Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Goodfellas analysis
Introduction goodfellas analysis
Full analysis of goodfellas
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Goodfellas analysis
Goodfellas Short Summary: Goodfellas is based on the life of Henry Hill, a member of an organized crime family of Italian descent that continues to have strong ties to Italy throughout the movie. As the movie begins, an old car drives down a highway as the bumper and New York license plates are shown. It seems as though the flickering streetlights are representative of the lights of a large city fading in the distance. Two men watch as a short man makes the observation that they need to finish killing a mutilated and bloody guy in the the trunk. Tommy, the short guy, stabs the man with a butcher knife mercilessly in a way that would make most viewers cringe. It becomes clear that this is a movie about street level gangsters in the ‘70s. The protagonist, Henry Hill begins by narrating his life as a teenager, stating that he “always wanted to be a gangster.” During a flashback scene, a younger Henry admires the gang’s way of life and works for them at a cab stand in his working class, primarily Italian community in Brooklyn. In fact he spent so much time working at the cab stand and not in school, that he was beaten because this added to the frustration that his dad already held due to his overall life situation.The movie continues as Henry narrates more on the organizational layout of the gang, labeling Paulie as the top dog. Eventually Henry describes the recognition he starts receiving around the neighborhood. Henry soon is introduced to Jimmy Conway, a highly respected member of the gang. Jimmy was the thief. With the products he stole he neutralized the heat of the cops by passing some of the products on to them. Eventually Henry gets pinched for selling stolen cartons of cigarettes but is rewarded and accepted into t... ... middle of paper ... ...nk and feel. Members of the mob are made to feel that they own a part of the organization and that their extra effort directly translates to the success or failure of their business. Believing one has the ability to make an impact makes all the difference in employee engagement and job satisfaction. When compared to current corporate structures, people feel they are not being rewarded for good effort. Many people go to work and waste time but still get paid the same amount. They feel like they could get by with minimal effort or resort to absenteeism and the corporation would not feel the effect. They have no real connection or stake in the organization’s success. Over time, this mindset creates deadwood that needs to be removed. The mob sees people who are not useful as liabilities. Henry, Tommy, and Jimmy knew how to clear out deadwood. ~C.R.
Henry Reyna and his 38th Street Gang members headed to a local dance. While at this dance, they encounter the rivals of The Downey Gang. Henry’s brother, Rudy,
The movie Walk the Line, is about the life of Johnny Cash and how he became a famous country singer. He was raised on a farm and was very good at memorizing songs. His brother Jack had a goal of becoming a pastor. Jack was working at a saw mill when Johnny decides to go fishing while Jack finishes his work. Jack was seriously injured by the saw and later died of his wounds with Johnny, his mother Carrie and father Ray by his side. Conflicts between Johnny and his father became hard.
The gangsters we know and love today are much different from what they were 40 years ago. From the way they talked, dressed, and went about their business, the idea of a gangster has changed a lot. But they have one thing in common and this is the fact that they both had and have a huge impact on our society. One gangster in particular, Henry Hill, contributed to a huge turning point in the methods of American criminals. Henry Hill’s accomplishments as a mobster and an FBI informant helped change the ways of organized crime and how the government tried to stop them.
They wear fancy suits, drive luxurious cars, and parade around with different women each day. Although being a gangster has some advantages, everything comes with a price. Tom and Matt were such successful gangsters that they attracted enemies from other gangs. The audience watches as Tom and Matt walk down the street, and suddenly gunshots are heard, Matt has been shot and killed. The audience may have assumed all the violence and tragedy would end there but the death of Tom only sparked a bloody mob war. This film was one of the first films of its time to show a mob war which were very common during the 1920s. Competition was one of the biggest parts of being a gangster. Al Pacino who played a famous gangster in the movie The Godfather says in the film, “Everybody loves you until you become competition.” Gangsters were perceived as powerful men who were above the law and who could handle anything, but that is not always the case, especially for Tom. In the end of the film, Tom reign as a gangster comes to an end. He wanted to get revenge for his friend Matt, but it only resulted in his death as well. Some people aren’t as tough as they think they
The classic gangster film focusing on a host of norms defined by some of the first gangster films. This genre originated as an escapism from the negative depression era. People would flock to see the gangsters go from rags to riches with their glitzy lifestyle and beautiful women. As Shadoian puts it, “The gangster’s fizzy spirits, classy lifestyle, and amoral daring were something like Alka-Seltzer for the headaches of the depression” (Shadoin 29). Not all this came easily for the gangsters though, bloodshed is defined as a part of business with guns a constant motif. Despite these negative outcomes, it’s easy to see how this genre was such a great elusion from the everyday where the American Dream seemed like it might not even exist anymore.
The film “A Bronx Tale” was set in the Bronx during the early 1960’s. There was alot of racial discrimination and mob interactions that manifested themselves on the streets of New York. This made the 1960’s a particularly dangerous time period to live in New York. Calogero, a nine year old Italian boy, and his family were caught in the middle of these interactions. Calogero’s family lived two feet from a bar that the mob conducted their business in. Sonny was the head of the Italian mob. He was portrayed as a Machiavellian leader of the Bronx. Sonny shot a man just outside Calogero 's stoop. Detectives questioned Calogero because he was the only eyewitness to the crime. Calogero lied when the detectives asked if the gunman was in the lineup of suspects. Calogero’s father, Lorenzo, told him that he did a good thing for a bad man, but he did not understand what his father meant. Calogero only understood that
They put down the weapons and picked up the plows. Jesse and Frank were unable to adjust, and couldn’t stop fighting. This influenced Jesse’s decisions to rob a bank in Gallatin, Missouri, thought to be owned by the man who killed his colleague “Bloody Bill”. On December 7th, 1969, Jesse and his gang rode in during daylight hours, and shot an unarmed cashier. The gang escaped through the posse sent to capture them. This was the first time Jesse was mentioned in newspapers, they called him “ vicious” and “ bloodthirsty”. He loved the attention. He soon started to tailoring his robberies to attract as much attention as possible. He even left press releases behind. This is when the gang's capture was called for, dead or alive. This is also when the gang mutually agreed to never be captured
“American Gangster” is based on the true story of Frank Lucas’ life. It is the story of how he cut out the middleman in the heroin business and the story of how Ritchie Roberts caught him. Throughout the film we see the parallel between a cop and a criminal as we inch forward to see their lives finally meet.
In Mark Scorsese’s 1990 film Goodfellas, Henry Hill’s (Ray Liotta) story is introduced and the audience sees his life during his teen years in the mafia, the relationships, the hardships, and how he grows into a man living in the mafia lifestyle. Scorsese includes many significant scenes that are vital to this film. One of the specific sequences, the Helicopter chase scene, also one of the last scenes in the film. This takes place towards the end at around an hour and fifty-five minutes. In this sequence, Henry Hill has a lot of errands he needs to run and he only has a short amount of time to do it in.
He drinks excessively, lies, cheats, steals, rolls drunks, and jumps small children. His life of crime began very early, jailed at the age of ten and has spent many days in prison for robbery and assault; he also spent three years living on the wild side in New York. It is no wonder that he is “tougher, colder, meaner” than the other Greasers. In
An Analysis of How Narrative and Genre Features Create Meaning and Generate Response in the Opening of Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas
On his first day at school, a gang of thugs confronts Tommy. Tommy later finds that the gang members are his classmates who push him around in class. Tommy’ s father was a gambler and hung around with people that were up to no good. Therefore Tommy focuses on school and aspires to attend college some day. On his first day at school he shows knowledge of meaning behind Mark Twain’s literature, leaving his classmate thugs shocked. The same day Tommy befriends a classmate. She appreciates his wisdom and hires him to wash dishes in her parent’s dinner. The dinner is located in the neighborhood, and is frequented by the thugs who rule the streets of the area. They fight the other students around the area on regular basis.
Money, murder, power, and loyalty, the epitome and basic essentials of any Mafia movie. Initially, when watching two of the most popular titles in this genre, Goodfellas and The Godfather, they may have similar themes, but in all truth, they are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum. While Goodfellas welcomes you to the family with a friendly smile and a voice-over, The Godfather makes you stand astray and watch in silence as an outsider.
In the big city of New York there always exist those who push the envelope a bit, and stretch the law. One such man played by Michael Douglas makes money buying and selling others' dreams. He is a stock speculator; but one that succeeds based on illegal inside information. As he puts it "I make nothing, I own" Released in 1987, Oliver Stone's Wall Street is a representation of bad morals and poor business ethics in the business world. It also shows the negative effects, bad morals and poor business ethics can have on society. The film revolves around the actions of two main characters, Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) and Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas). Bud is a young stockbroker who comes from a working-class family and Gekko is a millionaire who Bud admires and wants to be associated with. Wall Street points out how wrong it is to exchange morality for money. Gordon Gekko reflects this message, and yet receives a standing ovation at a stockholders meeting after delivering his "greed is good" speech. The underlying theme of the movie is that greed is not only not ethical but it lacks moral substance in today?s society.
This film revolves around the world of an immigrant from Cuba by the name of Antonio “Tony” Montana. Along with his very close friend Manolo “Manny”, their goal is to live the American dream, which is to leave Cuba, relocate to America and become filthy rich. Tony’s mother and sister Gina are already in the States and currently residing in the state of Florida, where he plans to go and reunite with them. He eventually does and introduces Manny to the family. Right away Manny seems interested but keeps it to himself. They ultimately fulfill their goal, through organized crime, and are spoiled with wealth from an absurd steady income.