Why It’s Still An All-Time Gangster Classic

The Godfather has long been considered the best gangster movie ever made, but 35 years ago, a film arrived that challenged that masterpiece. In 1972, Francis Ford Coppola released The Godfather and changed gangster cinema forever. While some consider The Godfather Part II to be better, the films are what all others are compared to.

While The Godfather was better than every gangster flick that came before, and only its sequel challenged it for years, another gangster classic arrived in 1990 that might be even better. In no surprise, Martin Scorsese tried to one-up Coppola with his own crime masterpiece, Goodfellas, and on September 21, it turns 35 years old.

Goodfellas 35 Years Later: Why It’s Still An All-Time Classic

The gangster genre always came easily for Scorsese, a filmmaker who grew up with an encyclopedic knowledge of cinema. In his brilliant documentary, A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies, he spoke openly about his love of gangster flicks and filmmakers like D.W. Griffith and Samuel Fuller.

Scorsese even had an entire section on gangster cinema, praising movies like The Public Enemy, Regeneration, Scarface, The Roaring Twenties, I Walk Alone, Force of Evil, and Point Blank.

When Martin Scorsese made Goodfellas, it wasn’t even his first gangster movie as he broke out thanks to his gangster film Mean Streets. He released that film one year after The Godfather, and while it was a good movie, it didn’t come close to Coppola’s movie. However, in 1990, Scorsese finally did it.

Unlike The Godfather, Scorsese’s Goodfellas is based on a true story about a man who turned on his mafia family and became an informant. Scorsese also matched Coppola in his casting, bringing in Robert De Niro (who was in The Godfather Part II), while also adding names like Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino, and more.

Critics loved Goodfellas, awarding it a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score, which, while lower than The Godfather, makes it among the best gangster movies of all time based on critical praise. It did fall short at the Oscars, only winning Best Supporting Actor for Joe Pesci, while losing its other five nominations.

Goodfellas Was The First Gangster Movie To Truly Challenge The Godfather

While The Godfather and The Godfather Part II remain the gold standard for the gangster genre, Goodfellas is easily up there with them in quality and critical praise. It isn’t like other movies didn’t try to challenge for the crown, but nothing came close until Scorsese’s 1990 movie.

As mentioned, Scorsese released Mean Streets the year after The Godfather. That was a smaller movie about two low-level gangsters on the streets, and it remains a true classic of the genre, but it never reached the levels of The Godfather or Goodfellas.

The 1970s had crime thrillers like The French Connection, The Sting, Chinatown, and Get Carter, which is essentially the British version of The Godfather. However, when it comes to pure gangster cinema, none of them could match The Godfather.

In the 80s, Scarface and Once Upon a Time in America came close, but still fell short. It is easy to see both of those films on any list of the best gangster movies of all time, but neither matches up to the two Godfather movies, or even Goodfellas, which arrived at the start of the 1990s.

Has Any Gangster Movie From The Past 35 Years Actually Topped Goodfellas?

After Goodfellas, there have been several incredible gangster films that have challenged it for the best after The Godfather. The ’90s alone saw the release of Pulp Fiction, Donnie Brasco, and Miller’s Crossing, three minor masterpieces in their own right. However, again, they didn’t quite hit the same levels as Goodfellas.

In the 2000s, crime movies like Snatch, American Gangster, and Road to Perdition also held their own, but those were a step behind even the 1990s releases. Scorsese even tried to beat his own best with The Departed and The Irishman later in the 21st century, but those films, while great, still fell short of Goodfellas.

Goodfellas’ Legacy Has Been Felt Across The Decades

It is easy to see why Goodfellas hit such highs, and why it has been impossible to match its brilliance since the movie’s release. It is also easy to see why it’s comparable to the first two Godfather films. For the 35 years since making it, Scorsese has still been trying to match the greatness of his masterpiece.

In films like Casino and The Irishman, Scorsese even brought back many of his Goodfellas cast members, trying to replicate the success of his 1990 hit. Even the gangster TV show, The Sopranos, used many Goodfellas actors during its long run on HBO. There were 29 actors who appeared in both The Sopranos and Goodfellas.

Paul Thomas Anderson remains widely considered one of the greatest film directors working today. In his second movie, Anderson replicated the Copacabana scene from Goodfellas in his 1997 film Boogie Nights. Goodfellas also has several meme-worthy moments, none more so than Pesci’s “you think I’m a clown” line.

Martin Scorsese made something special in Goodfellas. It was so brilliant that some fans might consider it better than The Godfather. While that remains debatable, there is no discounting its standing in film history as one of the best gangster movies ever made.

Release Date

September 19, 1990

Runtime

145 minutes

Producers

Barbara De Fina