A Most Violent Year comes out this week and
looking at Oscar Isaac's hairdo in all the trailers got us feeling
really nostalgic for the mob movie classic, GoodFellas.
It also kind of made us nostalgic for blow and
extramarital affairs, but we'll save that for another episode, okay?
Before we get into this I will warn you that this is not a spoiler-free
things you didn't know.
I mean, if you haven't seen Goodfellas by now, you're a jerk off anyway.
But, I just wanted to put out the warning.
All right, enough talk about being a jerk off or cheating on your wife and
doing tons of sweet, sweet cocaine.
Here are seven things you didn't know about Goodfellas, probably.
(Music)
>> Never rat on your friends, (Sound).
and always keep your mouth shut. >> Let's start off with a thing about this
scene where the guys are all celebrating after a great score,
because who doesn't love a successful robbery, right?
Well, I guess technically the person getting robbed doesn't love it but
anyway, you can see how the scene starts off with all the guys cracking up.
Well, that's all thanks to Paul Sorvino.
Before each take of the scene,
Sorvino told a different joke to get everyone laughing.
After six or seven takes, he started to run out of his A material and
his jokes weren't quite as funny.
Still though,
good on you Paul Sorvino for getting those genuine laughs into the film.
(Sound) >> Why don't you go fuck yourself, Tom?
(Sound) >> Goodfellas is full of actors
who later on starred in The Sopranos. >> One of the more memorable ones is
Michael Imperioli who plays Spider.
Now this scene where Tommy kills Spider is critical for
Tommy's character development.
You know, his development into a total psychotic dick.
But originally, Warner Brothers originally wanted this scene taken out.
They thought it was too brutal and would make Tommy too unlikable which is
like the whole point of the scene, Warner Brothers, come on.
Also, while filming this part where Tommy's pumping Spider full of lead,
Michael Imperioli threw himself backward into the bar so
hard that he cut his hand on a pitcher and had to go to the hospital.
The incident left everyone on set shaken up for the rest of the day.
Yikes.
And one more quick Goodfellas Sopranos crossover bonus type thing, Remember how
Tommy shoots Spider in the foot, you know, before he kills him a few scenes later.
Well Sopranos has a bit of a callback to that in this episode
where Christopher shoots the baker in the foot.
Just a little tipping of the hat to the whole Spider/Christopher connection.
>> You shot my foot!
>> It happens.
>> Next thing!
(Sound) Since we're talking a bit about Tommy's brutality, we can't leave it out
a thing about this scene where he's pistol whipping Billy Batts.
Just a classic pistol whipping scene.
The real Henry Hill said that Goodfellas was more than 90% accurate in depicting
real events, but they weren't totally accurate right here.
The real life beating of Billy Batts was so hard core the gun actually
fell apart in Tommy's hand while he's beating Billy with it.
No wonder they thought the guy was dead.
(Noise) I'm funny how?
I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you?
I make you laugh?
I'm here to fucking amuse you?
What do you mean funny, funny how?
How am I funny? >> Joe Pesci's portrayal of Tommy as
a sick fuck and
a hothead was another thing that Henry Hill said was very true to life.
But most people don't know that the real Tommy, Tommy DeSimone was 6'2 and
built like a prize fighter, pretty much the exact opposite of Joe Pesci.
With Pesci's version of Tommy as a short guy you can sort of figure he just has
a Napoleon complex making him act that way.
>> What the fuck are you looking at?
You (Bleep).
(Bleep) you moron.
(Laugh) >> As for
why the real Tommy was the way he was, well maybe he was just crazy as shit.
Ultimately, the real Tommy got whacked for killing Billy Batts, which we see in
the movie but also for killing Ronald Foxy Jerothe, who was John Gotti's protege.
So that's a nice little Mafia history lesson for you.
I feel like I'm in danger now that I know that.
Next thing.
(Sound) You may have known all that
stuff about Tommy.
I doubt it, but maybe you did.
So here's something you may not have known about his execution scene.
That man right there is Martin Scorsese's dad, Vinnie.
And here he is again in prison making the sauce.
Now this sauce later on in the movie was actually made by Martin Scorsese's
mom, Katherine.
Here she is in the movie playing Tommy's mom.
(Music)
Martin Scorsese's parents were on set pretty much everyday and
they weren't just making sauces and doing bit parts,
they were also pressing the collars on all the mob guy's shirts.
Martin Scorsese felt that his parents were the only ones who knew how to do it
properly.
(Music)
Makes sense to me.
As long as they were hanging around set anyway, might as well put them to work.
(Music)
Remember the prosecutor towards the end of Goodfellas,
the guy who's telling Henry Hill that he's totally fucked unless he becomes a rat.
>> But basically your only salvation.
>> Well that guy is playing himself.
That's the real Edward McDonald who really was the prosecutor who pushed Hill into
the witness protection program and sent the real Jimmy and Paul to the pokie.
When production was scouting McDonald's office as research for the movie,
he more or less volunteered to play himself in Goodfellas,
which is a super ballsy move, McDonald.
After a screen test, Scorsese was into it and now Edward Mcdonald is immortalized
in one of the greatest mob movies of all time, playing himself, Edward McDonald.
I'm kind of jealous and I don't mind admitting it.
(Noise) >> I'm an average nobody, get to live
the rest of my life like a schnook. >> Let's wrap things up by talking about
the very end of Goodfellas, where Tommy basically shoots the audience point blank.
It may remind you of James Bond or
some other instance where you've seen a guy shoot right at the camera.
But it's actually an homage specifically to this,
the final shot of The Great Train Robbery from 1903.
It's a classic short film that clearly influenced Martin Scorsese.
But, way to go high brow with your references,
Marty. >> You don't mind if
I call you Marty, right?
All right guys, let us know if this got you in the mood to rewatch Good Fellas,
or Godfather, or any other mob classic, or if it just got you in the mood for
some meatballs.
For me it's a little bit of both.
Thanks for watching, and be sure to check out cinefix.com and
subscribe for more truish things about movies, and sometimes sweet,
sweet cocaine, right here on Things You Didn't Know.
(Sound)