Back in 1990, Goodfellas hit the movie screens and achieved a modest success. Unlike The Godfather movies that glamorized the upper hierarchy of organized crime in America, Goodfellas–based on Nicholas Pileggi’s Wiseguy–shows what life was like for the street-level gangsters. Pileggi had access to a criminal in Witness Protection–Henry Hill–who had intimate knowledge of Mafia figures and their various schemes. The movie was nominated for six Oscars (winning one for Joe Pesci), five Golden Globe awards and eight British Academy Awards (winning five).
Glenn Kenny, a film critic, interviewed Marin Scorsese, Robert De Niro and other key figures involved in Goodfellas. My favorite chapter of the book was “All the Songs” where Kenny analyzes all the music–over 40 songs!–included in the movie. And, sadly, most of these songs were not included in the Goodfellas soundtrack. Fans of Goodfellas will love all the detail Kenny provides in the scene-by-scene chapter.
If you’re a fan of Goodfellas you’ll love Glenn Kenny’s Made Men: The Story of Goodfellas! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Prologue: Mortin Scorses, December 1989 — 13
One: Nick, and Nora, and others — 20
Two: Players — 36
Three: The prep work — 49
Four: A Martin Scorsese picture, scene by scene — 67
Five: All the songs — 230
Six: The schoonmaker treatment — 255
Seven: The aftermath — 264
Eight: The eventual tragedy of Henry Hill — 280
Nine: Unofficial narratives — 292
Ten: From Goodfellas to The Irishman — 303
Epilogue: Martin Scorsese, March 2020 — 321
Postscript: A Goodfellas Library — 346
Appendix: A Goodfellas Timeline — 361
Notes/Sources — 365
Acknowledgements — 381
Index — 385
Not a huge fan—too violent, among other things—but the music was indeed fantastic: best use of Harry Nilsson’s “Jump into the Fire” ever!
Deb, here’s a list of the songs in GOODFELLAS:
1. TONY BENNETT – “Rags To Riches”
2. THE MOONGLOWS – “Sincerely”
3. THE CLEFTONES – “Can’t We Be Sweethearts”
4. GIUSEPPE DI STEFANO – “Firenze Sogna”
5. OTIS WILLIAMS AND THE CHARMS – “Hearts of Stone”
6. THE CADILLACS – “Speedo”
7. GIUSEPPE DI STEFANO -“Parlami d’Amore Mariu”
8. THE MARVELLETTES – “Playboy”
9. BILLY WARD AND HIS DOMINOS – “Stardust”
10. JOHNNY MATHIS – “It’s Not For Me To Say”
11. MINA – “This World We Love In (Il Cielo In Una Stanza)”
12. BETTY CURTIS — “I Will Follow Him (Chariot)”
13. THE CRYSTALS — “Then He Kissed Me”
14. THE HARPTONES — “Life Is But A Dream”
15. THE CHANTELS — “Look Into My Eyes”
16. THE SHANGRI-LAS — “Leader of the Pack”
17. BOBBY VINTON — “Roses Are Red”
18. cast — “Toot, Toot, Tootsie Goodby”
19. cast — “Happy Birthday To You”
20. DEAN MARTIN — “Ain’t That A Kick In The Head”
21. JERRY VALE — “Pretend You Don’t See Her”
22. THE CRYSTALS — “He’s Sure the Boy I Love”
23. THE SHANGRI-LAS — “Remember (Walkin’ In The Sand)”
24. DONAVAN — “Atlantis”
25. ARETHA FRANKLIN — “Baby I Love You”
26. BOBBY DARIN — “Beyond the Sea”
27. JACK JONES — “Wives and Lovers”
28. TONY BENNETT — “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams”
29. THE ROLLING STONES — “Monkey Man”
30. THE ROLLING STONES — “Gimme Shelter”
31. THE RONETTES — “Frosty The Snow Man”
32. DARLENE LOVE — “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”
33. cast — “Danny Boy”
34. CREAM — “Sunshine Of Your Love”
35. THE DRIFTERS — “Bells of St. Marys”
36. DEREK AND THE DOMINOS — “Layla”
37. VITO AND THE SALUTATIONS — “Unchained Melody”
38. HARRY NILSSON — “Jump Into The Fire”
39. GEORGE HARRISON — “What Is Life”
40. THE ROLLING STONES — “Memo From Turner”
41. MUDDY WATERS — “Mannish Boy”
42. THE WHO — “The Magic Bus”
43. SID VICIOUS — “My Way”
I agree with Deb that it is not a favorite, but I did like it quite a bit, and even on a first watch I noticed the great use of music. If you check on Wikipedia, they have a list of all the songs and when they were used in the film. “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” and Vito & the Salutations’ version of “Unchained Melody” make it a winner for me. But then Scorsese, like Spike Lee, has always had a great sense of the right music to use in a movie.
Jeff, there is no complete soundtrack of all the songs in GOODFELLAS. Of course, with iTunes or other music software, one could “build” a playlist of all the songs.
I’ve seen it twice, in 1990 and again around ten years later, but this has reminded me that it’s time for a rewatch. Going through the song list I came up with 27 I was definitely familiar with and 16 I couldn’t recall. Not bad for a movie with that many songs. The book goes on my list of things to be read after I get to the recent book on the making of “Chinatown”. The 4-5 month closure of my library that finally ended in August has gotten me so far behind in my reading that I may never catch up.
this is one of those movies I think I’ve seen, but not sure. I’ll see if the library has a copy avail.
I don’t always see movies in a timely manner. I saw Titanic only about 3-4 years ago
Maggie, GOODFELLAS is a long movie (over 2 hours) but well worth it. It doesn’t seem long to me.
LAYLA is the one I remember best from the movie, playing over the montage where the police find the bodies of Jimmy the Gent’s crew in cars, freezer trucks, etc. There was also a pretty good made-for-cable film, THE BIG HEIST, about Jimmy the Gent (Donald Sutherland in the De Niro role) and the Lufthansa theft. Henry Hill, like Donald Trump, used to call in frequently to Howard Stern’s radio show.
Fred, Henry Hill seems to have been a character in Real Life. Glenn Kenny refers to those Howard Stern appearances. Apparently, Henry Hill was drunk a lot but Stern put him on anyway.
I loved the movie and the music and I will love this book. Thanks.
Patti, the scene-by-scene analysis fascinated me. I’m amazed by what goes into making a movie like GOODFELLAS.
Thryshot part of it un NEIRS a bar two blocks from where I live.
Ray, bars are the spine of GOODFELLAS!
That’s an interesting (dare I say crazy?) collection of pop music from extremely different categories.
Haven’t seen the movie but remember more than half of those songs – and still like them.
Eric Clapton who appears twice here (Cream and Derek and the Dominoes) btw is my wife’s favourite while I really enjoyed the girl groups from the 60s.
PS:
Just a small correction: It’s Donovan and he’s a Scotsman …
Interesting generally that there are quite a few Brits here …
Wolf, Scorese was a big fan of the Rolling Stones so most of his movies have one of their songs.
Just remembered …
Do you know the story of the last song’s musician here, Sid Vicious?
He had an unbelievable life (and death …)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Vicious
Him singing “My Way” after Sinatra sound crazy too …
Wolf, you’re right about the sad-strange story of Sid Vicious.
Have you seen SID AND NANCY, Wolf? Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb (who was great) as Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungeon. It’s like watching a car wreck when you can see it coming from a long way off.
Jeff, I heard about it – but I’m not a fan of that kind of horror movie …
George, I saw Goodfellas a long time ago though I should probably watch it again. Apart from Scorsese staples De Niro and Joe Pesci, I always felt Ray Liotta was cut out for gangster movies. A fairly underrated actor, I think.
Prashant, Ray Liotta plays the key role in GOODFELLAS as the narrator and the actor that explains the gangster life. The entire movie rests on Liotta’s ability to project realism so the audience buys in.