I've seen this classic numerous times and I would have to lean towards hero. I think he was a hero that 'had' to turn into a rat based on unseen forces and factors that were placed against him.
He did his best to set up those he disliked but then as time went on, he was forced to turn against his partners. That was something he never wanted to do.
Thoughts?
I consider him a hero.
A hero with a huge set of balls, in fact.
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Wait a minute... who am I here?
A heroic rat?
Either way, the word "hero" is grossly overused ie often misused. Here, too, I think.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
Well I was only given the 2 choices, sooo...
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Wait a minute... who am I here?
One emphatizes.
But yes, I think Ciello´s character was too ambiguous, nuanced and often contradictory that such plain, clear-cut "descriptions" would even begin to acknowledge the guy´s complexities.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
good post. and it's not just about him as if he exists in a vacuum. it's what the system turns people into too.
We're not soldiers and he's not the enemy. He's a pizza man.
A hero first.
But also a f'cking rat.
Good people, bad partner.
Etc.
I can see both sides.
Yeah sure, it's a bit of a copout answer, but sometimes things are more complex than a simple binary answer.
But if forced to choose one over another, gotta go with hero. Ain't nothing worse than a corrupt cop, so he did a "good snitch job" so to speak.
The slave begins by demanding justice and ends by wanting to wear a crown
A scumbag RAT through and through ! A sad attempt at assuaging his own guilt by implicating others. But, he didn't want to pay the price - he should have resigned first. Deciding to protect some (including yourself) while on the sneak, ruining others lives is 'heroic' ? He wanted to keep his salary/benefits/retirement etc and same for his 'crew'. And he perjured himself while giving testimony against others. In criminal circles you do the time, not rat on your friends because you had the misfortune of getting busted.
In 'Good Fellas' Henry knew the 'family' was going to have him off'd, wife too. Nothing wrong with doing what ya gotta do when you're being set up so, in my view, Henry had more honor than this rat. The movie made it seem that he did what he did out of 'conscience'. He did what he did because he knew it was eventually all going to collapse like a house of cards so he wanted to be the first to cut his own deal (IMHO).
A person with a conscience wants to purge - make him/her self clean by confessing their 'sins'. He didn't do that at all. His were the actions of a guilty man who knew he was going to go down - that was what was tearing him apart, not conscience. The brother only served to remind him just how 'loose' things were.
To do it right he should have confessed his own sins and asked for mercy period. The prosecutors would have got to the other by his testimony about his own actions. If he had confessed all he had done, there might have been some honor in it.
If Frank Scerpicos story is accurate then I think he is a thousand times more worthy of 'hero' status than this rat b*stard.
Lastly, the final scene and what the 'student' said to him - I think this was an indication that the wall of silence was going to continue with a new batch
of rookies ... or was the comment meant to imply "I don't want to be in the same room with a thief let alone be lectured by one". There are cops who will not be in the same room with a scumbag - and not because of the 'rat' label, but because of the thieving/stealing/perjuring etc. Yes, there are some honest cops !
Just another flawed human being whose attempt at redemption doesn't exactly unfold as planned.
Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.
At first inspection, I always thought he did a good thing. But having thought about it over time, I don't think its as black and white. Its not the same as Serpico, who had virtually no discernable group of friends on the force and always kept his nose clean. Ciello (or Leuci to refer to his real life counterpart) was loved and respected and cared for by all of these guys for years, they would have done anything for him. Its also a tad absurd that a seasoned police detective would be so naive to think that the justice department would play ball entirely on his terms. When his wife said 'they're gonna force you to hurt your friends', he REALLY should have let it sink in and reconsidered. He wasn't a moron, but he certainly acted like one. If he wanted to hurt people who he disliked and considered unworthy, going star witness and putting your head above the parapet as a whistleblower isn't the one and only option. Also, if he was absolutely determined to never hurt his friends, he should have kept his mouth shut and accepted the punishment for remaining silent. He didn't maintain his own standard.
shareAt the end of the day, its the system that is rotten, not the one guy who went out on a limb to do something about it. Nothing has changed in that regards.
shareRat fink
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