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Goodfellas Direction

There are many great scenes in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990). The club entrance scene is probably the most discussed and copied in a variety of places, including a spoof on Jon Stewart’s final Daily Show. But there is also a lot going on with Scorsese’s direction in the final segment following Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) on the day leading to his arrest. In a new video essay, Julian Palmer breaks down the details of those ending scenes.

Palmer, Creative Director and Founder at 1848 Media, discusses Scorsese’s editing and use of techniques. He explains, for example, how the director uses hand-held cameras to reflect Hill’s paranoia.

Palmer does an excellent job of referencing other films, like The Godfather (1972). And he even explains the significance of the shots of food.

Check out his video essay, “Last Day of a Wiseguy.”

Leave your two cents in the comments.

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(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

Huffington Post recently interviewed actor Ray Liotta and brought up the classic tracking shot into the Copacabana. In the long shot director Martin Scorsese followed Liotta (playing Henry Hill) and actress Lorraine Bracco (playing Karen Friedman) as they enter and go through the nightclub to their seats.

In the interview by Ricky Camilleri, Liotta talks about how smoothly everything went and his memories of making Goodfellas. [2024 Update: Unfortunately, the video of the interview is no longer available.]

Liotta, of course, is giving the actor’s perspective, so of course he did not see all of the work that went into making everything so perfect. Cinematographer Michael Ballhaus has recounted how it took many days to set up the lighting, more days to shoot it, and more days to put together the edit.

If you want to see the scene again. check it out below. As “Then He Kissed Me” by the Crystals plays in the background, the long shot reveals Hill opening up a new world to his girlfriend Friedman. It remains one of the great scenes in cinema history.

For more of the Liotta interview head over to HuffPost Live. What is your favorite part of the famous Copa scene from Goodfellas? Leave your two cents in the comments.