GoodFellas (1990)
GoodFellas is a 1990 drama movie directed by Martin Scorsese, with a running time of 2h 25m. It stars Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci.
Henry Hill wanted to be a gangster for as long as he could remember. Martin Scorsese tracks his rise through a Brooklyn crew, from stealing cars as a kid to running scams beside Jimmy Conway and the volatile Tommy DeVito. Adapted from Nicholas Pileggi's reporting, the film moves at the speed of the life it depicts: cash, respect, and violence that lands without warning. Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci play men whose loyalty lasts exactly as long as it pays. A ground-level look at organized crime as a job, a thrill, and a trap.
Quick answers
What is GoodFellas about?
Henry Hill wanted to be a gangster for as long as he could remember. Martin Scorsese tracks his rise through a Brooklyn crew, from stealing cars as a kid to running scams beside Jimmy Conway and the volatile Tommy DeVito. Adapted from Nicholas Pileggi's reporting, the film moves at the speed of the life it depicts: cash, respect, and violence that lands without warning. Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci play men whose loyalty lasts exactly as long as it pays. A ground-level look at organized crime as a job, a thrill, and a trap.
When was GoodFellas released?
GoodFellas was released on 12 September 1990.
How long is GoodFellas?
GoodFellas runs 2h 25m.
Who made GoodFellas?
GoodFellas was directed by Martin Scorsese.
Where can I watch GoodFellas?
GoodFellas is available on Amazon, AppleTV, Fandango at Home and Spectrum On Demand.
Where to watch GoodFellas
Rent: Amazon, AppleTV, Fandango at Home, Spectrum On Demand
Buy: Amazon, AppleTV, Fandango at Home
Cast
- Robert De Niro as James Conway
- Ray Liotta as Henry Hill
- Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito
- Lorraine Bracco as Karen Hill
- Paul Sorvino as Paul Cicero
- Frank Sivero as Frankie Carbone
- Tony Darrow as Sonny Bunz
- Mike Starr as Frenchy
- Frank Vincent as Billy Batts
- Chuck Low as Morris Kessler
- Frank DiLeo as Tuddy Cicero
- Henny Youngman as Henny Youngman
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GoodFellas in our writing
- Companion guide: Mafia & Organized Crime
A few thoughts on GoodFellas
Puzo's The Godfather gives the mob its operatic myth where Martin Scorsese gives it sweat and paranoia. For a sprawling crime saga you steer yourself, Red Dead Redemption 2 traces the same slow rot inside a loyal gang. The Sopranos owes GoodFellas everything, right down to the casting.
Mob epics that trace a criminal career start to finish
Henry Hill's rise and fall in GoodFellas sits inside a much larger genre of mob sagas. The Godfather built crime fiction's modern template, The Sopranos carries that same world into therapy-era suburbia, Once Upon a Time in America and The Irishman both follow a criminal from young hustler to old man looking back, and Casino turns Scorsese's own restless camera on Las Vegas instead of New York.
Undercover and informant stories where loyalty gets you killed
Henry Hill survives GoodFellas by flipping on his own crew, and these circle that same betrayal-from-within. Donnie Brasco follows an FBI agent so deep undercover he starts losing himself, The Valachi Papers is built from an actual mob informant's testimony, Gotti tracks a boss undone by the same kind of disloyalty around him, and Killing Them Softly treats a criminal underworld as a business that punishes any breach of trust.
Heist crews built on trust that cannot quite hold
GoodFellas runs on a crew of guys who trust each other only until they don't, and these lean on the same tight-crew tension. Charley Varrick and The Anderson Tapes both build a heist around specialists who cannot quite control each other, The Outfit sends a lone criminal up against an entire syndicate, and Max Payne turns that same underworld into a revenge-driven noir shooter.
Crime stories where the law finally closes in
GoodFellas spends its back half watching the walls close in on Henry Hill, and these sit in that same pressure. 25th Hour follows a convicted dealer counting down his last day of freedom, Veronica Guerin dramatizes a journalist's investigation into Dublin's drug trade, The Informer traces a man caught between mob loyalty and an FBI deal, and The Kitchen puts mob wives in charge once their husbands go away.