Goodfellas vs The Godfather
Hands down Goodfellas, much more realistic depiction of the mafia. Godfather painted them as classy aristocrats, the reality is much less pretty. They are still just organized street thugs.
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MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Goodfellas vs The Godfather
Both are brilliant, but I agree. If you want realism, Goodfellas is where its at.
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shareThe Godfather. Goodfellas is boring.
shareHow is it boring?
shareThe characters were not interesting and there was hardly any danger element. The characters just hang out for the whole movie and occasionally murder or beat up a random person. In The Godfather, the Corleones come under attack by the Tattaglias and other rival families, but in Goodfellas, you never get the sense that the main characters are under threat by any kind of danger.
sharePaul Cicero's crew and associates were in constant danger
There was the post-Lufthansa heist massacre, and one guy wound up in the trunk of a car, another bled out on the floor of an old man's basement, half of them went to prison or the morgue by the end
Godfather! I hate Ray Liotta!
shareJust curious but why?
shareThe character he played in Goodfellas was despicable. Maybe I should have said "I hate the character" instead.
shareHenry Hill was a terrible guy
Even his sister railed against him as a bum that would blame others for everything he did wrong as a kid
Born jerk!
Liotta actually lent Hill some charm...the real Henry Hill was apparently awful
Godfather 10
Goodfellas 9
>Godfather painted them as classy aristocrats
It was one of the themes of the movie. They did a hit on Don C., because his way of doing things became antiquated. Selling drugs on the street was the new big thing.
I think both movies are romanticizing the mobster life. Godfather slightly more. The romanticizing is done by leaving things out and not by making things up in the most part. Which is ok, both movies didn't go out to portray the realism of the crimes, they had different focus areas. Watch Gomorra, the movie and the show for a much more authentic way of showing organized crime in real life.