I heard another bit of trivia about Goodfellas. Nicholas Pileggi, author of the book on which Goodfellas was based, listened to Henry Hill recounting stories as part of his research. His wife, Nora Ephron, also sat in on these conversations. So the same stories that inspired Goodfellas also inspired My Blue Heaven (starring Steve Martin and Rick Moranis), which is quite a different take on things.
What a day for a mow, huh?
I don’t understand why Jimmy would’ve cared about her not wanting to go into the store unless he was up to something.
On an unrelated note, apparently Henry Hill killed 3 people under the mafia. I think he was a teenager when he did them. Paulie basically said ‘you or him’ so Henry killed who he was supposed to kill. He didn’t mention that in the book or the movie, but I think it adds something to Hill’s character int he movie. In the movie, the first time I watched I was thinking how Hill was the only one who hadn’t murdered anyone of him, Jimmy and Tommy. Turned out that wasn’t true. Not relevant to the thread, but useful info about Hill.
In the movie about Sammie the Bull I recall a scene of him sitting at his kitchen table with a gun talking about the old ways. Back in the old days you didn’t kill a mobster in his home, you didn’t target his family, you didn’t target his car. He was lamenting how those ways were over and done with now (this was the late 80s I believe). So maybe there was a mafia code but it was probably from the 1950s or earlier, and I’m guessing fell apart after that.
Where’d you hear this??? It’s the first I’ve ever heard about this.
I don’t think Karen was being sent to be killed, because Jimmy didn’t try very hard at all to kill her. He could have walked her into the trap, but instead he just told her where to walk. Someone could have grabbed her at any time and they didn’t. Jimmy could have tried at any time, and this was the way he wanted it to happen? Help my memory, but didn’t Karen go to see Jimmy?
I think Jimmy was kind of screwing with her, but the whole scene was about illustrating how they were only “that” far away from being killed, and that the paranoia (or realization of their circumstance) was beginning to set in.
The bottom line is anyone who rats, or they think is about getting ready to rat, is gonna get whacked. No ifs, ands or buts.
Even in "The Godfather" Michael's first wife is killed by a car bomb planted by one of the Sicilian bodyguards. Even those it isn't really meant for her, most likely Michael and the other bodyguard, it's not a precise weapon.
I always thought Henry Hill meant to kill Karen, he has a deranged look as she walks away. He killed the toupee salesman and his wife.
Part of the point of the movie is that “the rules” are bullshit. They weren’t supposed to deal drugs and they did.
They were also supposed to “take care of a man’s family” if he went to jail yet in the movie Karen repeatedly complains about how they don’t.
Also, while its not revealed in the movie, the real life Karen was facing an indictment because she was heavily involved in Henry’s drug-dealing business.
As a result Jimmy Burke(in the movie Jimmy Conway) would age lots of reasons to think she’d rat.
Keep in mind that in the movies, “ratting” is always portrayed as this huge, horrible sin that nobody does, but in real life they see all scumbags whose loyalty to each other was based on mutual self-interest. How many of them would really be willing to spend the rest of their life behind bars to “protect” their “friends”.
You mean “Jimmy” not “Henry Hill”.
IIRC, the only source for that is Henry Hill, decades after the fact.
Maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not, but Henry Hill is a media whore who will say anything that will get him on Howard Stern or sell books.
Excepting the fact that he died about three years ago.
But what did Karen know, specifically, that could have helped the investigation? She was involved in Henry’s drug business, but as for other mafia stuff, she was kept out of the loop. Even the attorney at the end of the movie (played by real-life U.S. Attorney Ed McDonald, the guy who flipped Henry Hill) said that he “didn’t care” if Karen joined the Witness Protection Program or not, and his only interest in her was to make Henry a better, happier witness.
Personally, I think the scene in question was Karen being paranoid. Scorsese obviously made the scene ambiguous, but it doesn’t make sense that Jimmy would whack Karen right then and there, unless he had plans already in motion to whack Henry at the same time. Also, when Karen walks up to the dark alley, the men moving boxes appear surprised to see her there.
D’oh!
That’s the movie. Ed McDonald and the real life Henry Hill did a commentary for one of the DVD editions wherein he talked about how that scene left out how she was being squeezed and facing an indictment as well.
That said, I agree that leaving real life aside, that scene was deliberately meant to be ambiguous.
While it was a great movie, it has to be remembered that real life was quite different. Joe Pesci’s character Tommy DeSimone(Tommy DeVito in the movie) was over six feet tall, “movie star handsome” and “full of muscles”.
yeah, but was he a funny guy as well?
Funny how?
… or so they claim.
Like a clown?
Actually, Tommy DeSimone looked more like Billy Batts as played by Frank Vincent.
Regarding Karen’s guilt:
-she was actively involved in her husband’s cocaine business-while he was in Federal prison, she brought drugs in to him. She also transferred drugs for him.
The Feds knew all about this-they had been watching Hill for months, gathering evidence. This prompts my other question: as a satellite gang, the Goddfellas had to pay the NY Mafia (headed by Paul Castellano) a cut of the $6 million Lufthansa heist. Is it possible that the Mafia betrayed both Hill and Burke? they had their money, why not eliminate these troublemakers?