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The F-bomb is dropped 296 times during the film, averaging twice per minute. About half of them are by Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci). After Pesci’s mother saw the film, she said she liked it but asked if he had swear so much.
Robert De Niro’s Jimmy Conway character is based on real-life mobster Jimmy Burke, aka Jimmy ‘The Gent’ or ‘The Big Irishman’, an ex-bricklayer believed to have orchestrated the $6m Lufthansa heist in 1978 and then killed 10 of those who took part. To portray him, De Niro plundered writer Nicholas Pileggi’s unused notes and obsessively asked the real Henry Hill for details about the real Jimmy — how he held his cigarette, used a ketchup bottle, reacted to various situations, etc.
When Pileggi pitched the title of his book Wiseguy (that GoodFellas is based on), his publishers suggested he changed it as they had never heard the term before — at that point, it was not widely known.
Horses’ heads were left in Ray Liotta’s dressing room, by both co-star Robert De Niro and Frank Sinatra’s daughter Nancy, as a Godfather homage and welcome to the world of Mafia films.
Driving to the set each day, Liotta listened to tapes of FBI wiretaps of the real Henry Hill to help him get into character for the day’s filming.
Pesci wrote the “Funny how?” scene himself, at Scorsese’s request. Pesci had once seen a similar incident occur between drunk mobsters in Chicago. During the scene, Scorsese chose not to film any close-ups, and packed Mob members around Pesci and Liotta, specifically so that you could “see the affect on those around them”.
For the famous montage scene set to Derek & The Dominos’ Layla, Scorsese played the piano coda himself during the shooting of each scene, so they could get the rhythm and movement of the camera right, matching up certain bars of the song with specific shots.
After Henry is released from prison and Paulie (Paul Sorvino) warns him off drug-dealing, Sorvino improvised the slap to Liotta’s face — so Liotta’s surprised reaction is real.
As you may expect, there are many connections between GoodFellas and The Sopranos. They share two-dozen actors, notably Lorriane Bracco and Michael Imperioli. Sopranos creator David Chase says, “GoodFellas is the Koran for me.” Christopher [Tony’s nephew] lists it as one of his screenwriting inspirations. And when watching films with Father Intintola, [Tony’s wife] Carmela mentions Tony preferring Godfather II to the original, and the priest asks Carmela where Tony rates GoodFellas.
Scorsese originally intended to make GoodFellas two years earlier, but when funding for his pet project The Last Temptation Of Christ finally materialised in 1987, he decided to shoot that and postpone the gangster flick.
The dinner scene with Tommy’s mother is largely improvised, including Tommy asking if he could borrow her butcher’s knife and the paw/hoof debate.
Paulie’s razor-blade garlic slicing isn’t actually very practical. It tends to brown too quickly unless you put it in lukewarm oil. It’s usually easier to mash it with a fork. Still, certain Italian cookbooks suggest you slice the cloves “GoodFellas thin” and to cook them “low and slow”.
For a film renowned for violence, GoodFellas has a relatively low body count of 10.
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Part TWO Tomorrow
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