![]() ![]() ![]() After the introduction of the Hays Code, Hollywood productions were forced to abide by comically didactic rules that made it difficult for directors to depict morally compromised antiheroes. The Godfather trilogy, like fellow New Hollywood hit Bonnie & Clyde, was a necessary corrective after decades of Hollywood movies moralizing to their audiences. This leaves viewers unable to shake the reality that the mobsters depicted in the movie are authentically monstrous people capable of meting out horrific violence for the sake of profit. In contrast, Goodfellas shows only fleeting moments of bloody violence but, crucially, these quick snippets have as much visceral impact as anything from Scorsese’s horror Cape Fear. Later Scorsese efforts such as Casino dwelled on the brutality of mob life, with extended sequences of torture and murder. Although based on the real life of Henry Hill, Goodfellas uses Ray Liotta’s quippy, quick-moving narration to underline an important fact: that the movie is told from the point of view of a self-aware gangster. It adopts his blustering bravado to show what makes the antihero's life of crime so appealing, but outside of Hill’s insular myopia, Goodfellas also simultaneously depicts exactly what makes the mafia’s work so appalling to many. From its opening scene onwards, Goodfellas is a self-aware mafia movie. ![]()
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