Good guys

A young guy, Henry Hill ( Ray Liotta ), has been a lover of gangsters since childhood, and his only dream is to become the same as them: drive fast cars, wear expensive costumes and enjoy universal respect that turns into reverence. To fulfill his dream, Henry begins to work as an “errand boy” with one of the local bandits. Hunting more than bondage, Henry works in good faith and slowly but surely rises up the hierarchical ladder: over and over again he is entrusted with more and more responsible and privileged tasks.

Over time, in addition to ordinary mafiosi, Henry is also paid attention by the local authority, Pauli Cicero ( Paul Sorvino ). He introduces young Hill to a local legend - a talented thief and gangster Jimmy Conway ( Robert De Niro ), who, in turn, brings Henry to his other protege, young Tommy DeVito ( Joe Pesci ). It would seem that there are no obstacles in the way of Henry, but he is suddenly arrested for the illegal sale of cigarettes. Intuitively, Henry kept his mouth shut and did not surrender any of his employers and accomplices, which earned them great respect.

Over time, he really became a real gangster. Now he works in conjunction with Jimmy and Tommy, together they perform a variety of cases and scams. Henry marries, starts a family, but the authorities again impede his happiness: on charges of extortion and assassination, he, Paulie and a couple of guys go to prison.

It seems that nothing good can be expected there, but it was the golden days of the mafia, and while ordinary criminals live on their bunks, Henry and the company spend time quite comfortably: they live together in a separate room, go to the store for shopping and trade in the drug business.

Drugs, perhaps, were the beginning of the end for both Henry and the whole mafia in general. Henry is released, where his wife Karen ( Lorraine Bracco ) and friends are waiting for him, and takes up the old. Together with Jimmy and Tommy, he does a few major things, but soon new troubles await Henry.

For a gangster, one of the most important events is the adoption of the " Family ", a kind of "initiation" into a narrow circle of the elect. Jimmy and Henry are deprived of such an opportunity, since both of them are half-breeds (Henry can’t help even the fact that his mother is Sicilian and countrywoman Paulie Cicero), but Tommy is another matter, because he is a purebred Italian. Jimmy gets the news that Tommy is about to receive, and he is incredibly glad, but under the pretext of initiation, Tommy is being killed. This turns out to be revenge for the fact that in the past Tommy, being still only “tied up” (and not “initiated”), in the company of Jimmy and Henry killed the respected mafia Bili Butts and tried to hide the tracks in order to go unpunished. The murder of Tommy caused a breakdown in the relationship between Jimmy and Henry, they are doing less and less together, and therefore Henry decides to start selling drugs, while going against the orders of his boss Paulie.

Henry was soon arrested. While the investigation is ongoing, he is being released on bail, but now no one is happy: Paulie gives him a little money for life and drives him away, and Jimmy plans to kill Henry at all. Understanding this, Henry, in order to avoid retaliation, testifies against his former "friends", after which he will change his name and disappear forever under the witness protection program.

Design

On the set of the Color of Money tape in Chicago in 1985, Martin Scorsese stumbled upon a review of the book by criminal journalist Nicholas Pileggi, “ Clever ", Published in the newspaper The New York Times ^[6] . In the novel, Pileggi described the rise and collapse of the career of a real-life mafia soldier Henry Hill ^[6] . The book had not even reached the bookstores, but Scorsese made a couple of calls and received several samples of the novel from Simon & Schuster ^[6] .

As soon as the director began to read the book, he immediately realized that it has great potential for film adaptation ^[6] . Scorsese was pleasantly surprised to find that the places described in the book are well known to him, since he grew up in Little Italy - one of the districts of New York ^[6] .

The director suggested that the upcoming film would be shot on a 16-mm film to create the effect of a documentary film as precisely as possible, and according to the script the film was supposed to lead the viewer through 30 years of the mafia ^[6] . Scorsese said:

Fascinated by this idea, Scorsese immediately called Pileggi himself at his office in the editorial office of New York magazine ^[7] . The writer was absent from the building, and the director told his secretary that Pileggi must call him back ^[7] . Upon arrival at the editorial office, Pileggi did not find his secretary at the workplace, but found a note stating that Scorsese himself called him ^[7] . The writer did not believe and threw her into the trash with the thought that this was another rally from his colleague, film critic David Denby ^[7] . Without waiting for the call, Scorsese got to the Pileggi house and informed him that he had been searching for his book for years ^[7] . Not expecting such a recognition, Pileggi said that he had been waiting for a meeting with him all his life, and as the director of the adaptation of his novel he considered only him ^[7] .

The producer of the upcoming film was an old acquaintance of Scorsese, Irwin Winkler , who had already produced the director's films: “ New York, New York ” and “ Raging Bull ” ^[7] . From the very beginning, the author of the book, Nicholas Pileggi, methyls the author of the book in his place of the writer Scorsese ^[7] . The writer knew little about scripting, but the director taught him the basics of this business ^[7] . It is noteworthy that in the early drafts of the script, the story was told in chronological order, but later the idea came to Scorsese that at the beginning of the film it is necessary to insert a scene with the murder of Billy Batts in order to “hook” the audience ^[7] .

A few-year lull

The project had to be postponed for several years due to Scorsese's employment on the sets of other planned films ^[8] . After this period, the director began to wonder whether he should return to the gangster paintings ^[8] . Then he gave the final version of the script to eminent film director and screenwriter Michael Powell , so that he looked at him with one eye ^[8] . At that time, Powell was married to the editor Telme Schunmaker , one of Scorsese’s muses ^[8] . Having become acquainted with such a unique and new approach to the gangster genre as Scorsese's, the couple convinced the director of the need to create a film ^[8] . “This is a stunning scenario that will help make a wonderful film,” Powell wrote in a letter to Scorsese ^[8] .

After four years of preparation, Scorsese could finally admit to himself that he was ready to shoot ^[8] . The first thing he wanted to do was change the working title of the future film ^[8] . Since both the television series and the comedy of Brian De Palma were already called “Brain Man”, Scorsese decided to name the tape “Goodfellas” ^[8] . Soon, he was faced with yet another problem: Warner Bros. refused to produce a film if in one of the leading roles there will not be a single Hollywood superstar ^[8] . Then Scorsese remembered his close friend Robert De Niro , showed him the script, and asked who he wants to see in the role of Jimmy Conway ^[8] . De Niro read and answered: “Himself” ^[8] . Warner bros agreed to allocate 26 million dollars for the development of the film ^[8] .

The next casting took place on the main role of Henry Hill ^[8] . De Niro helped Scorsese here as well, having nominated “the guy from the“ Wild thing “”, as he himself said - Ray Liotta ^[8] . Liotta, as it turned out, had already read the book of Pileggi and got used to the role, as if he had never left the image ^[8] .

For the role of Karen Hill, wife of Henry, Scorsese intended to take Lorraine Bracco ^[8] . Then she was married to the actor and close friend Scorsese Harvey Keitel and already auditioned for one of the roles in the black comedy of the director " After Work " ^[8] . To determine whether Bracco is suitable for the role, Scorsese invited her and Ray Liotta to his apartment, where they had a three-hour conversation ^[9] . After its completion, the director approved her for the role of Karen ^[9] .

Joe Pesci , who played the most memorable and charismatic character in the film, later admitted that Scorsese gave the actors complete freedom of action and improvisation ^[10] . Finally, the filming of the picture itself took place in the spring and summer of 1989, partly in Queens , in the New York area, and partly on Long Island ^[11] .

The film was positively received by the majority of world film critics, many of whom put it in first place in their lists of the best films of the year ^[3] . The tape was recognized as an absolute classic of gangster cinema and an ideal example of directing ^[12] . On the Rotten Tomatoes website , the film has an approval rating of 97% ^[13] .

• “Perhaps the most exquisite thing that Martin Scorsese has ever put his hand on” - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader ^[14]
• “Cruel, stylish, mesmerizing and attractive - 'Nice Guys' is still Scorsese’s best movie.” - Glenn Abel, The Hollywood Reporter ^[12]
• “Goodfellas look and sound like you believe that all of this is absolutely true.” - Vincent Canby , The New York Times ^[15]

• Philip S. Dimare. Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia. - ABC-CLIO, 2011.
• Andrew J. Rausch. The Films of Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. - Scarecrow Press, 2010.

• Good Fellows at the Internet Movie Database
• Good Fellows at Rotten Tomatoes
• Good Fellows at allmovie
• Good Fellows on the Metacritic website