Goodfellas Critical Essay | Critical Review by Maurizio Viano

SOURCE: A review of Goodfellas, in Film Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 3, Spring, 1991, pp. 43-50.

Viano is an Italian-American educator and critic. In the following review, he examines Scorsese's principal stylistic and thematic concerns, situates Goodfellas in the director's body of work, and argues that Nicholas Pileggi's book Wise Guy (1985)—upon which the film is based—contains the primary elements of "Scorsese's personal mythology."

GoodFellas is arguably the apex of Scorsese's most openly ethnic production. Wishing to make a "good commercial picture," Scorsese returned to the Italian/American setting which had already inspired his best films (except Taxi Driver). [In an endnote, Viano adds: "After the stress of The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Scorsese declared (American Film, March 1989, pp. 46-51) that he wanted 'to make some good commercial pictures' before getting involved in anything serious. In the same interview, however, talking about GoodFellas, he said: 'I hope it will...
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