8. Goodfellas (1990)

Code-name: Layla

Director/Writer (screenplay): Martin Scorsese
Writer (book/screenplay): Nicholas Pileggi
Type: mob movie, drama, based on true events

Cast:
Henry Hill- Ray Liotta
Tommy DeVito- Joe Pesci
James "Jimmy" Conway- Robert DeNiro
Karen Hill- Lorraine Bracco
Paul "Paulie" Cicero- Paul Sorvino
[Honorable Mention]
Stacks Edwards- Samuel L. Jackson

Notable Awards and Nominations:
OSCAR- Best Supporting Actor- Joe Pesci
nomination-Oscar- Best Picture*
nomination-Oscar- Best Film Editing*
nomination-Oscar- Best Director- Martin Scorsese*
nomination-Oscar- Best Adapted Screenplay*
nomination-Oscar- Best Supporting Actress- Lorraine Bracco
nomination-Golden Globe- Best Picture (drama)*
nomination-Golden Globe- Best Director- Martin Scorsese*
nomination-Golden Globe- Best Screenplay*
nomination-Golden Globe- Best Supporting Actress- Lorraine Bracco
nomination-Golden Globe- Best Supporting Actor- Joe Pesci

*With two exceptions (Whoopi Goldberg won for "Ghost" and Bruce Davison for the Golden Globe), each of these awards went to "Dances with Wolves"
Write-up:

More ado about awardsKinda like the deal with "Forrest Gump" all over again, isn't it?

One of my friends suggested seeing "Dances with Wolves" and I figured after "Goodfellas," it wouldn't hurt to compare the two.
"Dances with Wolves" does deserve some credit. It's a respectable bit of filmmaking and my props go to Mr. Costner. I also get that Hollywood is generally hard on mob-oriented films (you know, those that aren't the beyond reproach "Godfather" series)...

"Dances with Wolves" is just too damn long a movie to get super excited about more than just the one time. Your typical Oscar fodder that takes on a humanitarian topic that needs to be addressed.
It also had me wondering for the millionth time, despite seeing and enjoying "The Hurt Locker," why "Avatar" didn't win Best Picture if it was practically the same story anyway.

...I honestly don't get it :shrug:

What I will say for the awards, though, Joe Pesci deserved THAT Oscar. This is Pesci at his finest. Tough-guy persona and all and he was freaking hilarious

SPOILER ALERT
and more to come...

too bad he had to get killed off :(

Writing and Directing and So On

In all honesty, this movie could be in a dead-heat tie with "Shawshank" at this point of my countdown because I enjoy them for most of the same reasons.
Namely, they showed me a culture I had zero experience with and felt as if I was really there. Everything was so realistic, so well-written... I couldn't help but admire the workmanship that went into them.


I'm not super familiar with Martin Scorsese's work, only that it was held in high regard and featured a lot of gang-related topics. A lot of R-rated stuff including bloodshed and high body counts (Tarantino probably corners that market, particularly the bloodshed), but most of all, the cursing. "Wolf of Wall Street" recently set a record for most f-bombs per minute in film.
"Goodfellas" and "Taxi Driver" are probably the two go-to Scorsese films recommended to uninitiated newbies. I'd seen both. While "Taxi Driver" is more of a trippy (in good and bad ways) introspective drama, "Goodfellas" was a lot of good fun because you were one of the bad guys. These Italian gangsters from Brooklyn who were the rock stars in charge of the neighborhood.
Once we get through that shocking opening sequence (voted on a Reelz Channel Top 10 list as one of the best movie openings ever), we're introduced to "the life" as Henry Hill was. At age 11, he worked at the mob-ran cab company, which quickly became a full-time job. When his father got a letter about him skipping school, he got beat.
I'll never forget that following scene where the gangsters beat up the mailman and demanded he never send any more letters to the house. Was just in awe.

After maybe 15 minutes of back story, we're introduced to Ray Liotta as Henry Hill and Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito. What follows is a lengthy exposé of what it was like to be in the mob between 1963 and 1980. We see the interaction between the guys and the guys with their neighborhood. We see Henry Hill's complicated relationship with his wife, Karen. Several jobs (including the infamous [and as of this year, closed] Lufthansa heist) and dead bodies later, disillusion starts to set in.
More or less, Henry Hill goes against the #1 rule Jimmy Conway (Robert DeNiro) told him all those years ago: "Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut."
To keep from getting killed by his former brothers, he turns them in for Lufthansa and other crimes and goes into Witness Protection.

The interaction between the actors was great of course, but often times, the directing by Scorsese stole the show. He had an interesting case of OCD in that every little detail on set was precise and had meaning. This even included how everyone's dressed down to their ties.

This also includes the music. Every song fit in with the given time period of a scene.
The most infamous-- the "Layla" (by Derek and the Dominos) montage.
I do not know when I first heard the song or where. First off, one of the best guitar riffs EVER. Second, how it had two distinct parts. Third, that piano coda that takes up the remaining 4 minutes. Scorsese wrote this montage so that everything went in line with the song and vice versa. It dictated the pacing of the camera shots and so on.
The first time I saw the movie, I was so mesmerized by the music that I paid little attention to what was happening. After the guys started spending their Lufthansa money frivolously, the bodies started to pile up and everything led up to the pivotal scene where Tommy "gets made."
As a music lover, probably one of my favorite sounds on any song ever is the "bird call" at the end of "Layla." Amazingly, this was produced by Duane Allman on his slide guitar. It's so heartbreakingly beautifully perfect to me :P the song as a whole is amazing, but I always listen through it for this final moment (and subsequently get annoyed at radio stations that cut away before it can be heard). In the movie, the narration shuts up for a brief moment as Robert DeNiro goes into a phone booth, allowing us to hear it before the story resumes.

One thing in particular that sticks with me with these mob films: the depiction of women. Maybe deep down, I'm a feminist at heart, but it disturbs me how they're treated. "The Godfather, Part II" I enjoyed quite a bit (Robert DeNiro especially!!), but felt really unsettled by Al Pacino's treatment of his wife.
In "Goodfellas," it's a very loving relationship to begin with. Then things get convoluted. They fight all the time. Henry Hill has multiple girlfriends on the side, liaisons he doesn't stop even after she catches him. After Karen almost shoots him in bed, he physically threatens her back.
The only saving grace, if you can even call it that, is that they stay together for most of the movie. Times are hard and there's a lot of drama, but they stay together and appear to care for one another. Maybe that's to keep appearances or she'd grown used to the abuse, I don't know, but it doesn't come off as harsh to me. Still doesn't mean I condone it.

When the movie finishes, we get a few title screens that tell us what happened to the characters. My jaw dropped when I read that the Hills separated after 25 years of marriage because I just didn't expect it. But in retrospect, it's something I applaud.
The movie was made way back in 1990, so some of the other details are out of date.

•  Jimmy died in prison of lung cancer 8 years before he'd be eligible for parole
• Henry Hill revealed himself after this movie's release and was kicked out of the witness protection program (he died 6/12/12)
• Tommy's body was never found

Coming Soon
One of many indie films starring Robert Downey Jr. that he claimed only a handful of people actually saw, but comes highly recommended from those who HAVE.

66. My Cousin Vinny (1992)

Code-name: Lisa Vito  
"magic grits"

Director: Jonathan Lynn
Type: comedy, courtroom drama

Cast:
Vincent "my cousin Vinny" Gambini: Joe Pesci
Bill Gambini- Ralph Macchio
Mona Lisa Vito- Marisa Tomei
Stan Rothenstein- Mitchell Whitfield
Judge Chamberlain Haller- Fred Gwynne (RIP- 1993)
DA Jim Trotter III- Lane Smith
George Wilbur- James Rebhorn

Notable Award:
OSCAR- Best Supporting Actress- Marisa Tomei



Speaking of Awards...

Marisa Tomei was up against Miranda Richardson ("Damage"), Vanessa Redgrave ("Howards End"), Judy Davis ("Husbands and Wives") and Joan Plowright ("Enchanted April").
Which goes to show her win was helped by the fact these films haven't stood the test of time (as in, I hadn't heard of any of them).

Interestingly, this was the same year Robert Downey Jr. was nominated for "Chaplin." She appeared with him as Sennett Studios actress/director Mabel Normand. 
Two years later, she was cast as his love interest in "Only You"... not the best of his rom-coms in the 90's, mainly cuz her character annoyed the hell out of me for not seeing what was in front of her... until the final 5 minutes of the movie.

Speaking of Actresses... and Actors

As a fan of "The Karate Kid," I wanted to see this for Ralph Macchio originally. Luckily, I was only remotely disappointed by the fact he didn't have a huge role in this.
Clearly, Joe Pesci stole the show... and Marisa Tomei sometimes stole the show away from Pesci. I left the movie with the impression she had a strong Brooklyn accent. It is just THAT good, and I love imitating it whenever I watch or quote the movie.

Pick any number of scenes. Whether she's trying to talk Vinny out of hunting or talking about her biological clock or even her tumultuous courtroom testimony, she knocks my socks off every time.
Somehow, she strikes a perfect balance between strength, sexiness and eloquence. The sexiest moment being when she explains to Vinny how she did her best to fix their leaking motel room faucet.
I just can't think of anyone who could do it better.

Some might also remember the "Seinfeld" story arc where George fawns over Marisa Tomei, watches a couple of her movies, only to meet her and lose his chance with her because he tells her he's "sorta engaged."

But don't count out Joe Pesci entirely. On this list, I'd already mentioned him a few times and for good reason. For starters, while nobody can play bad like him, it's nice seeing him play a good guy.
This movie R-rating is 99% his doing. Let's face it, the movie wouldn't have that extra oomph without the cussing. I'd say I don't get to say that often, but with certain films, it's the truth and as I get older, I agree more and more that it's necessary.

Also want to take a moment to acknowledge Fred Gwynne who played the judge in this case. I read it was his final role and found out he died of pancreatic cancer.
He's not the biggest name on the list of celebrity victims, but all the same, I hate how that disease still has no cure.

Speaking of storylines and quotable quotes

While on the topic of Fred Gwynne, probably my favorite scene with him (other than where he kicks Vinny out of the courtroom for lack of proper attire) is where he questions a statement he makes:

Vinny: It is possible that the two yoots...
Judge: What was that word?... did you just say "yoots"... what's a yoot?
Vinny: Oh, excuse me, your honor, two YOUTHS

Eh, Alabama meets Brooklyn, a miscommunication was sure to happen at some point :-P

Most of the time, when you have overwhelming evidence, it's a case of a "frame-up." In this case, it happens to be so coincidental that:
a) two men robbed a general store
b) the two men had a mint green car
c) the men the police catch happen to be the innocent ones, yet the whole town so easily formed a case against them

Bill and Stan were merely passing through on their way to college. They suspect they were pulled over by the cops because they shoplifted a can of a tuna.
I still cringe when they include a supposed "confession" among their evidence and repeat it in court.

Geesh... quoting somebody in writing never takes tone of voice into account...
when Bill said "I shot the clerk", they didn't include the question mark at the end of his sentence...

We don't see much of the two guys and usually Vinny is the one doing all the talking in court. There's a good balance between the two, though. Bill is the optimistic one, mainly because Vinny is his cousin and the Gambini clan has a strong sense of family. Meanwhile Stan is the neurotic one who wants to jump ship at the first sign of trouble.
Like after two defunct court appearances where Vinny was thrown out for not dressing the part, Stan wants to use a public defender.

But throughout the movie, Vinny manages to talk his way out of things because he really is sharp in his debating. Once he's on his game, nothing gets by him.
I love his first great court appearance where he debunks evidence as coincidental and circumstantial. It certainly impresses Stan enough to change his mind (not to mention the fact the defender has a terrible stutter).

The quote at the beginning of this entry comes from one of those such testimonies.
He's talking to this one guy who sees the "getaway car" while making his morning grits. Vinny notes that the passage of time is off between when he sees the car and when he's busy making those grits.
It certainly paid to listen at a local diner where the cook explained grits take 20 minutes to cook.

Come to think of it, a lot of these courtroom movies elapse the way they do because lawyers know how to LISTEN to everything.

Speaking of Expert Witnesses

Ultimately, the case-cracker is NOT Vinny in the shower (watch the scene where he and Lisa look over the pictures she got developed), but Mona Lisa Vito herself.
George Wilbur is brought in to testify that the tire tracks left by the getaway car matches that of the tires of the defendants' Buick Skylark.

Going back to this realm of coincidences, Lisa just happens to know her way around cars and not just because she happens to come from a family of mechanics.
She passes her "qualification" as an expert witness with flying colors. As we know from her scenes with Vinny, she won't hesitate to call you on your BS.

Seriously, guys, the way she rattled off all that car talk without stuttering or blinking and with conviction, Marisa Tomei more than deserved the award for this role.
Again, just wow.

And her consolation prize for helping with the case: she and Vinny are finally going to get married, something she said she wouldn't be up for until he won his first case.
But it's hard to be sure if that's gonna happen based on their final conversation in their car riding into the sunset :-P

# 95: 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (1997)

Code-name: Octo-homicide

Writer/Director: Tom Schulman
Type: [Black] Comedy

Cast:
Tommy- Joe Pesci
Charlie- Andy Comeau
Laurie Bennett- Kristy Swanson
Dick Bennett- George Hamiliton
Annette Bennett- Dyan Cannon
Ernie- David Spade
Steve- Todd Louiso
Fern (aka Grandma Bennett)- Ernestine Mercer

Write-Up: 

Have you ever had one of those movies that you don't know how you came across it, what you were thinking by watching or why you'd never been able to completely forget about it?

This is one of those movies for me... and I tell you, it's the strangest thing. I'm sure my mom or dad came across it on some random cable network like WB with commericals and censoring and all that... I must have been somewhere between the age of 8 and 10, perhaps 11... even more funny, I've found that that stuff I came across as a kid, no matter what form it takes, I manage to remember almost every detail about it. 

I know it's been a couple years since I'd seen "8 heads" but I never forgot about it... and it is probably one of the stupidest movies ever made... well, maybe not, compared to all the remakes, sequels and so on.
Actually, in places, it is actually kind of a smart movie. Don't know how I'll ever be able to explain that... I don't think I have enough readership on this where I can simply say 'trust me on this'

Joe Pesci was part of my childhood already simply because of the "Home Alone" movies. And years later, I would come across "My Cousin Vinny" and "Goodfellas" and love him in both movies. He plays to the stereotype of the mobster/gangster and as always, you don't wanna mess with this guy. 

His character is in the process of transporting the heads of 8 guys that got whacked by a couple of gangsters to their boss. But due to a few constraints, he is unable to take the bag on carry-on, so it has to be checked into cargo. 
And wouldn't you know it, a med. student also has a duffel bag and picks his up by mistake. On the other side of the coin, Charlie is meeting his girlfriend Laurie's parents for their vacation to Mexico for her dad's birthday. 

As if it isn't enough that he unknowingly smuggles human heads, he smuggles them into a third world country. He and the Bennett family check into this run-down motel that's run by, maybe, a handful of people speaking Spanglish accents (english tinged with stereotypical spanish).
Naturually hilarity enuses as Charlie, his girlfriend and his girlfriend's mother come across the heads and they don't know how that happened. 

Annette literally goes off the deep end because she wanted to hide her present for her husband in Charlie's bag... not only does she fall off the wagon, but she goes completely psycho when it comes to Charlie and for a while, nobody can figure out why. After which Charlie finds the heads while trying to unpack and he tells Laurie while he tries to figure out what to do.

I'd seen Dyan Cannon around a few times, mainly as a judge on "Ally McBeal" since this movie and because of this role, I cannot shake the association... to me, she always looks she's under the influence of something... it's rather unfortunate.

Only a couple years afterwards did I learn who George Hamiliton and Kristy Swanson were... all the guys will scream "she's the original Buffy!"... and George had a stint on "Dancing with the Stars" a few years ago... he always looks like he's extra tan, doesn't he? 
I thought Andy Comeau looked like Tom Hanks' son or that he could be... 

Meanwhile, Pesci throws a fit when he finds out he got the wrong bag... only in the movies would we also have the coincidence that the two guys happened to sit next to each other on the plane and they kinda knew one another before this mix-up. 
Finding a few clues in the bag, one of them being the manuscript for a book he was writing, he goes to his college and has a little "fun" with Charlie's roommates, Ernie & Steve. We see a couple of scenes of him torturing them in a number of ways and they eventually get a break, finding through a friend of a friend about where Charlie is.
So while on the campus, Pesci takes a couple of the cynogenically frozen heads to make up for the ones Charlie lost based on how much they looked like the guys that got whacked.

Through a series of phone calls, the three guys find out that Charlie lost one of heads... apparently a maid had cleaned the room and it ended up in the laundry with a bunch of his clothes. Luckily the maid in charge of laundry is blind so she has no idea.

I could round a series of quotes that explain how funny this movie is.
One part I loved early on was when Charlie told Laurie about the heads and she keeps screaming. The staff is overhearing this and thinking that they're just crazy. At one point she freaks out so much that she locks herself in the closet... and she only comes out, screaming of course, when Charlie says "You have to come out... the bodies are in there"...
of course he's making this up, but you get the point.

Then on campus, the guys are looking for a new set of heads and Steve gets a conscious in saying that the frozen heads on campus were all people once with hopes & dreams and they shouldn't be used just because they look like someone else. 
Meanwhile, Ernie takes completely normal and Steve gradually becomes a candidate for a strait jacket. 

As funny as it is, Mr. Bennett never finds about the heads throughout this entire movie and the staff has no idea whatsoever. Third World Problems!

after finding the heads:
Laurie: Let's call the police. 
Charlie: No! 

Laurie: Why not?

Charlie: Because we're in Mexico. A third world country. You don't just call the police in a third world country and tell them you found eight human heads in your luggage. 
Laurie: Why not? 
Charlie: Because they have no laws here. They'll turn me into a taco. 
We also get introduced to his mother, Fern... who I thought, for YEARS, was Phyllis Diller... she just happens to be another little old lady, with a particularly foul mouth... she kept pace with Pesci in that department... RIP Ernestine Mercer (she died in 2011)

Pesci finds the motel, Charlie is nowhere to be found (Mr. Bennett got arrested at the airport when they found heads in his luggage and Charlie's going to try to prove his innocence as well as get the 2 heads back), and everyone goes into the van for a road trip.
Annette finds the heads in the back seat, again starts freaking out ("I'm losing my mind. Everywhere I look, there are heads!!" the camera hilariously eyes all the people in the van)... apparently she recognized one of the heads as her ex-boyfriend Hugo.

But she isn't completely without a sense of humor. Pesci eventually throws Fern out of the van and Annette gasps something to the effect: I thought she'd never die
[unfortunately the credits say different, although she's practically in a body cast, having been thrown off a cliff that may be part of the Grand Canyon]

In the van is where Steve eventually goes crazy... but c'mon, all those head puns are funny, and no matter how many times they tell him to shut up, he keeps going

Another scene I've always remembered was where Pesci pulls into another small motel to look at the heads, trying to sort through who he has and who he needs to replace... he sets them all out and later he dreams of them all singing their own verison of "Mr. Sand-man"...  sand becomes head.
earlier in the movie, he turns off the radio when it plays that song, saying he can't stand it.

Ulitmately, this is how the ending works out:
Pesci gets all the heads to the mob boss and retires to Hawaii.
The two gangsters (who whacked the guys, who had been in pursuit of Pesci, not wanting him to get credit for their heads) get arrested by airport security.
Mr. Bennett gets out of jail and Charlie & Laurie get married.
Ernie's a brain surgeron and Steve, as I said a couple times already, loses his mind and is in a strait jacket.

Sure, the jokes are easy and the ethnical/cultural stereotypes are exploited to the max, but who really cares? This is a movie I'd personally describe as "freaking hilarious"

It was also the first time I came across David Spade... I'd only seen maybe a couple of his movies and a tiny bit of "Just Shoot Me" (of which I remember next to nothing, other than he played a guy named Finch and it also starred... omg, I'm totally blanking out on this... and I just learned recently, the girl who played Kit in "Pretty Woman" ..)

He has to have one of the most recognizable, cool voices in the entertainment industry. Whether in sarcasm or not, I've always loved listening to it... and it had to have started with this movie being all the way back in my childhood.
Just recently I saw a comedy show he did maybe a few years to a month after this movie... so funny, love him. And other than the storyline, he's one of my favorite parts of the movie "Tommy Boy"... which I think we must have watched a dozen times in study hall along with "Billy Madison", but I didn't care. It's a great road movie with a lot of heart.

Wendy Malick! I'd seen her around in a couple other parts, but "Just Shoot Me" was the first time I saw her in anything.

I don't think "8 heads" was necessarily meant to be anything big, important or whatever... but it's  a lot of fun and if anything, a great way to pass the time when there's a whole lot of nothing going on 8-)