I want to watch a good mob movie with my wife... who probably has a smidge of ADD. I was thinking we could break up “Godfather?” Or maybe Goodfellas? She hasn’t seen any of the genre.
Easily Goodfellas. It's the pinnacle of mafia films.
One thing you have to take into consideration with The Godfather is that it was one of the very earliest of Italian based Mafia films. We really didn't have a complete grasp on how things operate within the upper tiers of the mob, so a lot of things in that movie will come out looking inaccurate (like the Corleones higher ups mostly consisting of Vito's sons and all of them having high influence) and it's more about a story of the fall of a man and how he is corrupted and turned into something he once hated. The Godfather 1 and 2 are great films in terms of storytelling, character development (masterful acting from an all star cast) and themes. The third movie is garbage and was only really made so Coppolla could pay off debts he had accumulated.
Goodfellas is where to start and it's probably the most accurate mafia film ever made in terms of the lifestyle. The book it's based on Wiseguy is something of fiction in a way, but despite the historical inaccuracies, it does nail the mafia lifestyle pretty damn well. Goodfellas would be the "middle class" of the mafia and how they operate. It's accurate in terms of how they live and operate in the streets with loansharking and getting cuts by having others involved in deals.
Mean Streets is another one I'd recommend and that movie accurately breaks down the lower class of the mafia. That's one of Scorsese's earliest films and I don't see it mentioned here. All through that movie, Harvey Kietel is always hustling and he's hoping one day that he can become a made man like his uncle, but is plagued by having connections with the wrong people. Definitely watch this one after Goodfellas. It's got a young Robert DeNiro who is very memorable and easily the most fun character in the movie.
Some other recommendations -
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A Bronx Tale. Many people on here would probably appreciate this movie cause it has a strong class war theme to it. Robert DeNiro plays a working class father who's son becomes obsessed with a local gangster and wanting to fit in with the mob. This is worth checking out and is very class conscious. It does a good job putting into perspective how much of organized crime can be thrown in the category of the Lumpen proletariat and how they make life miserable for the working class.
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Casino. This movie can be described as Goodfellas on steroids. It's bigger, louder and has a far more complex plot. The overall movie documents the beginning of the end of the Chicago Outfit. Their decline began with the casinos in Vegas and how they all basically got ran out of Vegas and corporations moved in to turn Vegas into what it is today. More accurate to it's real life story than Goodfellas, except the real Frank Rosethal had 3 mega casinos, in the movie he just has one. Outside of that, the only minor inconsistencies to the real life story turned out to be stuff that we weren't aware of yet. Casino shows the upper class of the mafia and how they get to live like kings.
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Donnie Brasco. One of the most accurate films in terms of lifestyle, though it also has a few historical inaccuracies. Lefty has more kills to his name than money he can keep in his pocket. Like Mean Streets, it shows the lower level of the mob and how they lived and hustled on the streets. Also one of Johnny Depp's best movies.
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Gotti. I see someone else mentioned this one and it's worth checking out. It was based on the Jerry Capeci book Mobstar (one of the only two books about John Gotti worth reading, and Capeci wrote the other one too). Armand Assante is brilliant as John Gotti, and it has a bunch of Sopranos actors in it. It follows the book mostly to a point (the first edition, that is. There's a second edition of Mobstar that updated a lot of the info that was uncovered right around the time of Gotti's death). The only inaccuracies turned out to be stuff we didn't know at the time, and a few dramatizations. Overall, it's a well acted movie and gets the basis of Gotti's whole rise to power right.
Goodfellas is where to start and it’s probably the most accurate mafia film ever made in terms of the lifestyle. The book it’s based on Wiseguy is something of fiction in a way, but despite the historical inaccuracies, it does nail the mafia lifestyle pretty damn well. Goodfellas would be the “middle class” of the mafia and how they operate. It’s accurate in terms of how they live and operate in the streets with loansharking and getting cuts by having others involved in deals.
I remember a conversation I had with a friend about the supposed accuracy of Goodfellas. I have no reason to doubt his veracity in this, but I haven't seen the film, and his explanation likely has spoilers, so:
spoiler
Many gangster film fans far prefer Martin Scorsese’s later film, Goodfellas, which is actually mainly set in the 1970s. The reason given for the preference is usually the claim that, unlike The Godfather films, this is really what the Mafia was like. And, to a certain degree, this is true. But, still, the film makes use of many urban legends, such as the scenes where Joe Pesci’s Tommy character- a sinister little psychopath, uses his ‘Do you think I’m funny?’ line on the Ray Liotta character, and the scene where he shoots to death the lame cabana boy who sasses him. Neither of these events really happened, but they seem to be realistic, because they fit in so well to the characters, as written. The murder of the cabana boy, as example, was a decades old legend that was first attributed to the rage of Al Capone, the Mob head of Chicago in the 1920s. Yet, over the decades it was also attributed to a dozen or more gangsters, all over the country, before ending up as something that Pesci’s character supposedly did in 1970s New York City.
Another good example of where Goodfellas is totally fictitious is the whole arc that involved Paul Sorvino’s Underboss character. In the film, both Pesci’s and Liotta’s characters (played by teenagers) go to work for Sorvino as youngsters, and both are seen fraternizing with him and other major crime figures. This is utter and pure fiction. The only way such a thing might (and I repeat might) have happened was if either youth was closely related to the Sorvino character, and even then it would be rare. There was a little thing called omerta, and this forbade such flagrant stupidity. Not that this code of silence was ever really rigidly adhered to, but it was given lip service, and the underlings and soldiers would rarely turn state on a don or Capo, much less a Boss or Underboss. However, when it came to fucking over rivals on the way up, there was nothing stopping these fucks from sinking each other, either with words or guns. On the other hand, at least the film is consistent, because, in the end, Sorvino’s stupid character (along with Robert De Niro’s) is eventually sent to prison because of the closeness he allowed Liotta’s character to have, from childhood on; so at least Sorvino’s character ‘pays’ for his stupidity. As I’ve related, that would have never happened in real life, and one of the ways you can tell a bullshitter, at least when young, is when they claim to have Mob ties and ‘personally know’ certain big timers. That’s the giveaway that it’s a bullshitter. No self-respecting guy who wanted to live would make such a claim public, because the guy who was claimed to be known would likely very quickly shut up the claimant.
So, he told me that it was a great but unrealistic film: he considers The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie to be the greatest & most realistic gangster film created - but it's also less entertaining, so.
e: He also considers America's obsession with gangster films to be indicative of it being a middle-class country, and that the petit-boug likes to look down on the violence of the "uncivilized" lower classes because it allows them to avoid blame for the same sort of violence (if not as overtly physical) occurring in their corporate boardrooms. I certainly like that theory.
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We watched “Goodfellas!” Great suggestion.
Fun cameo: a young Isiah Whitlock (the wire, Cedar Rapids) as the Doctor.
break up
did you mean to say break out? I think you should stick together
I gotta preface this by saying I haven't seen Goodfellas, but The Sopranos is way better than any mob movie I've seen. The Godfather 1 & 2, Casino, The Irishman, The Departed, they just all don't even touch it in terms of quality.
Goodfellas is a solid entry point. More entertaining and fast-paced than Godfather, and doesn't take nearly as long to watch. Focuses on a character who is attempting to rise through the ranks of the mob. Has a decent argument to being the best mob movie of all time.
The other major mob film (or films really) is Godfather 1 & 2. They're broader in scope and incredibly well made with a top tier cast. These movies cover a longer time period (telling the stories of both Vito and Michael Corleone) and focus on the top leaders of the mafia. More deliberately paced, which is why I would recommend Goodfellas first. Personally, I prefer Godfather to Goodfellas, but they're both amazing films.
The Sopranos is also top tier mafia media, but its also a 6 season TV show, so it is a much larger commitment. That said, its runtime does allow it to study the lives of mafia members and those around them in much greater depth. Certainly worth seeing if you have any interest in the genre. Plus it's one of the best television shows in general.
Scorsese made a bunch of other gangster movies, all of which are worth seeing: Mean Streets, The Irishman, Casino, The Departed
Not a movie, but one of my all time fav shows is Gomorrah (or Gomorra). This one is actually based in Italy, loosely on actual mafia crimes there. It's about a crime syndicate and the internal power struggle to keep it going. It has great character development, arguably good pacing for your wife, and the soundtrack IS SOOOOO GOOD. Highly recommend.
I think there's English dubs, but subs make it better. DM me if you need a link, I know a foreign movie site that still has it up and other sites.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4QORgagblU
