Goodfellas

I first saw this movie when I was 12 and loved it. One of the best movies ever. Gives us a real depiction of the mob through the eyes of the everyday person, Henry Hill. It also teaches how all good things can come to the end and teaches about true friends and trust.

Very violent but the violence is not at all gratuitous and I think that this is an important movie to watch.

GoodFellas (1990) is a film following Henry Hill, who’s been a mobster his whole life. We see him as he rises through the ranks and becomes apart of a crew. This film is overall very mature, all of the content displayed in the film is shown in rather graphic nature, such as violence, language and drug use, however with the desensitization going on in recent years, teens should be able to handle most of the content. In this review, I will be going over all of the content in 5 parts… VIOLENCE: SEVERE Within the first 2 minutes of the film, a man is shown bloodied and beaten in the backseat of a car. He is then violently stabbed repeatedly with an abnormally large knife and shot several times, killing him. Blood is shown all over his clothing. A boy is whipped with a belt as punishment. A man is shown running down the street screaming that he’s bleeding and he’s been shot. Some blood is shown on his torso. A man is violently beaten in the face with a gun 11 times, blood is shown coming out of his face. Blood is also shown on the gun later. This scene is very brutal. A man has a glass shattered on his head. A tiny wound on his head is shown. A boy is shot in the foot, and later shot in the chest repeatedly until death. Pretty bloody. Two hangers viscously beat another gangster to death. One man uses his pistol to bash the mans face while the other stomps in his head with his boot, blood is shown briefly spraying about from the pistol onto the attackers, the boot can be briefly shown/heard crunching onto the mans head, the victims bloody face and head is shown while he is still alive before one of the attackers sticks his pistol into his mouth but it is kicked away. This man is revealed to be the man in the trunk from the opening scene, and the murder is shown once again. A man is shot in the head, a very large and rather exaggerated amount of blood splatters onto a bed. He is shot a few times afterwards offscreen. A man has a knife stabbed into the back of his head and slowly pulled out, rather graphic. A couple is shown dead in their car with blood splattered on the windows and bullet holes in their faces, we also see bodies falling out of a dump truck with bullet holes in their faces and we also see a corpse frozen in a meat truck (no blood) this scene isn’t very graphic, however. A man has his face slammed against a car seat 5 times before he is punched 3 times. Blood is shown all over his face, nose and mouth and eyes before his attackers take him into a zoo and threaten to feed him to the lions, the scene ends and he survives. A man is suddenly shot in the back of the head, blood is shown spraying out of the exit wound before him and all of his blood splats against the floor. Afterwards, blood is shown pouring from his head and pooling all over the floor. This scene is very graphic and very bloody. LANGUAGE: SEVERE 300 uses of “f*ck”, the words "ass", "balls", "bastard", "bitch", "bullsh*t”, “c*cksucker", "crap", "damn", "d*ck", "f*g", "goddamn", "jerkoff", "motherf*cker", "n*gger", "piss", "prick", "sh*t", and "whore" are used. DRUG CONTENT: MODERATE A few scenes where characters sniff cocaine, several scenes show cocaine being produced in a kitchen area, a man is addicted to pills, frequent smoking and drinking, drug dealing is a major plot later in the film, and is very important and talked about often, a woman pours cocaine down a toilet, cocaine is shown because of this theme. The drug use is very moderate rather than severe as the actual drug use is infrequent, it more so appears as a plot point leading to the downfall of characters. SEXUAL CONTENT: MILD The only onscreen sexual content shown is a brief scene where during a prison visit a woman is shown giving a man oral sex for a few seconds. This is brief, and the only thing shown is the woman’s head bobbing up and down near the mans crotch, but a table obscures any graphic shots. References to an affair, a woman unzips a mans fly and gets on her knees for oral sex (the scene cuts, only implied) a man lies and cheats on his wife to have affairs with other woman (referenced), a woman hides a gun in her underwear, a woman mentions that violence turns her on, some kissing scenes. Nothing graphic at all, easily mild. OVERALL: 14

Sex - 2/5 Some very minor sexual references, and one reference of implied sex Language - 5/5 Very strong language throughout, no sexual language though Violence - 4.5/5 It's very violent but compared to other r rated movies it's fairly average. Lots of shootings and beating with blood included for about half of them. Drugs - 4.5/5 Lots of drug use and talk, cocaine is only shown being used twice but characters smoke and drink a lot, it is glorified. Frightening Scenes - 2/5 Some intense themes, and an intense ending. Other then that there's actually some light and funny moments within the film.

Goodfellas is one of the only violent movies I've seen where I believe the violence is necessary. The violence in Goodfellas isn't unruly and in my opinion shouldn't be feared by parents, because kids can watch it. It's violent yes, there's blood, shootings, stabbings, etc. The average stuff in movies you wouldn't let your kid see, but in Goodfellas they teach not to do this violence, and in order to teach that they need to use some realistic examples. That's the same case with the drug use, characters use drugs a lot, one character is addicted. Drugs are brought up probably 5 or 10 times and are seen being used once or twice. The language should be the only thing in this film that parents should be worried about, it's very strong and it never specifically teaches not to use it, but if your kid is already in middle school or high school it's nothing different to what they hear on the daily. The final aspect of the film is the intensity, it's not traditionally intense, there's no big fight scenes. But there is many sad moments and it does deal with intense themes. It's definitely a movie kids and parents should see but only on the right day. I recommend planning it, and making sure you're ready for an epic movie that will stay with you forever.

Despite what the majority of the reviews on here say, the sexual content is very mild especially compared to other crime classics such as Pulp Fiction and the Godfather. I personally think the drug use and language are the main problems. While the violence is still strong it's nothing intense, there are shootings, stabbings and beatings but only some of them include blood and their are never guts. The drug use is pretty strong. Cocaine is snorted two or three times and characters are constantly smoking. The main character is an addict and like many Scorsese films it isn't glorified. in fact it is a key factor that leads to his downfall. So if anything Goodfellas is very anti-drug. The language is very strong, there are 300+ f-bombs and within ten minutes in the film you tune it out and realize the word means nothing to these characters, just make sure your kid knows it shouldn't mean nothing to them. In short Goodfellas is a very good film that teaches good lessons, I think any kids 12 or 13 plus should be able to handle it but only 14 or older should be able to understand the consequences or drug use and violence. I watched it with my 13 year old, who is very mature, and we had a short talk after the film, I asked him if he understood that this drug use was supposed to be bad and he seemed to understand.

This movie is a great movie for a mature 14 yr old who understands that the things in this movie are not to be repeated in the real world. The movie itself is a classic tale of life in the mafia. If your child has seen The Godfather, it's not too much worse than it, maybe a little more violent and sexual but not too much. Maybe watch it with your teen on a Saturday night, and not with mom.

Violence 5/5 Sex 4/5 Language 5/5 Drinking/Drugs/Smoking 5/5

A classic to watch with older kids. Ton of violence and language but only to portray the mob lifestyle and it’s effects on people’s behavior. Little to no sex scenes very skippable.