Yes Scarface is safely enthroned in the Pantheon of great films but should Goodfellas be up there alongside it ?
Goodfellas is, for me at least, a far more accurate portrayal of mob life than any of the Godfather Trilogy. Why should we confine ourselves to worshipping at the altar of Scarface and the 3 G's when there are other cinematic masterpieces in circulation ?
I'm talking La Haine ( a frighteningly poignant and realistic portrayal of social decay in the Parisienne suburbs ), Raging Bull, Taxi Driver and many,many more ?
Plus we should be looking at wider ranging issues such as : Who's gonna win the Champions League ? , Is Britain's occupation of Northern Ireland tenable ? , ETA - Basque heros or Basque bast%*ds ? , USA - pro- Israelis or pro-Israelis ? , Bush - independent leader or hand puppet of corporate powers ? Iraq - Sanctions or dying children ?

To answer the first question, YES; Goodfellas should probably be around the top (due to the good story, but inspite of my utter admiration to Pesci's performance, it still isn't close to Pacino in Scarface).

Concerning the second group of questions, NO. We SHOULDN'T worry about those issues; at least not here. There are Millions of other Political and Sporting websites that deal with those things. Read on the Top-lefthand corner of your screen....GANGSTER BB.

I'm moving this to the "other gangster films" category...

JG

Actually, The Godfather Trilogy is a very accurate portrait of what the Cosa Nostra looks like the the executive level. However, it is slightly over-refined, and elegant in those three films than in most other films (or in real), but in Part III we see what a real mob boss operates like (sort of, Luccese later in the film, and the Commission meeting in Atlanta).
If you've read the real life stories of Paul Vario, Tommy DeSimmone, Jimmy Burke and Henry Hill (All real life counterparts of the film characters), then you'll probably know that they did in fact hijack airports and steel from truck drivers. I.E, they were soldiers in the film, and they were soldiers in real life. Paulie was a capo for the Luccese family. You cannot compare this film, to the Godfather. However, you can rate its quality and accuracy, and on both levels, the films are top notch.
Scarface, however, has nothing to do with either the Mafia or those films, and is completely independent of the genre. It simply shows the upheval of a low level cuban hood to the high level of drug kingpin before his inevitable downfall due to drug addiction and arrogance.
Your points are well taken, however.

Hitman: Britain's occupation has been tenable for decades, so I don't see its grasp loosening anytime soon. I know shit about cricket. Bush is smarter than given credit for. The USA is more pro-Israel than Israel itself. Goodfellas is grand.

Well they're not comparable. Scarface doesnt have the class of Goodfellas or the acting, but it is a hall of famer nonetheless.

One of my favourite movies is Goodfellas, Nothing beats a Joe Pesci and Robert De Nero movie.
My opinion is that they are up there as one of the greats, just look at Casino, brilliant movie.......

Very true about De Niro and Pesci films. Don't forget Raging Bull too. OOhh you all have to try the drink raging bull. Red Bull (the energy drink) and Vodka.. Woo goes straight to your head. Energy drinks and spirits get you drunk trust me. It goes down better if you have a nice pint beside you aswell.

Yeah, I like mixing Lucozade w/ Vodka or Gin, and same goes for Red Bull. We have similar tastes, apparently.

Being a gritty movie almost will aiways do good.