# What's so great about Goodfellas? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 15, 2009, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-goodfellas/510199 "2009-09-15T18:21:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![whatami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/85f322/32.png) [@whatami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whatami)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-goodfellas/510199/61 "2009-09-18T01:55:02Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Well, I suppose I meant that at least DeNiro and Pesci went at least one step to far towards ham. They wound up looking like caricatures rather than characters to me. Meanwhile, the movie seemed like the director thought if he distracted me with enough “cool” I’d forget that. But I wasn’t impressed and Hill in particular was a deeply unpleasant character. I still can’t figure out if they wanted me to ignore that or embrace it, but either way I wasn’t buying. I wasn’t trying to knock how you feel about the movie. It just immediately reminded me of that scene. I think it’s a great movie, one of my top Gang/Mafia movies. I’m generally one of those guys who just likes to be entertained and doesn’t look too deep at things. For me, it fits the bill. (Although, I will also admit to being excited about all 4 Fast and Furious movies. I know what they are, but I still love them.) ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-goodfellas/510199/62 "2009-09-18T02:20:59Z")
Imho, it’s a genre that is an acquired taste. If you don’t like gangster films, you won’t like goodfellas. However, if you learn to enjoy them, then you enjoy them all. I never understood Godfather 1 and 2 (I only watched 1 because it had that guy from Superman in it. :)) I really started enjoying them with Donnie Brasco when a friend of mine dragged me to see it, and I could enjoy all the other gangster films. Goodfellas would be one of my favorites along with Godfather 1 and 2. About the same thing happened to me with chick flicks too. I hated them, my wife made me watch them, and then I realized for every POS like Sweet Home Alabama there’s a decent film like As Good as it Gets. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-goodfellas/510199/63 "2009-09-18T02:45:43Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Well, I suppose I meant that at least DeNiro and Pesci went at least one step to far towards ham. They wound up looking like caricatures rather than characters to me. Meanwhile, the movie seemed like the director thought if he distracted me with enough “cool” I’d forget that. But I wasn’t impressed and Hill in particular was a deeply unpleasant character. I still can’t figure out if they wanted me to ignore that or embrace it, but either way I wasn’t buying. Mobsters are probably ordinary guys in a lot of ways. Take a goon, put him in an expensive suit and a nice car, give him a nice-looking woman and more trappings, but he’s still a goon. I may be reading you wrong, but I didn’t see that in a glamorous light. I didn’t “like” a lot of the characters in this. I saw the flashy lifestyle etc. as just a veneer and it faded away instantly when they took care of unpleasant business. They had ice water in their veins, for the most part. I questioned that some after Jimmy got so upset because Tommy got whacked, banging the pay phone on the cradle. But Henry was saying how Tommy being made was like one of them being made: his emotion mostly had to do with how he would fit into the power structure with Tommy gone. They were just pricks and I wasn’t sorry to see them get their comeuppance. Even in films where he plays a nice guy, I think Ray Liotta is creepy in that I’m always waiting for him to snap and turn into a total bastard. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-goodfellas/510199/64 "2009-09-18T10:31:26Z")
What do you _mean_ you don’t like my movie? My movie don’t _amuse_ you? /Pesci [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-goodfellas/510199.md?page=3)