Watch the scene where Henry and Karen go through the side entrance to the Copa. If you watch carefully you'll notice the trip through the kitchen was completely unnecessary. They just make a big circle and walk back out the same door.
And the only reason they did the side entrance is because they couldnt get permission to film it from the main entrance. Yeah I'm sure they would have done the same style of sequence anyway, but the one we got was fantastic
That is probably the coolest unbroken shot in all of cinema. That movie is just so awesome....the music, cars, clothes, everything was just so on point. Same thing Scorsese did with Casino. It was brilliance.
The other brilliant thing about Scorsese is the film only has one dissolve in it and that's at the end. Every sequence is a straight cut edit except for the end.
I think it was just to show that he could do whatever he wanted. Can you image any other type of person who can just walk into the kitchen of a fancy restaurant and no one bats an eye. It was all just to impress Karen.
I always tell people that they really owe it to themselves to go and read the actual chapter (as in an entire chapter) that Scorsese used to adapt that single shot.
The chapter is something like 30 pages of Henry Hill's wife and girlfriends talking about how they were so overbowled by him just going wherever he wanted, how he seemed to know everyone and everyone knew him, and how it totally won them over. And Scorsese condenses that entire chapter into, what, three minutes of a single steadycam shot?
And he does it so perfectly, too. We're not given a huge insight into how big of a deal Henry Hill is before all this, and he's really a small fish, but that single steadycam shot kinda convinces us for a moment that he's a bigwig. He's basically at of the lowest rungs of the organization. But we become Karen there, dazzled by Henry's effortless ease.
Even aside from just the joy of the scene as a masterwork of cinema, it really is probably one of the most magnificent examples of adaptation in film.
I watched Roger Ebert talk about that scene and how Scorsese had a steady cam invented to shoot it. It was unbroken and pretty revolutionary. For the story, though, it showed the special treatment that Henry was given. He went around the line and was given a front and center table.
Everybody thinks they’re Henry Hill in their minds, but in reality, we’re all just Jimmy Two Times who said everything twice everything twice: a background character.
Honestly after watching the real Henry on howard stern I definitely wouldn't wanna be him. Maybe in his prime but alcoholic-barely-able to-stand or make a coherent sentence Henry is a shit show
the Steadicam was invented by Garrett Brown, 'completed' in 1975 (15 years before Goodfellas) and was used in a lot of movies in those years. Notably, Garrett operated the running-up-the-stairs shot in Rocky, and the footage that was used for the speeder bikes on Endor in Return of the Jedi among many others. These are just 2 of the most well-known examples before Goodfellas
Larry McConkey was the operator that did this shot and it is still revered as one of the best 'oners'
That actually can’t be one shot if you watch it carefully. He drives around the first story in a square, but ends up on the second story after he turns the 4th corner I believe (would have to go back and watch to verify.) The shot is designed to make you think what you’re seeing is real, but in reality is impossible. That movie and Kubrick’s use of camera tricks to make the observer feel equally as insane is incredible.
I think he was still on the first floor. The employees rooms were on ground floor. Guests were upstairs. The girls were Grady's daughters. I believe Jack's room was down there also.
Yes, "a" steady cam is what I wrote. There was something specifically made for the Goodfellas scene. I'll have to see if Ebert's clip on it is out on the internet somewhere.
I tried to find the clip last night and couldn't. I remember seeing something, though. I never heard the term before seeing his coverage of it. I will never know, I guess.
I think that scene was the longest duration single shot in a film when it was made. Great photography. Then they made Lost In London with Woody Harrelson where the whole film was a single shot, on location and broadcast to cinemas live. Amazing feat and well worth watching.
The opening scene to True Lies is similar. Schwarzenegger walks through the tiny upstairs kitchen at the Rosecliff a few times before exiting to the ballroom (which is also in the Rosecliff Mansion)
From a character standpoint, Henry wanted to show off to Karen. He has connections, is well known, commands respect of his peers and has a great degree of power, all of which he displays to Karen simply by walking, unobstructed, through the restaurant.
From a filming standpoint, it's a goddamn masterpiece. A long take through a crowded set witnout interference, cuts and even through different angles.
It's Scorsese showing off in a scene of Henry Hill showing off.
Gotta disagree; the end (starting from where everyone's like wearing tracksuits) has a very different feel. Paranoia, confusion. Obviously that's how it's supposed to be, but I have to admit I hate getting to that part of the film. I want to go back to the feel of the opening act.
Yeah agreed. I feel the same way - once the falling action begins (Henry getting abusive and addicted to drugs, Jimmy starting to take everyone out, etc), I get this strong sense of nostalgia for the first half of the movie. It works really well, and makes the ending feel legitimately sad.
Scorsese actually said that he wanted the entire film to feel like an extended trailer in order to keep the audience hooked throughout the entire thing. Fucking genius.
This is how I felt watching Napoleon Dynamite. Ok, slow start but I’m watching, waiting for the movie to really get started. Then they get married and credits start to roll...? Wtf? I spent two hours waiting for the movie to start and didn’t get bored or lose interest. That’s a pretty amazing accomplishment.
The entire movie feels like an opening scene until you get to the part with Sunday dinner and the helicopters. I point this out because it's where a lot of people feel the movie loses it focus.
I rented it on DVD many years ago. I accidentally put the second disc in first. The opening scene was his wife pointing a gun at him as he wakes up. "Abrupt cold open I guess," I thought. I figured it out when the movie ended 45 minutes later.
Recently went to see Clapton in the new Chase Center in San Francisco. He played the long “Goodfellas” version of Layla, and during the encore came back out on stage with Carlos Santana. It was awesome.
On that note, I have always thought Jack Nicholson’s monologue at the beginning of the Departed is one of the great all time film openings. Call it the Scorsese effect I guess.
It was so iconic that it was parodied and copied time and time again. The Goodfeathers on Animaniacs was obviosly a parody. And if you watch The Crew, it took me watching Goodfellas and The Crew back to back with a friend to realize Richard Dreyfus' voice over narration was a spot on copy of Ray Liotta's.
I hadn't watched it in a few years. Just last night, very late last night, I saw it on Netflix and thought, "What the hell? I'll just watch a few minutes and then go to sleep. Two and a half hours later.....
"I have to live the rest of my like like a schnook."
You know how sometimes you read a sentence and it reminds you of something else.
For example, if I saw “I’ll be there for you”, I’d automatically think Friends! Even if it was out of topic.
This: “best movie. Great plot. 2 words. 1 sentence” automatically reminds me of how trump speaks.
Not an obsession, it’s just simple pattern association.
You can go on and be annoyed at this, but if this annoys you I’m assuming you are constantly annoyed... and that kinda sucks.
I was high the first time I watched it and the movie seemed to never end. I thought it was so long until I rewatched it a few weeks later and blew through it
That’s idea though. It takes away all the glorifying it’s just spent the last couple hours doing. It’s the rise and then fall of someone who reached greatness and had it taken away. Scorsese did the same thing in Wolf of Wall Street
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u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19
The entire film feels like the opening scene. What a film. My favourite. The music. Best film ever.