-deniro?currentPage=1#ixzz10BDqdtKE

(10 page article with interviews with Scorsese and cast)
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Alexandro

that was a pretty awesome read.

loved how the steadicam operator thought the copa shot was going to be boring, and marty pissed off about losing the oscar to kevin costner.

I Love a Magician

QuoteJohn Malkovich (actor): It sort of came at a bad time in my life, when I wasn't feeling well and didn't want to think about working. It's hard to explain why you end up in Eragon and not GoodFellas. But De Niro is fantastic.

MacGuffin

Martin Scorsese On Board 'Goodfellas' Prequel TV Series With Nicholas Pileggi & Warner Bros.
Source: The Playlist

With the success of his and Terrence Winter's HBO series "Boardwalk Empire," Martin Scorsese's venture into cable television definitely looks like it has the potential to expand. There were reports of a planned television series based on the director's 1990 gangster classic "Goodfellas," with the film's scribe Nicholas Pileggi in the process of writing for a pilot and potentially more, but Scorsese's involvement in that was still in question at the time. Speaking with the U.K.'s Culture Magazine (via Digital Spy) though, Pileggi has confirmed that Scorsese is in fact on board, adding that the script will likely be set in a time before the rise of mobster Henry Hill, played in the original feature by Ray Liotta. "We're trying (to develop the TV series). I want to do it, Marty wants to do it, Warner Bros wants to do it," Pileggi revealed. "Of course, you can't pick up from 'Goodfellas,' since we murdered everybody, or rather, everybody was murdered! There's nobody left. But I think we're going to figure out a way to do the early years -sort of a prequel. The part of the movie people often like best is the opening third, where all the funny stuff is happening, and there's so much we could fit in." Pileggi's words make it sound like the project hasn't quite gotten the go-ahead, but we're sure once a direction comes through that Warner Bros. is pleased with, development will begin in earnest. No word yet on what role Scorsese will play in the project—whether he'll just advise, produce or actually step behind the camera—but, no doubt, there'll be more to come from this as the show's development progresses. The track record of feature-films-turned-television-shows isn't exactly reassuring but with the high-caliber teaming of writer, director and original producer Irwin Winkler, surely this one's in safe hands?
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

Pubrick

From this point on i will be editing any article posted from the playlist, crossing out all the irrelevant wank and leaving only the juicy goss.

that one wasn't so bad compared to the crap they've been posting lately, so i'll let it slide.
under the paving stones.

picolas

it has turned into SUCH a wanky piece of wank. i can only scan the headlines nowadays.

MacGuffin

'Goodfellas' Series In The Works At AMC With Film's Nicholas Pileggi & Irwin Winkler
Source: Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: AMC's 1960s mad men may be soon joined by some goodfellas from the same era. The cable network, home of such acclaimed series as Mad Men and Breaking Bad, has put in development a series version of one of the most praised movies of all time, the 1990 Martin Scorsese mob classic Goodfellas. Nicholas Pileggi, who wrote the movie based on his non-fiction book Wiseguy, is on board to co-write the TV series adaptation with TV writer-producer Jorge Zamacona (Homicide: Life On The Street). The two will executive produce with the film's producer Irwin Winkler and his son David. Warner Horizon Television, the cable TV production sibling of Warner Bros, which distributed Scorsese's film, is producing the series.

The idea of turning Goodfellas into a series with Pileggi and Irwin Winkler on board has been percolating for a while. My colleague Mike Fleming wrote first about it in September 2010. The movie Goodfellas, which Pileggi co-wrote with Scorsese, stars Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci and follows the rise and fall of the Lucchese crime family associate Henry Hill (Liotta) and his friends from 1955 to 1980. It was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture and director, and won one, for best supporting actor (Pesci). In addition to Goodfellas, Pileggi has another 1960s drama project in the works, Ralph Lamb at CBS. James Mangold is attached to direct the project, based on the true story of Ralph Lamb, a cowboy-turned-Las Vegas sheriff in the '60s and '70s. After starting off with original concepts (Mad Men, Breaking Bad), AMC has been betting on series based on source material recently with The Walking Dead, based on a graphic novel, and The Killing, based on a Danish series.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

Pubrick

Quote from: MacGuffin on January 10, 2012, 11:30:28 AM
AMC has been betting on series based on source material recently

and losing.
under the paving stones.

Alexandro

So, Goodfellas was just rereleased on theatres in Mexico for a week, I asume because of last year's 25th anniversary. in any case, it was a chance not to be missed and I saw it yesterday and tonight. :)

For all the countless times I've seen it, I had never appreciated the cinematography by Michael Ballhaus as much as I have in these couple of viewings. It also may be that the film was remastered and some tinkering has been done because it looks INCREDIBLE on the big screen. Textures and colors are vibrant and at the same time subtle, and there's plenty of atmospheric lighting with smoke and heavily directed light sources. So, well, it's a masterpiece but I'm here to ask if anyone has (in case if does exists) the original American Cinematographer article on this film, or any great read on the cinematography of goodfellas. I'd love to be able to read it.

Reel

I bought this on Blu ray and watched it after a stretch of many years. When I was younger, I rented a tape from blockbuster and illegally dubbed a copy for myself. I can't imagine how murky and fuzzy the image was, but I must've watched it like that a dozen times. So, this was no doubt the best version of it I'd ever seen. It's a movie I kind of wish I'd seen first as an adult, because I've run through it such a countless number of times that I'm numb to its brilliant visual theatrics, and they've been repurposed by so many directors since that nothing feels 'fresh' about them. Another thing about seeing this as a kid is it glorifies the gangster lifestyle in such an irresistible way that you kind of want to be these guys, this time around I couldn't believe how much I hated these people! Except Pauly, he seems to be the only one with any morals. Then I remembered someone mentioning on a podcast that through all of these really sadistic killings with Henry present, he's never a participant in the violence. He makes himself out to be a bystander in every scene, leaving all the flack on Tommy and Jimmy as the real bad guys. When he does get brutal, it's to defend his girlfriend who was raped. Who could argue with that? This Henry Hill's just an all American boy who somehow got caught up in this mess, but can you blame him? Look how fun it all seems to look!

So, my biggest takeaway from this viewing is that these men are not supposed to be liked, I'd never seen it from that perspective. I always thought they were pretty fucking awesome, to tell the truth. I used to hate the part when Tommy got whacked because he was the comic relief of the film, this time I was happy because he so clearly had it coming. Pesci really revels in this role, and you get the sense that he and Scorsese set out to make the most horrifyingly likable mob villain of all time. It even softens the blow that the most graphic killing is in the very first scene, when we come back around to his mother's house later on with him borrowing the knife, we've been exposed to much of his antics that it just seems silly. Enough time has passed that we don't connect that murder with the guy he is around his mom.

I guess the whole point of this post is that I wish I didn't wear myself out on this with a shitty VHS copy, so I could spend more time evaluating it with fresh eyes.

Gold Trumpet

No, these characters are supposed to be liked. The perspective isn't someone from the outside. It's Henry Hill from inside and he's talking about his life in the only way he knows how to - by bragging about it. There isn't an outside perspective and the only time the script gets flipped and the view comes from the outside is when Henry is in witness protection and how he just realizes how much he misses the life. Sure, some desperation in his spiral down personally, but that characterization doesn't divorce itself too much from the tone of the first two thirds of the movie. The Wolf of Wall Street is an extended update on Goodfellas and the only addition is further delve into the antics of narcissism and craze run amok. And if you believe Scorsese's flippant remarks, Wolf of Wall Street is alluring because he was finally - after a 20 some year struggle - film a scene of someone snorting cocaine off a woman's ass. Mean Streets is a much more sober analysis on the perils of being a gangster and facing the day to day joys and struggles of the psyche on it. After Mean Streets, Scorsese aligned his introspection in gangster drama to completely different ends. Gangs of New York tried to go back to something more, but it was a mixed bag. I'm not saying this change is altogether bad. It was just a different focus and for me, had both good and bad results.