Goodfellas Genre

6 Pages 1412 Words

The 1990 Martin Scorese motion picture Goodfellas is a classic movie about the world of organized crime. Goodfellas is based on the true life novel “Wise Guy” by Nicolas Pileggi. The film starts off in New York City in 1955. It is about the life of a poor Irish-Italian boy named Henry Hill. Henry Hill is an aspiring criminal who through the movie grows deeper and deeper into the Gambino family crime crew. After living the good life with all of the luxuries, Henry is forced later in the film to testify against his former partners and lands him and his family into the FBI witness protection program. The genre of this film can be classified into several different categories from crime, drama, and simply gangster or mob movie. The recurring character types are very predictable. Like in most mafia movies I have seen, the characters are very much the same. The characters are always Italian and their top priority is always family. In all of the mob groups there is always someone who is designated as “the boss”. Like in Goodfellas, the mafia members are always dressed in nice suits, and usually have their hair slicked back. The wives are usually brunettes and are dressed nice as well. The husbands all have girlfriends and cheat on their wives. The men always do the cooking, and take much pride in doing it. There are so many rules in being a member of the mafia that it can be quite confusing. In Goodfellas, Jimmy tells the two most important rules in being in the “family”. One is to never “rat” on your friends, and the second is to always keep your mouth shut. Also, as crazy as it may seem, the police officers are usually involved in all of the illegal activity that goes on. They keep their mouths shut as long as they get their “cut” or their percentage of the profits. In all gangster movies the wives get special treatment from everyone in the town. It is like you do not know if people are afraid of them o...