So Henry’s dad was definitely an abusive angry bastard, but was he wrong (about his form of discipline)? I mean instinctually.
Sure, the method and means might have been counterproductive, but he was actually trying to protect his son, in a way. A way that failed, obviously.
While this doesn't answer your question, I may as well say this here while on the subject of Henry's dad - it's a bit disappointing that they don't show more of Henry's parents when he's an adult - they're only shown for a split second at the wedding, where they may as well be extras - and I'd be OK with this because I can fill in the blanks that the older he got and the more caught up in the mob life he got, the more estranged he'd become from his immediate family - but then they make such a big deal of him picking up his brother (Mikey) and having him at the house for dinner on the day he gets arrested, so he clearly still kept close ties with them and yet this is the first interaction we see with his brother since the childhood scenes.
I don't know, I'd like to have seen Karen meeting Henry's parents, and the in-laws meeting for the first time, or a few scenes with them as doting grandparents, and maybe more of Henry's brother as an adult too before that long day in 1980.
I think for the purpose of the film, creatively they made a choice to mostly focus on Henry’s journey, and streamlined the narrative with that in mind. But the the fact that they even show Henry’s parents for that brief moment shows that they at least took that aspect of the story in to account. I only noticed his parents at the wedding on my third or fourth watch, and was pleasantly surprised at that little detail.
The book provides more details regarding both Henry and Karen’s parents, but like I wrote before, I think the filmmakers chose to keep those details on the periphery in order to sustain their intended pacing.
The film also condensed details regarding the heists (and other altercations), but provides references to what is more detailed in the book.
One fun detail is that Jimmy (DeNiro) really loved ketchup, and in every scene where he is eating, there is either a ketchup bottle in the frame, or he is putting ketchup on his food (except for that final scene in the diner when he doesn’t touch anything).
Henrys dad was spot on, and Henry was too stupid to listen. Instead, he started listening to people who were even more of an abusive angry bastard.
shareYou’re right, the only difference was that Henry’s dad was beating on him, and those gangsters were beating on others for him, which probably impacted Henry’s perspective at the time (being a child/adolescent and all). His father had the wisdom to know that those people were bad news.
shareThe scene where Henry narrates his dad beating him shows how even his narrations have a jaded view of the life. Instead of looking at it as a father being pissed and freaking out over his son ditching school to hang out with gangsters who would kill him at the drop of a hat, he thought his father was frustrated with his own life, and jealous that his son was hanging out with those guys.
shareI think you hit the mark here, because Henry’s narration takes place in hindsight, and yet he is still seemingly oblivious to his youthful foolishness.
shareI felt for Henry getting the shit whipped out of him for skipping school
shareI think he was right not to want his son caught up in that life. He was also just pissed that his son was defying him, but he was also looking out for Henry in his way, I guess.
shareThe real life reason for Henry rebelling against his parents is because he had ADHD and in the 50s when Henry was a kid was not a known disorder. His parents and teachers thought he was intentionally not paying attention in class. This is part of what lead to Henry dropping out of school to go be with the mob.
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