Goodfellas

December 11, 2004

Rated: R Runtime: 146 min Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

DVD Quick Take

This is one of the alltime best mobster movies ever produced. And given that as of the time of this review, The Godfather series is not available on DVD, this is probably the BEST mob movie you can currently get on DVD to enjoy in your home theater.

And for those of you who keep score of such things, this is the movie that broke Scarface’s record for most occurences of the “f-word” in a movie. However, this one was later topped by Pulp Fiction. But inbetween the cursing, there lies an absolutely fantastic mob movie as we follow the true story of Henry Hill. Henry was working for the mob from the time he was a kid and this movie follows his entire career and gives us a fascinating look at the real life of a “Goodfella”.

The quality of the DVD is excellent overall. The video quality is absolutely outstanding, although we wish it were anamorphically enhanced for widescreen sets. The audio is nothing special, supporting Dolby Digital 5.1, but really only using the front speakers and no low frequency effects to speak of. This does not take away from the enjoyment of the movie, although we really do like to hear gunshots bounce around the room. My one complaint is that they make you get up in the middle of the movie and turn the DVD over. It’s a long movie though, so we’ll just consider it a built in pee-break.

If you’re into mob movies, this one belongs in your collection. Or if you’ve just started watching the Sopranos and enjoy it, but have never seen this movie, then go get it today, you’ll love it.

Posted by Billy Bob | Filed Under 5 Stars, Action, DVD, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, R, Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro