---
title: "GoodFellas"
year: 1990
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/goodfellas"
fi1m_id: "goodfellas"
imdb_id: "tt0099685"
tmdb_id: 769
wikidata_id: "Q42047"
fi1m_score: 93
critics_score: 86
critics_reviews: 6
published: "2026-09-12"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:02.269897+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# GoodFellas (1990)

Directed by Martin Scorsese · 2h 25m · MPA R · Drama, Crime

## Identity

GoodFellas

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/goodfellas
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** goodfellas
- **IMDb ID:** tt0099685
- **TMDB ID:** 769
- **Wikidata ID:** Q42047
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099685/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/769, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q42047

**Fi1m score: 93** · Critics 86 from 6 reviews

*In a sentence:* The gangsters tell such good stories that we briefly forget what they do for a living

> Martin Scorsese’s *GoodFellas* is a crime film we would recommend to almost anyone. Its gangsters are appalling company, but the performances make it hard to leave, despite some repetition and too little room for Karen’s perspective.

## Synopsis

Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) moves through a mafia society where money and the company a man keeps shape everyday life. Around him are James Conway (Robert De Niro), Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) and Paul Cicero (Paul Sorvino). Lorraine Bracco plays Karen Hill, whose account of this world sits alongside Henry’s. Spanning three decades, the film follows the routines, relationships and criminal business of men who make their living through organised crime. Henry’s voice-over guides the story, with Karen offering another perspective on a society whose members treat its demands as part of the working day.

## Review

Martin Scorsese’s *GoodFellas* is a frightening, often funny crime film that earns its 145 minutes by taking an interest in how gangsters spend their days. Across three decades of mafia life, it follows men for whom making money is reason enough to get out of bed and almost anything else can be justified afterwards. Scorsese gives their routines enough attention that their company starts to feel familiar. That familiarity is what makes the violence so unpleasant.

Ray Liotta’s Henry Hill is the right guide because he can make explaining this life sound like recommending it. His voice-over is intimate and conversational, with little sense of a man stopping to consider how he might sound to outsiders. We laughed, then felt uneasy about laughing. Liotta delivers his account with such comfort that the casual treatment of criminal business becomes funny before its implications have properly registered.

Michael Ballhaus’s tracking shot lets the camera travel with the confidence of somebody who expects to be admitted. It is a showy piece of film-making, but the pleasure of that uninterrupted movement explains the attraction more efficiently than a speech could. Kristi Zea’s production design keeps the surroundings ordinary enough for the men to look at home. Their ease makes the behaviour harder to dismiss as something that happens only in crime films.

Joe Pesci’s Tommy DeVito is exhausting company, and that is praise for the performance. His humour has such aggression behind it that a laugh never quite settles the question of what he might do next. Robert De Niro, as James Conway, is less openly demonstrative; watching him listen can be as worrying as watching Pesci talk. Paul Sorvino’s Paul Cicero supplies the weight of authority without needing to compete for attention.

Editors Thelma Schoonmaker and James Y. Kwei keep the film quick without making every scene feel the same length. Conversations have enough room for a performance to become funny or uncomfortable, then the film is off again before the mood settles. There is a cost to the accumulation: repeated ugliness eventually wears down our capacity to be startled. A few later passages press the same point about these men after we have understood it, and speed cannot quite conceal that repetition.

The screenplay by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese is less generous to Karen Hill, played by Lorraine Bracco. Her narration gives her room to describe this society, but the film is so taken with Henry’s account that her perspective cannot have equal force. Bracco makes Karen’s presence count, even when the writing gives the men more to occupy themselves with. This reservation matters because a fuller sense of Karen’s experience would have shown us more of what their behaviour costs other people.

*GoodFellas* belongs among the crime films we would recommend even to someone who thinks the genre has nothing left for them. Its close attention to money, manners and male company is enough to distinguish it without pretending that criminals are especially profound. The violence is harsh, and the humour offers no reliable shelter from it. Watch it when a cheerful evening is not a requirement.

*Fi1m score 93, published 12 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics are strongly positive about GoodFellas, with praise centred on Scorsese’s energetic direction and the film’s close attention to the everyday workings of organised crime. The reviews repeatedly find that its humour, violence and mundane detail strip away gangster glamour without sacrificing pace or fascination. Ensemble performances draw particular approval, while Ray Liotta’s performance and voice-over, the tracking shots and the documentary-like observation receive specific praise.

The spread is wide, though the reservations come chiefly from one substantial dissent rather than a broadly divided response. Variety finds the film fascinating but overlong and dramatically unsatisfying, arguing that the lead performance is opaque and that the second half’s accumulating depravity becomes numbing. Sight and Sound offers narrower reservations about the wife’s narration and the compression of the source material. The main disagreement concerns whether the relentless depiction of mob life retains its dramatic force throughout.

## Straight answers

**Is GoodFellas worth watching?**

*GoodFellas* is worth watching for almost anyone who can stomach a frightening, often funny crime film, and we scored it 93. Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro make appalling company hard to leave, though some later passages repeat a point already made and Karen Hill is given too little room. Watch it when a cheerful evening is not required.

**How long is GoodFellas, and what is it rated?**

*GoodFellas* runs 2h 25m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a drama and crime film.

**Where can I watch GoodFellas in the US?**

*GoodFellas* is available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from $5.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is GoodFellas, and is it suitable for children?**

*GoodFellas* carries an 18 certificate in the UK and is not suitable for children. The violence is harsh and made more unpleasant by how ordinary the men's routines come to feel, and the humour offers no reliable shelter from it. The squeamish should expect repeated ugliness across 145 minutes; teenagers below the certificate should wait.

**How does GoodFellas compare to Gomorrah?**

*GoodFellas* is the more entertaining film and [*Gomorrah*](https://film.one/film/gomorrah) the harsher one, and which suits you depends on how much company you want from your criminals. Scorsese's gangsters tell such good stories that their appeal is part of the point; Garrone strips organised crime of any glamour and treats it as an ugly everyday employer. *GoodFellas* is the easier to follow and the one we would recommend more widely.

**What should I watch after GoodFellas?**

After *GoodFellas*, try [*Gomorrah*](https://film.one/film/gomorrah) (2008, Fi1m 84): For a harsher account of organised crime as an everyday employer. Then [*A Prophet*](https://film.one/film/a-prophet) (2009, Fi1m 86): Another education in criminal power, attentive to the small calculations of survival; and [*The Long Good Friday*](https://film.one/film/the-long-good-friday) (1980, Fi1m 88): A gangster’s confidence meets a city that refuses to stay under control.

### Reviews we read (7)

- **The Independent** (★★★★★): The critic calls it one of Scorsese’s greatest films that has not aged at all. They highlight its realistic, down-to-earth portrayal of the everyday banality of gangster life rather than glamorous excess, along with Ray Liotta’s standout performance and voice-over. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/film-reviews-roundup-lion-split-goodfellas-rerelease-a7533176.html)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Sheila Benson (95/100, inferred): Scorsese works at the peak of his power in this pure, hot, unquestioned virtuosity that mixes horrors with mordant humor and flows with exuberance. It is Raging Bull squared, with every detail nailed and new moves shown in a de-mythologized portrait of wiseguys. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-09-19-ca-729-story.html)
- **Empire**, Adam Smith (90/100, inferred): The essay celebrates Scorsese’s technical mastery and the film’s documentary-like realism in depicting mob life. It singles out memorable improvised scenes, the Steadicam tracking shot, and the way the story undercuts the gangsters’ swagger by showing their pathetic downfall. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/empire-essay-goodfellas-review/)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Kirk Honeycutt (90/100, inferred): The critic hails Scorsese's sociological examination of the American gangster subculture, calling it a masterly achievement in intense observation that is complex, volatile, ironic and disquieting. He singles out the spectacular ensemble acting and the film's fast-paced, often funny yet intense exploration of mob life and its consequences. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/goodfellas-review-1990-movie-1041331/)
- **The New York Times**, Vincent Canby (90/100, inferred): The film is a breathless and brilliant adaptation that offers the most politically serious and most evilly entertaining look yet at organized crime. It ranks alongside Scorsese's classics like Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, thanks to its ensemble performances and clear-eyed view of Mafia life. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/19/movies/review-film-a-cold-eyed-look-at-the-mob-s-inner-workings.html)
- **Variety**, Joseph McBride (50/100, inferred): The film is simultaneously fascinating and repellent as an inside look at Mafia life but is dramatically unsatisfying and overlong, with an opaque lead performance that undercuts its intent. The first half excels in exploring the milieu, but the second half piles on numbing depravity without sufficient dramatic weight. [Read](https://variety.com/1990/film/reviews/goodfellas-1200428575/)
- **Sight and Sound**, Tom Milne: The critic praises the film as the most realistic appraisal to date of organised crime and how it operates, viewing the Mafia from the bottom up through rank-and-file members focused on making money. Scorsese's direction, location shooting and performances are highlighted as superbly muscular and fine, with only minor reservations about the use of the wife's narration and necessary truncation of the source material. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/goodfellas-review-cutthroat-capitalism-rules-okay-from-our-archives)

## Details

- **Director:** Martin Scorsese
- **Director:** Martin Scorsese
- **Screenplay:** Nicholas Pileggi, Martin Scorsese
- **Cinematography:** Michael Ballhaus
- **Editor:** Thelma Schoonmaker, James Y. Kwei
- **Production design:** Kristi Zea
- **Costume design:** Richard Bruno
- **Producer:** Irwin Winkler
- **Cast:** Robert De Niro as James Conway; Ray Liotta as Henry Hill; Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito; Lorraine Bracco as Karen Hill; Paul Sorvino as Paul Cicero; Frank Sivero as Frankie Carbone; Tony Darrow as Sonny Bunz; Mike Starr as Frenchy
- **Runtime:** 2h 25m
- **Certificate (MPA):** R
- **Release (the US):** 21 September 1990
- **Genres:** Drama, Crime
- **Also in:** [Best Picture winners](https://film.one/collections/oscar-best-picture.md) (Nominee, 1990); [BAFTA Best Film winners](https://film.one/collections/bafta-best-film.md) (Winner, 1990); [Golden Globe Best Drama winners](https://film.one/collections/golden-globe-drama.md) (Nominee, 1990); [Films where the soundtrack is the real star](https://film.one/collections/soundtrack-is-the-star.md)
- **Budget:** $25 million
- **Box office:** $47 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTBRNXGQR9Q

## Where to watch in the US

- Amazon Prime Video: rent $5.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, hd

*Checked 2026-09-12.*

Also available in: AR, AT, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, DE, EC, EE, ES, FR, GB, IE, JP, LT, MX, PA, PE, PT, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Academy Awards 1991: Best Director (nominated); Best Film Editing (nominated); Best Picture (nominated); Best Supporting Actress (nominated); Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated); Best Supporting Actor (won)

## If you liked this

- *The Friends of Eddie Coyle* (1973): More criminal working life, with less swagger and an equally sharp ear.
- *Gomorrah* (2008), Fi1m 84: For a harsher account of organised crime as an everyday employer. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/gomorrah.md)
- *A Prophet* (2009), Fi1m 86: Another education in criminal power, attentive to the small calculations of survival. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-prophet.md)
- *The Long Good Friday* (1980), Fi1m 88: A gangster’s confidence meets a city that refuses to stay under control. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-long-good-friday.md)
- *The Sopranos* (1999), Fi1m 94: The ordinary irritations of mob life receive more room, and more scrutiny. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/the-sopranos.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/goodfellas