18 Facts About Goodfellas

1.

Goodfellas is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler.

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2.

Goodfellas received widespread critical acclaim upon release: the critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes calls it "arguably the high point of Martin Scorsese's career".

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3.

Additionally, Goodfellas was named the year's best film by various critics' groups.

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4.

Goodfellas is widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, particularly in the gangster genre.

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5.

Goodfellas begins working for local caporegime Paulie Cicero and his associates: Jimmy "the Gent" Conway, an Irish-American truck hijacker and gangster, and Tommy DeVito, a fellow juvenile delinquent.

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6.

Goodfellas is based on New York crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi's book, Wiseguy.

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7.

Goodfellas had always been fascinated by the mob lifestyle and was drawn to Pileggi's book because he thought it was the most honest portrayal of gangsters he had ever read.

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8.

Goodfellas was drawn to the documentary aspects of Pileggi's book.

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9.

Goodfellas put plenty of detail in every frame because he believed the gangster life is so rich.

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10.

Goodfellas made transcripts of these sessions, took the lines the actors came up with that he liked best, and put them into a revised script that the cast worked from during principal photography.

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11.

Goodfellas premiered at the 47th Venice International Film Festival, where Scorsese received the Silver Lion award for best director.

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12.

Goodfellas was released on DVD in March 1997, in a single-disc, double-sided, single-layer format that requires the disc to be flipped during viewing; in 2004, Warner Home Video released a two-disc, dual-layer version, with remastered picture and sound, and bonus materials such as commentary tracks.

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13.

Goodfellas is 39th on James Berardinelli's 2014-made list of the top 100 films of all time.

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14.

In 2015, Goodfellas ranked 20th on BBC's "100 Greatest American Films" list, voted on by film critics from around the world.

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15.

Goodfellas is No 94 on the American Film Institute's "100 Years, 100 Movies" list and moved up to No 92 on its AFI's 100 Years.

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16.

Goodfellas was regarded as the second-best in the gangster film genre .

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17.

Goodfellas inspired director David Chase to make the HBO television series The Sopranos.

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18.

In 2015, Goodfellas closed the Tribeca Film Festival with a screening of its 25th-anniversary remaster.

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