1
GOODFELLAS
Dir: Martin Scorsese
(1990) Where some supposed
‘Mafia’ flicks are really just about the
underworld, GoodFellas is the real thing:
an almost anthropological study of the
codes, values and habits of a particular
sub-set of Italian-American males, and that’s
why it claims the ShortList top spot.
Adapted by Nicholas Pileggi from his
book Wiseguy: Life In A Mafia Family, it has
the ring of unarguable truth, largely provided
by the pettiness it describes and the abrupt
brutality of its violence. The story is
introduced via Henry Hill’s voiceover, like
an array of beasts you’d see at the zoo
(“And then there was Jimmy Two-Times …”).
The combination of Scorsese’s directorial
style, Michael Ballhaus’s cinematography
and Thelma
Schoonmaker’s
editing ensure
a thrilling ride.
Did you know?
Ray Liotta listened
to the FBI’s many
phone-tapping
tapes of Henry Hill
while driving to and
from the set.
Depp and Pacino: PETA’s
public enemy No 1 & 2
within – only to wind up bonding with the
man he’s meant to betray (Al Pacino).
Screenwriter Paul Attanasio (also the
creator of Homicide: Life On The Street)
takes us deep into the world of New York’s
Bonanno family and shows us a portrait
of paunchy, middle-aged losers trying
(and usually failing) to live up to their own
ruthless codes of honour.
Did you know? Johnny Depp took
gun-firing lessons from the FBI
specifically for the role.
Utterly ruthless,
morally autistic,
Tony Montana
is the dark half
of the American
dream
7. THE
HUNDRED STEPS
Dir: Marco Tullio
Giordana (2000)
Born in 1948 in a tiny
town in Sicily, and
raised in a home just
100 steps from the
headquarters of the
local Mafia boss, Peppino Impastato
grows up to become a radical after his
beloved uncle is murdered by the local
Mafioso. He’s a fervent critic of the
secretive crime syndicate – broadcasting
his angry denouncements over a pirate
radio station. Amazingly, he made it to
the age of 30 before he was killed by an
explosion which was deemed suspicious.
But the director’s ambition is
greater than mere melodrama will allow,
charting the growth of Italian political
radicalism throughout the Sixties
and Seventies.
Did you know? The case into the
murder was reopened 20 years
after Impastato’s death.
8. CASINO
Dir: Martin Scorsese
(1995) Some critics
claimed Casino was
GoodFellas Part II.
They were wrong. More
ambitious than many
give it credit for, it’s
part-documentary
(what other film has shown in such
painstaking detail the nuts-and-bolts
workings of a Vegas gambling joint?),
mAFIA mOvIE GOLD
part-art movie (extended voiceover,
cinematic allusions) and part-gangland
drama. It charts De Niro’s high-flying
Casino czar Sam Rothstein – himself an
ace with the numbers – after he finds
his world rocked by the arrival of siren
Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone) and
begins his long fall from grace. The
result is hypnotic, melancholy and
brilliant, arguably Scorsese’s most
underrated movie.
Did you know? Michelle Pfeiffer
and Madonna were considered for
the role of Ginger before Sharon
Stone landed it.
Sharon was overjoyed
with her manicure
No one argued with
De Niro’s refusal to wear
a ridiculous collar
www.ShortList.com / 25
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