GoodFellas’ Turns 30: Ray Liotta And Co-Stars Spill Secrets Of Martin Scorsese's Classic Crime Film

 Chuck Arnold at the New York Post offers a look back at the classic crime film Goodfellas.

While filming “GoodFellas” — one of the all-time-great New York movies, in the gangster genre or otherwise — Ray Liotta had no clue he was making a classic as he was being directed by a legendary fella: Martin Scorsese.

“During the middle of it, I didn’t know how it was gonna turn out,” said Liotta, 65, who stars as mobster Henry Hill in the real-life story based on Nicholas Pileggi’s 1985 book “Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family.” “It was just a lot of fun playing make-believe with all these other people who loved to play make-believe.” 

But 30 years after “GoodFellas” opened on Sept. 19, 1990, it remains an unforgettable experience for the actor. “I don’t know where my keys are right now, but I can remember just about every scene and what happened that day, because a movie like that just had such a big imprint on you,” said the Union, NJ, native. 

Indeed, “GoodFellas,” which also stars Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco and Paul Sorvino, was nominated for six Academy Awards. Although it lost to “Dances with Wolves” for Best Picture and Best Director (Scorsese lost to Kevin Costner), Pesci took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and the movie was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2000, cementing its place in cinema history. 

“Martin Scorsese made a masterpiece,” said Bracco, 65, who was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as Henry Hill’s wife, Karen. “He made a great film.”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://nypost.com/2020/09/19/goodfellas-turns-30-ray-liotta-and-more-stars-remember-the-classic/?_ga=2.147454583.1397970298.1600362942-2015386453.1594808146 

'Goodfellas' Actor Ray Liotta Now Portraying KFC's Colonel Sanders

Have you seen Goodfellas actor Ray Liotta as Colonel Sanders in the latest KFC TV commercials?

Perhaps this goes with KFC's new Goodfellas customer service policy:

"Food not up fast enough? Fuck you, pay me. Wrong order? Fuck you, pay me. Think we're rude? Fuck you, pay me."

Goodfellas is one of my favorite crime films - the chicken is just OK.

You can read about Ray Liotta as the Colonel via the below link:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/09/07/ray-liotta-kfcs-newest-col-sanders/642476001/

You can also watch Ray Liotta in the iconic "Fuck you, pay me," scene from Goodfellas via the below link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XGAmPRxV48

On This Day In History 'Goodfellas' Opened in Movie Theaters

As History.com notes, on this day in 1990 Martin Scorsese’s classic crime film Goodfellas opened in movie theaters.  

On this day in 1990, the Martin Scorsese-directed Mafia film Goodfellas, starring Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Lorraine Bracco and Joe Pesci, opens in theaters around the United States. The movie, which was based on the best-selling 1986 book Wiseguy, by the New York crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi, tells the true story of the mobster-turned-FBI informant Henry Hill (Liotta), from the 1950s to the 1980s. Goodfellas earned six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Pesci won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as the psychotic mobster Tommy DeVito.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/goodfellas-opens?cmpid=email-hist-tdih-2017-0919-09192017&om_rid=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa&om_mid=241948734&kx_EmailCampaignID=14690&kx_EmailCampaignName=email-hist-tdih-2017-0919-09192017&kx_EmailRecipientID=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa 

On This Day In History: 1990 - Classic Crime Film 'Goodfellas' Opens

As History.com notes, on this day in 1990, Martin Scorsese's classic crime film Goodfellas opened in theaters.

On this day in 1990, the Martin Scorsese-directed Mafia film Goodfellas, starring Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Lorraine Bracco and Joe Pesci, opens in theaters around the United States. The movie, which was based on the best-selling 1986 book Wiseguy, by the New York crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi, tells the true story of the mobster-turned-FBI informant Henry Hill (Liotta), from the 1950s to the 1980s. Goodfellas earned six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Pesci won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as the psychotic mobster Tommy DeVito.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/goodfellas-opens?et_cid=80959384&et_rid=1227406676&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.history.com%2fthis-day-in-history%2fgoodfellas-opens 

We Took Care Of That Thing For Ya: As 'Goodfellas' Turns 25, Here Are 25 Things You Never Knew About Martin Scorsese's Mobster Flick

In celebration of the finest and most realistic crime film ever made, Rachel Maresca and Philip Caulfield at the New York Daily News made a list of 25 things you may not know about Godfellas.

We took care of that thing for ya.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of "Goodfellas" this year, the Daily News has compiled a list of 25 things every movie nut should know about the classic gangster flick, which is being honored on the closing night of The Tribeca Film Festival Saturday.

To celebrate, the cast of the Martin Scorsese movie will reunite and participate in a sit-down conversation hosted by Jon Stewart.

The violent, profane and often funny film, based on Nicholas Pileggi's book "Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family," featured several cameos by the story's real-life characters, and is revered by movie fans for its colorful dialogue and memorable lines.

Now go home and get your shinebox . . .

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/25-didn-goodfellas-article-1.2194719

You can also read an earlier post on the making of Goodfellas via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2015/04/25th-anniversary-of-martin-scorseses.html

25th Anniversary of Martin Scorsese's 'Goodfellas': 21 Facts You May Not Know About The Classic Crime Film

I believe that Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas is the greatest crime film ever made. Based on a true story, it is the most realistic film made about organized crime. 

Cory Mahoney at hollywood.com offers 21 facts you may not know about the classic crime film.

How well do you know the iconic gangster movie?

1. Real-life gangster Henry Hill, whose story inspired the book Wiseguy that inspired the film, had said that Joe Pesci's performance was a 90-99% accurate portrayal of Tommy DeSimone.

The difference? The real DeSimone was a massively built, strapping man. Joe Pesci? Not so much.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.hollywood.com/news/movies/60015767/goodfellas-movie-facts-you-didn-t-know

You can also read my Crime Beat column, Goodfellas Don't Sue Goodfellas, via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2011/09/goodfellas-dont-sue-goodfellas-look.html

And you can read my Crime Beat column on Martin Scorsese's world of crime via the below link: 

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/11/happy-birthday-to-martin-scorsese.html

Funny How? I Amuse You, Like A Clown?: The Funniest-Scariest Scene In 'Goodfellas'

John Semley at Esquire offers a piece on the funniest-scariest scene in the classic crime film Goodfellas.

Take Joe Pesci's hot-head mobster, Tommy DeVito. After cracking up a table of career criminals with a violent anecdote, Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) tells him he's "a funny guy." The mood immediately drops. Tommy begins interrogating his friend about the comment. "Like a clown? Like I make you laugh? How am I funny?" Scorsese invites the viewer to enjoy his character's good humor, then, on a dime, shifts to tense throat-in-the-chest anxiety — and back again. In one scene, Scorsese demonstrates how totally seductive a sharpened sense of humor can be, and how we so often use our appreciation of that quality to skate over the larger fissures in a character's personality.

You can read the piece and watch a clip of the Martin Scorsese film via the below link:

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/culture/goodfellas-scene-0913

In one of my Crime Beat columns, Goddfellas Don't Sue Goddfellas, I noted that I grew up in South Philly with guys like the Joe Pesci character.

Over the years I've heard from a number of law enforcement officials who complain that The Godfather and the other mob books and movies glamorize crime. When I was a producer and on-air host on Inside Government, a public affairs radio program that aired on WPEN AM and WMGK FM on Sunday mornings a few years ago, I interviewed the assistant U.S. attorney in charge of organized crime in the Philadelphia area

He did not agree with my assessment of Goodfellas, which I said was the most realistic film portrayal of organized crime. He felt that audiences liked the actor Joe Pesci in the film because he was funny and charming, but they failed to realize that he and the other criminals in the film were vicious and murderous.

I countered by saying that I’ve found some of the real mob guys to be funny, charming and even generous. And I’ve also seen them quickly turn vicious, cold and heartless – just as Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro portrayed them on the screen. They can be good friends and good company - unless you owe them money or you have something they want. Serial killers and con artists have also been known to be quite charming.

 You can read the rest of my column via the below lnk:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2011/09/goodfellas-dont-sue-goodfellas-look.html

Note: I read somewhere that Joe Pesci suggested the scene to director Martin Scorsese, as he was on the other end of this kind of situation when he worked in a restaurant and he told a real goodfella that he thought the guy was funny. The mob guy responded like the character Pesci portrays in Goodfellas. 

'The Iceman' Film Trailer: Michael Shannon Is A Cold-Blooded Killer

 

Drew Turney at screenrant.com offers the trailer for the film The Iceman, a true crime story that stars Michael Shannon as Richard Kuklinski, a notorious murderer (Shannon is seen the left in the above photo, with Ray Liotta as a mob captain on the right).

The Iceman tells the true story of contract killer Kuklinski, who worked for almost two decades between the 60s and 80s, all the while hiding his job from his loving family. Vromen’s Iceman stars Michael Shannon as Kuklinski, who looks perfect for the role with his creepy, mob-inspired visage.

You can read the rest of the piece and view the trailer via the below link:

http://screenrant.com/the-iceman-trailer-richard-kuklinski-michael-shannon/

New Low for Mob: Former Goodfella Henry Hill Not Suprised By Underage Prostitution Pinch

Henry Hill, a former Lucchese organized crime associate and the subject of Nicholas Pileggi's true crime book Wiseguy, which was later made into Martin Scorsese's film Goodfellas, appeared on CNN and stated he was not surprised by the recent indictment and arrest of 14 alleged members of the Gambino crime family for running an interstate prostitution ring that included an underage girl
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"The mob is just out to make a buck," Hill told CNN.
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U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara called the use of an underage girl for prostitution a new low for the mob.
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The 23-count indictment also includes charges of murder, drug trafficking and racketeering.
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Hill (seen in the above photo and below in an earlier FBI mug shot) testified against his former criminal cohorts in 1984 and was placed for a time in the federal witness protection program.
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You can view the CNN video of Hill via the below link:
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http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/22/henry.hill.gambino.indictment/?hpt=C1