This week, look no further than Netflix for one of Martin Scorsese’s greatest movies – Goodfellas. Scorsese is considered one of the greatest directors of all time, and his eclectic career backs that up with some amazing and hugely influential movies. While he is incredibly versatile with the types of films he makes, he is perhaps most famous for his contributions to the gangster movie genre.
From his early breakout movie, Mean Streets, to his Best Picture winner, The Departed, to Scorsese and Robert De Niro’s long-awaited reunion in The Irishman, Scorsese has proven himself a filmmaker who understands this world and is able to tell rich stories among the violence and brutality of the business. However, his greatest gangster movie is one that continues to thrill and mesmerize fans, but time to see it on Netflix is quickly running out.
Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas Leaves Netflix On June 1
The Gangster Classic Is Available On Other Streaming Platforms
The first day of June will mark the end of Goodfellas‘ time on Netflix. The Oscar-winning Martin Scorsese movie stars the late Ray Liotta in the true story of Henry Hill, a young man whose dreams of becoming a gangster eventually led to his being accepted into a notorious crime family, where he became surrounded by the violence and constant danger of this world, leading to his downfall. The 1990 movie is considered one of the best movies of Scorsese’s career and has established itself as a gangster movie classic.
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35 years later, it remains an incredibly rewatchable movie, which makes it all the more unfortunate that Netflix users will be unable to watch it on the platform come June 1. However, there are some other streaming options outside of Netflix, as Goodfellas is also currently available on HBO Max as well as the TCM channel on Amazon. Fans can also buy and rent Goodfellas for a one-time fee on several video-on-demand platforms, such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Microsoft, and YouTube.
Why Goodfellas Is Still Considered A Classic Of The Gangster Genre
Goodfellas Is An Engrossing And Disturbing Look At The Crime World
Even with Martin Scorsese’s other brilliant gangster movies, Goodfellas remains his best take on the genre. Just as The Godfather reinvented gangster movies by depicting these ruthless criminals as a family, Scorsese made the audience engrossed in this world and showed how someone could be seduced into it despite all the danger that comes along with it. Seeing young Henry Hill being introduced to this world and the people in it is like a kid discovering music or sports and wanting to get the fame and fortune that comes with it.
One of the most iconic scenes in Goodfellas that exemplifies this engrossing nature is the Copacabana in which Henry takes his date, Karen, through a special entrance in the club as they are given VIP treatment. Through the scene’s amazing one-take presentation, the audience is put into the same position as Karen, getting this exhilarating invitation into a world of power and influence. Henry’s narration also gives a first-person perspective of the reality of this world, filled with Goodfellas‘ real-life crime figures, making it a fascinating and authentic look.
The gradual change in the movie as we leave behind the fun moments of wealth and power and venture into the areas of murder and paranoia
Scorsese’s attention to detail brings life to the gangster genre in a way it never has before. The scene in which Henry and other incarcerated wiseguys make pasta sauce behind bars is still talked about among fans because it is such a simple detail that gives dimension to these criminals. However, in the end, they are criminals, which leads to the gradual change in the movie as we leave behind the fun moments of wealth and power and venture into the areas of murder and paranoia.
From Tommy murdering Spider to Robert De Niro’s Jimmy Conway planning to kill his associates, the shift is a brilliant way of reminding the audience of the reality behind this story they have become so enamored with. Some of the greatest movies of all time come from the gangster genre, but Goodfellas found a new way to tell this story that no other movie has been able to replicate since.
Goodfellas
10/10
- Release Date
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September 19, 1990
- Runtime
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145 minutes
