“Like, you'd say to somebody: ‘You're gonna like this guy; he's all right. He's a goodfella. He's one of us.’ You understand? We were goodfellas, wiseguys.”

“As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster. To me, being a gangster was better than being President of the United States.” And so speaks Henry Hill at the beginning of one of the fastest films ever made. Goodfellas, which follows the rise and fall of the real life gangster Henry Hill, is one of the most energetic flicks ever put to screen. Directed by the legendary Martin Scorsese in 1990, Goodfellas is usually compared to The Godfather but is completely different. While The Godfather is about family, Goodfellas could care less. While The Godfather feels like a romance, Goodfellas is gritty and hard boiled. It’s editing, bold visuals, and wonderful performances make this one of those unforgettable flicks.

The opening remarks by Henry Hill (played by Ray Liotta) give the viewer what to expect. This is about greed and how to get it. Hill narrates from the end of his life, looking back at the time with nostalgia. He makes the Mafia life seem like the greatest thing in the world. “If we wanted something, we just took it.” Through this narration (which he is later joined by his wife as well), Scorsese makes us understand why men would want such power: it’s intoxicating.

When we begin the epic, we start with a young Henry Hill idolizing the lifestyle. Although not even old enough to drive, Hill sees the gangster world as perfection. He starts doing small deeds for mob boss Paulie (Paul Sorvino) and the rest of the gang just so he can get a taste of power. In one sequence, Hill blows up a bunch of police cars and as he runs away, Scorsese freezes the shot and lets Hill remark, “One day the kids from the neighborhood carried my mother's groceries all the way home. You know why? It was out of respect.” Although his father beats him for joining in this lifestyle, Hill dismisses it as necessary pain to be a gangster. This sets up Hill’s adult life: Respect and power are always worth a little violence.

Part of what makes Goodfellas so different is that it chooses to set the whole thing from Hill’s perspective. Other stories might instead follow Paulie, who is the morally good gangster, but by showing it from Hill’s, Scorsese truly creates the lust for power. Take the sequence in which Hill takes his girlfriend and future wife Karen (Lorraine Bracco) to the Copacabana nightclub. In the three minute tracking shot, we watch the two move past the crowds, down into the kitchen area, and right to the front of the club where a table has just been sat down for them. Though that is absolutely brilliant on a technical scale, it shows how great the power Hill can have as a gangster. In another similar sequence, we are introduced to the entire Mafia family as we follow Hill around a restaurant.

With Karen, Scorsese does what few Mafia films do and really gives a voice to the women under the rugs. Through her own narration, we understand how someone could go along with all of this: she is attracted by the power. When Henry beats up a former dangerous fling of Karen’s and give her the gun to hide, she remarks how that sort of power is also exhilarating to her. Goodfellas is also not about the high society of the mafia. These were blue-collar guys who had to do robberies and what not to make a living. This makes the film no longer about simply gangsters but succeeding in the American dream. It’s about living above the economic status that you are supposed to be at.

The heart of the film though, comes from the friendship between Hill, Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro), and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci). Each of these guys know that without each other, they can’t make the goods they need to. They are family in the truest sense. Jimmy is likeable and smart and Tommy is a funny (though a bit of a hot head). To show how together these guys are, there is a sequence where the three are trying to dispose of a body, and stop by Tommy’s mother’s house to pick up some shovels. But instead, his mom (played by Scorsese’s own mother) comes out and cooks the three a whole Italian dinner at three in the morning.

The violence in Goodfellas is only filer between the dialogues. It comes out of anger, masculinity, and the lust for power. At times, it even comes off as funny to the other guys. The characters, although with their own good traits, are more or less cold-blooded, and will kill in the way for money. Sometimes, especially with Tommy, violence is for the sake of violence. Tommy shoots a kid in the foot and later murders him just to make a joke. There’s also the sequence where he pressures Henry to tell him how he is funny. In the end though, Tommy represents an even more ecstatic version of Hill who is always grabbing for power but doesn’t remember to enjoy it.

I haven’t even mentioned though the use of music in Goodfellas. Like in many Scorsese flicks, Goodfellas features wall to wall classic rock that not only provides a mood for each scene, but a context of the year. Whether it’s the Rolling Stones, Tony Bennett, Bobby Darin, Cream, or Billy Joel, the music is an indication for where we are in Hill’s life. In the famous arrest sequence, Scorsese uses four songs and hundreds of edits to show the paranoia of Hill during this sequence. In fact, the editing (done by Scorsese’s long time collaborator Thelma Shoonmaker) only further emphasizes how fast these guys are going to get what they want.

Masculinity has always been a huge theme of Scorsese’s work. Taxi Driver and Raging Bull both have characters that feel they must prove their masculinity through violence. Even his recent work in The Departed has the same theme. Violence and power are only achievable by the strongest, and in Scorsese’s world, that is the most dominant.

At the end of Goodfellas, Henry Hill has nothing by contempt for the regular life. “I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook,” he remarks. But by the end, we also realize why someone could hate regular life so much. Even in prison, Hill lived as a big shot. But without power or clout, regular life seems mundane and almost despicable.

Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas proves why he is one of the greatest directors still living. By combining a thrilling story and strong performances into a fast paced story, he shows a lust but also a warning of power that no other director could. Goodfellas is a mafia movie without a heart. It’s one about pragmatism, nostalgia, and the glory of being a gangster. Scorsese uses his techniques only the highlight that world that seems so possible for anyone to achieve. He has created a love affair between himself and gangsters, one that remains both a pinnacle for American violence in films and the dreams we all desire to achieve.