‘Best’ mafia film critics call greater than The Godfather is streaming | Films | Entertainment

Goodfellas, celebrated as one of cinema’s finest accomplishments, serves as proof of Martin Scorsese’s directorial brilliance and remains firmly established as a legendary gangster film. The story of Henry Hill, the New York-born Irish-Italian youth lured into a criminal existence through admiration for the local Mafia personalities, enthrals throughout.

The memorable opening line establishes the atmosphere: “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.” This compelling tale, rooted in actual events, follows Henry’s path through the criminal underworld from the 1950s until his collapse in 1980. Frequently positioned just beneath The Godfather in lists of the greatest gangster films ever made, it even exceeds that masterpiece according to the distinguished critic Roger Ebert, reports the Mirror US.

Ebert praised Goodfellas with a flawless review in The Chicago Sun-Times, proclaiming: “No finer film has ever been made about organized crime – not even The Godfather.”

Recognised as arguably Scorsese’s most celebrated achievement, Goodfellas was described by USA Today as “a whopping good time” upon its initial cinema release. It has subsequently remained an enduring classic.

Rotten Tomatoes echoes this view, declaring: “Hard-hitting and stylish, GoodFellas is a gangster classic — and arguably the high point of Martin Scorsese’s career.” Fascinatingly, ordinary cinema-goers display even greater affection than professional reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes, as evidenced by the exceptional 97% audience rating versus a marginally lower but still outstanding 94% critical endorsement.

On IMDB, the picture boasts a notable 8.7 out of 10. David Denby of New York Magazine offered glowing praise for the gangster masterpiece in 1990.

He said: “GoodFellas, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorsese, and directed by Scorsese, is the greatest film ever made about the sensual and monetary lure of crime, and the whole perversely brilliant movie comes into focus in a single, staggering shot.”

Empire magazine praised the picture, positioning it above numerous others on its ‘100 Best Movies of All Time to Watch’ list – albeit still beneath The Godfather.

The prestigious film publication enthused, “No film hits like Goodfellas,” likening its effect to an adrenaline surge of narcotic peaks and troughs, capturing Henry Hill’s descent into catastrophe.

They added, “And you have to live the rest of your life like a schnook, because, frankly, no other film compares to Goodfellas.

“The only solution: another big snort of Goodfellas. Scorsese, writer Nicholas Pileggi and editor Thelma Schoonmaker constructed almost the entire film like a trailer, one scene bleeding into the next, not giving you the opportunity to stop watching, to let go, to take a breath. It’s an unstoppable feat of propulsion. Now that’s cinema.”