Just How Good Are The Bad Guys?

As I explored in a previous post, gangster films have a way of captivating us because they depict a world so different than the lifestyle that everyday people live.  These films allow us to explore a world in which lying, gambling, stealing, and cheating are a natural way to obtain what everyone wants:  to live the high life.

Martin Scorsese's 1990 film Goodfellas is one of the most iconic gangster films of the 20th century, falling short only to The Godfather.  Goodfellas gives us everything we need from a gangster movie including the action, the humor, and the deception that comes with thinking that this type of lifestyle is feasible to keep up.

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The movie's protagonist, Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), has shared this captivation with a life in organized crime since his childhood, and as a teenager is taken under the wing of Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) and Paulie Cicero (Paul Sorvino).  From his first schemes selling stolen cigarettes, Henry learns more and more about the business of organized crime and begins to lure others into his lifestyle.  When Henry marries his fiance Karen, he opens the door to his undercover world, effectively employing her as a mob wife.  Karen too becomes comfortable with the lifestyle she and Henry are able to live, residing in a big house with the latest clothes and other luxuries, practically invincible to authority.

Through Henry's naivety, Scorsese creates an illusion of safety brought on by the mob world, fooling the characters and the audience into thinking that loyalty to the family is enough to keep everyone out of trouble.  In a way, this film glamorizes the mob by demonstrating the benefits to its members, while maintaining an air of greasy charm.

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However the nature of the supporting characters serves as a reminder that most of these gangsters are simply hotheaded, impulsive criminals that do not use rational thinking for many of their actions.  In fact, one of Henry's best friends within the family, Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) ends up killing a man in a bar fight due to a petty insult.  This, in addition to the killings, robberies, and corruption keep the viewer's mind on the fact that the actions of the characters are by no means legal or ethical.  But they do make for good entertainment, loading the film with action to balance out the scenes depicting the mundane activities of everyday gangster life.

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The movie's characters allow us to analyze multiple sides of the mob, providing a balance between the allure of luxury and security and the price at which it is obtained.  Henry's wife shows signs of being scared of the trouble her new husband is a part of, but quickly realizes that the action and drama make for an exciting life.  Henry on the other hand cannot seem to find the problem with being involved with the "bad crowd" and Goodfellas shows us the toll this takes on both his professional relationships and his family's wellbeing.

Scorsese captures the essence of the film best in one of the last scenes in which Henry frantically tries to avoid a drug bust all the while making the family recipe for spaghetti sauce.  In this moment, the film achieves its goal of building up and breaking down the glamor associated with the gangster genre by giving us characters that fail time and time again to convince both themselves and the audience that they are acting for the greater good.