Originally Posted By: Turnbull
Originally Posted By: VitoC
In GoodFellas, however, every second is totally riveting and nothing seems wasted. Every scene and line of dialogue feel like they're telling an essential part of the story, and one feels that if anything were done differently, the movie would be diminished.

My opinion anyway. What are your thoughts?

You said it all right there, Vito! A very long movie, and not a minute wasted, not a line of dialog that doesn't work, not a scene that didn't belong there--and that would diminish the movie if it were removed. Bang-bang action and mordant humor. To be fair, "Gangs" is a different concept--it's more like a stage drama than a street depiction. The tipoff is the deliberate way Scorsese set that fireworks display early on--you know it's going to be stagy.


The only (minor) criticism I would make regarding the dialogue in GoodFellas concerns the scene where Henry, as a kid, meets Jimmy. The voiceover states that this time period was "before Apalachin." Now Mafia buffs know what Apalachin is, so for them there's no problem. But others watching this scene wouldn't know what Henry was talking about. Maybe the meaning of Apalachin could have been clarified in some way. But that's a very minor flaw, not something that significantly diminishes the movie.

Let me tell ya somethin my kraut mick friend!