Goodfellas… That Reminds Me…

Scorsese does it in one intricately choreographed single shot. No edits. No stops. Amazing.

11800199_10207405223985765_2360707215893775859_nMy friend David Friedman posted the picture on the left on Facebook tonight. I had no clue. It’s a painting that appears in the movie Goodfellas. I have no idea why it’s special.

It’s in Wikipedia. That’s all I know.

The movie itself is special. This is Martin Scorsese at his finest.

The movie does have one Guiness Book of World Records type scene. It might be my single favorite movie scene. Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) is on his first date with Karen (Lorraine Bracco). He takes her to the Copacabana.

From the time they leave their car until Henny Youngman comes on stage is around 3:00. Scorsese does it in one intricately choreographed single shot. No edits. No stops. Amazing.

The long tracking shot through the Copacabana nightclub came about because of a practical problem: the filmmakers could not get permission to go in the short way, and this forced them to go round the back. Scorsese decided to film the sequence in one unbroken shot in order to symbolize that Henry’s entire life was ahead of him, commenting, “It’s his seduction of her [Karen] and it’s also the lifestyle seducing him”. This sequence was shot eight times. – Wikipedia

OK. Whatever.

I just wanted to make sure you saw it.

2 thoughts on “Goodfellas… That Reminds Me…”

  1. Simply put Marty is a genius and will be remembered as one of the best in film making. I think in this movie the copa clip along the “I amuse you” clip are probably the best of the movie although there are hardly any bad clips in the entire movie. The late night table scene which features your friends recent posting plays a very important part in establishing the characters back story along with featuring Marty’s mother. I do wish Marty would write a book on movie making. That would be fascinating.

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