'Goodfellas' by Martin Scorsese Review: A story of greed, power, and loyalty

I've always enjoyed the crime genre, but never really been all that invested in the gangster and mob subgenre. Or really been much of a fan of Scorsese's films for that matter. I've found many entries, as well as from Scorsese, to be quite similar and almost repetitive, particularly ones that are centred around New York City crime syndicates. I've often found that such films don't have much leverage to propel themselves from, and tend to feature too many similarities to other entries to be able to hold my interest.

However, the opening scene from Goodfellas has been on my mind for months now, and I can't even explain why. I feel it holds some connection to its incredible storytelling and ability to instantly engage with the audience by giving them something so strange and intriguing that you have no choice but to stick around and listen to obtain more context. From there on, the entire film is just that.

While I may not be the target audience for such a film, I cannot deny the film's ability to pull me in. Especially when I can't even recall the last time I even saw the film; let alone tell you much more of its narrative other than criminals being criminals! There's something about that opening scene that just works with such simplicity. The music that ensues under the harsh violence of the scene, alongside the casual narration to the audience that simply accepts the downright insanity of the event unfolding: an individual in the car's trunk being murdered under the line of "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster".

I simply cannot say no to good filmmaking. And I must admit from the very start of this review that Scorsese is certainly a good filmmaker. Albeit with many hits and misses throughout the years.

Goodfellas

For a film about crime syndicates, Goodfellas is far from about the aspects of crime that are typically found within such groups. Organised crime is certainly a significant portion of their operations, but the film itself takes reign over three central concepts: greed, power, and loyalty. Naturally, these three things hardly interact well with each other, which is precisely where we get our foundations for a narrative. Crime pays extremely well for organised criminals, but you'll find that sooner or later someone somewhere pursuits a selfish series of events that leads to a ripple of drama in which all loyalty is thrown out of the window.

Goodfellas sets itself up around the concept of loyalty: remain loyal to the organisation and you'll receive all beyond your wildest dreams. You'll be invincible and incredibly wealthy, but you must not spread any information about the operations, not conspire against anyone. By doing so, you'd most certainly end up dead. To begin with, loyalty is everywhere. Our youngest criminals in the film are highly fond of this type of lifestyle in which money is handed to them for something as simple as doing as others say without question.

The issue, however, takes a significant turn when people grow increasingly greedy once they are given riches. They're no longer satisfied with what they have and begin to pursuit of even more. People lie, conpsire against each other, and spread information like wildfire. And naturally, with power, comes the assumption that one can do anything. If there's any issues, they've grown accustomed to the ability of simply paying away anyone over anything. However, in the eyes of criminals, money isn't always enough. Fear sets in alongside greed, and all loyalty is forgotten.

This is done rather well in the film, where one half of the film shows the glamour and happiness, the ignorance in which one believes they're at the top of the world. Though, that's shortlived as things begin to fall to pieces in the second half of the film.

We follow each of these three pillars in several different characters, as their lives peak and inevitable decline as the ripples of one person's issues enters the lives of another, and piece by piece their corruptions are revealed. I enjoyed this, quite a lot, since it provided a narrative structure that showed the corruption rather than the glorification and action one typically expects in a film about gangsters.

Narration as context

What propels Goodfellas forward is its heavy focus on narration which provides context and depth to this world. We're given constant access to the minds of the characters as they tell their stories as if they're from the past, while we get a visual display of those events. We hear about their thoughts and their emotions from those who experienced the events first-hand.

I've always highly appreciated this approach to story telling given it allows us, the audience, to connect with and understand the characters that are onscreen. This also allows for more visual storytelling to unfold over more cinematic cinematography rather than boring exposition.

And the cinematography in parts can surely be quite the sight: tight, dimly-lit alleyways with smoke rushing out from the walls, or silhouettes lit by the red of car lights as they dig graves for those they've either betrayed or had to murder along the way. This particular colour scheme works great for conveying the concept of violence and death, given our ability to connect with the colour red and immediately perceive it as danger.

These bits of attention to detail work excellently alongside the narration, where even in moments we struggle to connect with them over their actions but are still given a very personal telling of these events. I particularly enjoyed the moments in which the camera follows our characters through buildings in one long take as we witness their luxurious lifestyles alongside the transition from non-diegetic to diegetic sound: the playing of music within a fancy bar or club that we hear growing in intensity as they approach a particular room.

This music worked wonderfully in contrast to the lifestyle of these characters: luxurious and calm in nature, but ultimately living surrounded by death, violence, and fear.

A tale of greed and deception

Goodfellas leads a conclusion in which there's a realisation to be had: crime certainly pays, and very well. But it never ends well. There's going to be plenty of violence and regret that can't be avoided. It results in a lifestyle of fear or death. The greed becomes so strong that one focuses entirely on their selfish needs and it results in an every-man-for-himself scenario.

The deception arises in how these characters portray themselves to the outside world, but can be very quick to change their attitude once things turn on them. Ultimately they're just stupid. There's little intelligence in their actions and their downfalls are inevitable. There's very little genuine glamour and luxury to be witnessed, alongside the endless stress and problems that the characters have to face each day.

These people reach desperate levels in which they're happy to deceive everyone they possibly can into maintaining their current status. Even falling into the hands of police in order to survive and escape. Though, we still see that this very lifestyle made their lives worth living. The chaos of it all kept them on the edge, and that meant living to them.