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AFI (2007) • AFI-092

Goodfellas

1990 • Martin Scorsese
Goodfellas poster
AVAILABLE EDITIONS
ABOUT THIS FILM
RUNTIME
146 min
FAMOUS QUOTE
“I’m funny how? Funny, like, I’m a clown? I amuse you?”

Martin Scorsese’s exhilarating crime drama follows Henry Hill’s ascent through the world of organized crime, from wide-eyed neighborhood kid to full participant in the rituals, rewards, and violence of mob life. Guided by Henry’s narration, the film immerses viewers in the allure of belonging, money, status, and danger, while gradually exposing the paranoia, betrayal, and instability beneath the surface. Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci form a volatile trio whose shifting loyalties drive the film’s momentum. With its fluid camera work, propulsive editing, and masterful use of popular music, Goodfellas became one of the defining gangster films of modern American cinema.

Why it matters

  • Goodfellas redefined the gangster film by replacing mythic grandeur with speed, intimacy, and a ground-level view of crime as seduction, routine, and eventual collapse.
  • Scorsese’s use of voiceover, pop music, freeze-frames, and kinetic camera movement reshaped the visual and narrative language of crime cinema for generations of filmmakers.
  • Its unsparing portrait of loyalty, masculinity, greed, and paranoia made it one of the most influential American films of the late twentieth century.

Watch for

  • Scorsese’s restless formal style, especially the way tracking shots, freeze-frames, and voiceover pull the viewer into Henry’s excitement before revealing the cost of that immersion.
  • Joe Pesci’s performance as Tommy DeVito, whose explosive unpredictability turns charm into menace from one moment to the next.
  • How the soundtrack functions as emotional propulsion, using popular songs not just to set period but to shape rhythm, mood, and point of view.
  • The gradual tonal shift from glamour and camaraderie to cocaine-fueled panic and distrust, which transforms the film from fantasy of access into a study of disintegration.

Vibe

Crime DramaGangster Rise-and-FallCocaine FrenzyMob IntimacySeductive ViolenceMale BrotherhoodNarrative VelocityAmerican CorruptionDark GlamourScorsese Fire
AFI RANK
1998: #94
2007: #92
▲Moved up 2 spots