Goodfellas 1990

ENG 239

Review for Exam 3

The exam will cover the following:

Scorsese, Martin. Goodfellas (1990)

“The Gangster Movie” (PDF)

Information about the Gangster Genre:

Source/History:

The 1930s is when gangster films became popular, mostly due to the Prohibition Era (which lasted through the 1920s until 1933) and the emergence of real-life gangsters and organized crime.

Conventions/characteristics of classic gangster films:

Setting: gangster/crime films are like noir films, usually set in the “bad” areas of cities, to provide a view of the secret world of the criminal.

Plot: the gangster or crime film is developed around the sinister actions of criminals or

gangsters, particularly bankrobbers, underworld figures, or ruthless hoodlums who operate outside the law, stealing and murdering their way through life. There is some overlap between criminal and gangster films and film noir, especially in their cynical views of the world.

Gangster movies often highlight or glorify the rise and fall of a particular criminal(s), gang, bank robber, murderer or lawbreaker in personal power struggles or conflict with law and order figures, an underling or competitive colleague, or a rival gang.

Protagonist: film gangsters are usually materialistic, street-smart, immoral, power-hungry, ambitious, and self-destructive. Rivalry with other criminals in gangster warfare is often a significant plot characteristic. They rise to power with a tough cruel exterior while showing an ambitious desire for success and recognition, but underneath they can occasionally express sensitivity and gentleness.

Women: almost always secondary or minor characters, whose roles are defined by their relation to the men in the film: wives, mistresses, mothers, etc.

Themes of the genre:

Gangster films are morality tales: while gangsters can be sympathetic figures,

they are ultimately bad guys and are inevitably arrested or killed by the end. Pre-1960s films, like noir films, reinforce conventional notions of authority, such as depicting the police as incorruptible “good guys” who get the job done. Post-1960s films make the gangsters more heroic, or show the traditional “good guys” to be as corrupt, if not more so, than their underworld counterparts.

Gangster films are often the inverse of American Dream narratives, also known as “rags-to-riches stories”: American Dream success stories turned upside down in which criminals live in an inverted dream world of success and wealth.

The gangster functions as the doppelganger of “respectable” men in power, such as politicians and corporate presidents,” parodying the American drive to succeed. Gangsters are promoted just like people in “regular” jobs; but the standards they must meet (murdering, stealing, etc.) are vastly different.

Limits of the American Dream and American excess: the American Dream is sometimes depicted as false or accessible to only the “right” kinds of people. Often from poor immigrant families, characters become gangsters all other “normal” avenues to the top are unavailable to them. When a gangster becomes successful, he can sometimes become too greedy and have too much success, which makes him careless or distorts his view of himself and the world around him, and too preoccupied with building up his power or wealth.

Although in pre-1960s gangster films, gangsters are doomed to failure and death (usually violent), criminals are sometimes portrayed as the victims of circumstance, because the stories are told from their point of view.

During the late 1960s, the genre shifts and begins to depict the gangster as the hero. The genre also becomes much more violent.

Critics have argued that the gangster film has a double appeal: audiences can vicariously experience the gangster lifestyle, which includes corruption and violence, and also witness the gangster’s ultimate downfall and punishment, thus reinforcing the normalcy of the audience’s lives. Earlier gangster films tended to punish the gangster, either by having him killed or put in jail.

The Mafia subgenre:

Mafia films are a subcategory of the gangster film genre. Unlike gangster films, which can focus on a diverse range of gangsters and gangster groups, mafia films focus on the exploits of the Sicilian-founded Cosa Nostra (“Our Thing” or “This Thing of Ours”), which dates back to the fifteenth century.

Evolution of the mafia film: In the 50s, film portrayals of gangsterism shifted from focusing on independent gangsters to organized crime taking over (the Mob). The late 1960s saw the emergence of the gangster as romantic hero. Bonnie and Clyde (1967) was a landmark film that turned a crime spree into a thing of beauty, two criminals into heroes.

This portrait of the criminal as human being was directly related to the social upheavals of the 1960s and the Vietnam War as the concept of “enemy” grew confusing. The context of Watergate also influenced the films’ moral schemes, in which cops and criminals bear troubling resemblance to one another.

The gangster is also portrayed as a family member of a family, but one who will not hesitate to kill other members of his family, thus emphasizing both the nurturing and destructive aspects of families. Families offer a sense of belonging and identity, but also they know best how to get to a person, and what his vulnerabilities are. In addition to families, gangs are also depicted as similar to corporations, military organizations.

For this exam, you should be able to discuss the conventions of the gangster film in relation to Goodfellas, as well as the characters and the following themes:

The American Dream (or lack thereof), especially Henry’s perception of it

The behavioral, business, moral, and social codes of the Mafia (i.e., rules of conduct, promotion,

specific language or terminology they use)

The Cicero “Family” and Henry Hill’s family: note the parallels between the degeneration of each

entity. Each one becomes dysfunctional at about the same time, and Henry is disloyal to each one as well.

Corruption in “legitimate” society (i.e., law enforcement) and within the Mafia itself

Direct Address

Flashback

Freeze-Frame

Friendship/loyalty: its role within the Family and the family

Gender attitudes and roles within the genre and the film

Justice and how it is defined within the Mafia

Point-of-view shot

Scorsese’s use of music

Tracking shot

Violence: its role, how it is depicted, its effect on the characters

Voiceover narration

The major characters from Goodfellas:

Be ready to discuss their role in the story, their motivations, and themes they reflect:

Henry Hill, Karen Hill, Jimmy Conway, Tommy DeVito, Paulie Cicero, Morrie Kessler, Billy Batts,

Janice Rossi (Henry’s girlfriend)

You should be familiar with some of the secondary characters as well: Sandy (Henry’s second girlfriend);

Sonny (the owner of the restaurant that Paulie takes over and Tommy and Henry eventually burn down), Stacks Edwards (Samuel L. Jackson’s character), Tommy’s mother, Mrs. DeVito

Format:

The format will be exactly the same as for Exams 1 and 2:

Short Answer

Choose FIVE of the following (20 points each, 100 total). Identify the film, speaker(s) and context (if applicable), and explain the thematic significance of the term, quote, dialogue, or character to the work as a whole (20 points each, 100 total).