GOODFELLAS TRIVIA

So, I woke up the other morning and saw Robert De Niro in a movie I had never seen. I had to go to IMDB to research (as I always use that app on my phone). I searched under Robert De Niro's name and ran through the list of movies. On the list was the GREATEST MOVIE EVER!!! Goodfellas. I found some interesting facts about the movie and had to share. After reading the trivia from IMDB, it is no wonder the movie was such a hit. If you are a fan, post and let me know if you agree that the trivia on this thread explains why the movie is so dang wonderful! I was especially impressed how Martin Scorsese would let the scene run and only have about 2 people know what is going on. He did this to get their "genuine reaction". Thought is was neat and wanted to share.
Enjoy and post your responses or "genuine reaction".

The "You think I'm funny?" scene was based on a story that Joe Pesci acted out for Martin Scorsese. While working in a restaurant as a young man, Pesci once told a mobster that he was funny and the mobster became very angry. Scorsese allowed Pesci and Ray Liotta to improvise the scene. He did not tell the other actors in the scene what would happen because he wanted their genuine surprised reactions.
Mike Starr (I), who plays "Frenchy" in the film, plays the same role in The 10 Million Dollar Getaway, a Jimmy Burke/Conway telling of the Lufthansa heist portion of "Goodfellas".
It was claimed that at the time the real life gangster Jimmy Burke was so happy to have Robert De Niro play him that he phoned him from prison to give him a few pointers. Author/screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi denies this, saying De Niro and Burke had never spoken, but admitting that there were men around the set all the time who had known all of the principal characters very well.
When Henry and Karen Hill are negotiating to enter the Witness Protection Program, former U.S. Attorney Edward McDonald plays himself, re-enacting what he did in real life.
Director Martin Scorsese's mother, Catherine Scorsese, plays Tommy's mother. She and the cast ad-libbed the dinner scene. Scorsese's father, Charles Scorsese, plays the prisoner who puts too many
Jimmy Burke, on whom Jimmy Conway was based, would've been eligible for parole in 2004. He died of lung cancer in 1996, while still in prison.
For the famous "Layla" montage, Martin Scorsese actually played the "piano coda" section of the song during the shooting of each scene so that certain bars of the piano piece would match up with certain shots.
After Joe Pesci's mother saw the film, she told her son that the movie was good, then asked him if he had to swear so much.
The long tracking shot in the Copa took seven takes. One take was ruined because Henny Youngman forgot his lines. According to Illeana Douglas, Scorsese was inspired by the long Steadicam shot in Brian De Palma's The Untouchables.
The painting that Tommy's mother shows to Tommy, Jimmy and Henry, is based on a picture from the November 1978 National Geographic.
The young "extra" carrying a J&B box off the truck and into the Bamboo Lounge is Glenn Taranto.
According to the real Henry Hill, whose life was the basis for the book and film, Joe Pesci's portrayal of Tommy DeVito was 90% to 99% accurate, with one notable exception; the real Tommy DeVito was a massively built, strapping man.
When Paulie confronts Henry after Henry's released from prison, Paul Sorvino improvised the slap to Ray Liotta's face. Hence Liotta's reaction.
Bobby Vinton was played by his son Robbie Vinton, who lip-synched to his father's recording.
At Martin Scorsese's request, associates of the actual people were always on the set of the film, giving helpful and essential information about the life, people, settings and moods.
When Karen sees Janice Rossi in the prison visitor registry, the name below is listed as "Ballibusteros".

Frank Vincent originally wanted the role of Paulie Cicero, which went to Paul Sorvino.

While driving to and from the set, Ray Liotta listened to cassettes of interviews that Nicholas Pileggi did with Henry Hill. Liotta noted that Hill casually discussed murders and other crimes while eating potato chips.
The dinner scene with Tommy's mother was almost completely improvised by the actors, including Tommy asking his mother if he could borrow her butcher's knife and Jimmy's "hoof" comment.
Martin Scorsese wanted William Petersen to star in this movie, but Petersen declined.
Voted #1 in Total Film's 100 Greatest Movies Of All Time list (November 2005).
In a documentary entitled The Real Goodfella, which aired in the UK, Henry Hill claimed that Robert De Niro would phone him seven to eight times a day to discuss certain things about Jimmy's character, such as how Jimmy would hold his cigarette, etc.
At first, producer Irwin Winkler disagreed when Martin Scorsese cast Ray Liotta as Henry Hill. One night, Liotta approached Winkler in a restaurant and asked for a minute alone. They walked into the bar area, and Liotta told Winkler why he thought he was good for the role. Winkler called Scorsese the next day and told him to go ahead.

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During one of the final scenes, Henry Hill opens his front door and picks up a newspaper. Close inspection reveals that the newspaper is the Youngstown Vindicator. Martin Scorsese included it as an homage to Youngstown, Ohio, which has been called Mobtown USA.
Joseph Bono has a small role as a gangster in both Goodfellas and Raging Bull. Guido, Bono's character in Raging Bull, only has a couple of lines. During the pool scene, Guido hears about a guy who was hitting on Vickie. He says, "That's the same guy..? I gotta break his legs... No, I'll catch him." In Goodfellas, Bono has a cameo as a mobster named Mikey Franzese, who appears briefly as the camera pans through the Bamboo Lounge near the start of the movie. Mikey's only line was: "I haven't saw that guy. Yeah, I wanna see him."
After the premiere, Henry Hill went around and revealed his true identity. In response, the government kicked him out of the Federal Witness Protection Program.
The American Mutoscope & Biograph Company's groundbreaking gangster film short The Musketeers of Pig Alley influenced director Martin Scorsese's gangster films Goodfellas and Gangs of New York. Scorcese chose it for his 2005 tribute at Beaubourg, centre d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou in Paris, France. Biograph, the oldest movie company in America, is still in business.
The movie's line "As far back as I could remember I've always wanted to be a gangster." was voted as the #20 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.
The movie's line "How am I funny?" was voted as the #87 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.
In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #92 Greatest Movie of All Time.
Ranked #2 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Gangster" in June 2008
Although Scorsese and Pileggi collaborated on the screenplay (and received Oscar nominations for doing so), much of the film's eventual dialog was improvised by the actors.
The now-legendary Steadicam trip through the nightclub kitchen was a happy accident. Scorsese had been denied permission to go through the front, and had to improvise an alternative.
Originally Scorsese planned to make this before The Last Temptation of Christ. When funding for the religious film finally materialized, he decided to postpone "Wiseguy", the film's working title.
Al Pacino was offered the role of Jimmy Conway but he turned it down due to fears of typecasting. Ironically, that same year Pacino ended up playing a gangster - Big Boy Caprice in Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy. He admits he regrets this decision.


Ray Liotta turned down the part of Harvey Dent in Batman in order to make Goodfellas.
The studio was initially very nervous about the film due to its extreme violence and language. The film reportedly received the worst preview response in the studio's history. Scorsese said that "the numbers were so low it was funny". Nevertheless the film was released without alteration to overwhelming critical acclaim, cementing Scorsese's reputation as America's foremost film-maker.
Joe Pesci's Oscar acceptance speech is the third shortest in the Academy's history. All Pesci said was "This is an honor and a privilege, thank you", later admitting that he didn't say very much because he genuinely felt that he didn't have a chance of winning. (The shortest acceptance speeches are "Thank you", made by William Holden in 1954 when he won Best Actor for Stalag 17 and "Thanks", which was all that Alfred Hitchcock said when he won an Honorary Oscar in 1968.)
Martin Scorsese first got wind of Nicholas Pileggi's book "Wiseguy" when he was handed the galley proofs. Although Scorsese had sworn off making another gangster movie, he immediately cold-called the writer and told him, "I've been waiting for this book my entire life." To which Pileggi replied, "I've been waiting for this phone call my entire life."
Voted #6 on Empire magazine's 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time (September 2008).
A few scenes include taxis with a real phone number on the side. They're from Four Ones, a real cab service in Glendale, Queens.
According to Ray Liotta, both Robert De Niro and Nancy Sinatra pranked his make-up room with a (fake) severed horse head, as an homage to The Godfather and an initiation into Mafioso films.
Louis Eppolito(Fat Tony) wrote "Mafia Cop," a true story about growing up in a mafia family and becoming an NYPD officer. In April 2006, he was convicted of murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, and racketeering, for working as a mafia informant and hit-man. The conviction was overturned due to a technicality, then reinstated on appeal in 2008. In 2009, he was sentenced to life plus 100 years in prison.
Jimmy Conway, was based on gangster Jimmy Burke, who was born James Conway.
The MPAA ordered 10 frames of blood removed from the film before granting it an 'R' rating.
Tony Darrow who plays Sonny Bunz, the owner of the Bamboo Lounge, worked in the real-life Bamboo Lounge where Henry Hill, and the people whom the film's characters are based on would hang out.
The later life of Henry Hill, after he enters the Witness Protection Program, was also adapted, more humorously, into My Blue Heaven the same year. Appropriately, that film was written by Nora Ephron, who is Nicholas Pileggi's wife.

Martin Scorsese reportedly didn't want Ray Liotta to have contact with the real Henry Hill before filming because he had never directed Liotta before and didn't want Hill to influence Liotta.
The film's soundtrack did not include many of the songs featured in the film, most of them being the tracks played during the lengthy scene where Henry rushes around trying to make his drug deal. The songs sampled during the scene are, in order, "Jump Into the Fire" by Nilsson, "Memo From Turner" by the Rolling Stones, "Magic Bus" by The Who (from the Live at Leeds album), "Monkey Man" by the Rolling Stones, "Mannish Boy" by Muddy Waters, "What is Life" by George Harrison, "Mannish Boy" again and "Toad" by Cream.
According to Ray Liotta on the special edition DVD of this film, Sean Penn was also considered as Henry Hill.
The last movie Martin Scorsese shot in the standard 1.85:1 aspect ratio.
Barry Sonnenfeld took over as cinematographer for the last few days of filming, as Michael Ballhaus had to leave to shoot Postcards from the Edge.
The name Tommy DeVito is an obvious nod to Tommy DeVito, the lead guitarist of The Four Seasons, who Joe Pesci was friends with.
Tom Cruise and Madonna were the producers' first choice for the roles of Henry Hill and his wife. Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco were subsequently cast in those parts.
Every one of Robert De Niro's outfits had a watch and a pinkie ring to go with it.
According to Nicholas Pileggi, some actual mobsters were hired as extras to lend authenticity to scenes. The mobsters gave fake Social Security numbers to Warner Bros. and it is unknown how they received their paychecks.
John Malkovich was considered for Jimmy Conway but he turned it down.
Ray Liotta's mother died of cancer during filming. Liotta says that he used his anger over losing his mother for certain scenes, the pistol-whipping scene in particular.
Lorraine Bracco demanded real jewelry to be used for Karen's dresser. The production designer rented expensive gold and stones that were protected by armed guards.
Robert De Niro wanted to use real money for the scene where Jimmy hands out money. The prop master gave De Niro $5,000 of his own money. At the end of each take, no one was allowed to leave the set until all the money was returned.
According to Debi Mazar, when her character trips after meeting Henry it was actually Mazar tripping over the camera dolly track. Martin Scorsese liked it because it looked like she was overwhelmed by Henry and left it in the film.

For the scene where Sonny Bunz complains to Paulie, Martin Scorsese secretly told Tony Darrow to improvise more lines for his character without telling Paul Sorvino. Sorvino's confused reaction was real.
According to Ray Liotta, Martin Scorsese was so involved in every detail of the cast's wardrobe that he tied Liotta's tie himself to make sure it was accurate for the film's setting.
Paul Sorvino wanted to drop out of the role of Paulie three days before filming began because he felt that he lacked the cold personality to play the character. He called his agent and asked to be released from the film. Sorvino's agent told him to think about it for one day before making a final decision. That night, Sorvino looked in the mirror and was frightened by the look on his face. He realized that that look was the look he needed to play Paulie.
The first scene filmed was the Morrie's Wigs commercial. Martin Scorsese was inspired by a low-budget commercial that ran in New York City for a replacement window company. Scorsese contacted the company and found that the spokesperson in the ad was Stephen Pacca, who owned the company and created the ad himself. Pacca was hired to write, direct and edit the commercial for Morrie's Wigs so it could look like an authentic local ad.
The film's name was changed from "Wiseguy" to avoid confusion with both the TV series Wiseguy and Brian De Palma's similarly titled film, Wise Guys. Charles Scorsese, Catherine Scorsese and Frank Vincent appear in both Wise Guys and Goodfellas.
Joe Pesci was in his 40s at the time of filming, though Tommy Devito, Pesci's character's inspiration was in his 20s.
Ray Liotta was cast after Martin Scorsese saw him in Field of Dreams.
The character of 'Fat Andy' whom Henry introduces us to in the bar is played by Louis Eppolito, an ex-NYPD detective whose father, uncle and cousin had all been in the Mafia. In 2005 Eppolito and his police partner were arrested and charged with racketeering, obstruction of justice, extortion and up to 8 murders. They were both sentenced to life imprisonment plus 80 years.
One of the little girls who plays Henry and Karen's daughters (specifically, the one in Karen's arms who was too shy to give Paulie a kiss when they arrive at his house for dinner) is Lorraine Bracco's actual daughter with Harvey Keitel, Stella.

what you do think made the film so great?!

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW1oVdOxKko[/ame]

 

lol

 

I grew up in Queens during this time period. the scene that really hit home for me was when Liotta is taking a shower and 1010 WINS news covers the Lufthansa heist. MY FATHER EVERYDAY LISTENED TO 1010 WINS NEWS WHEN HE TOOK A SHOWER BEFORE WORK. That scene brought me back to my house in College Point. I heard that actual broadcast as my bedroom was next to the bathroom. My dad would plug in my Sony portable radio and shower away listening to "you give us 22 minutes, we'll give you the world." lol. That Sony radio was the radio that told me about the Luthansa heist, that the Son of Sam was caught, that Elvis Presly died (WPLJ on that day) and it covered the aftermath of the NYC blackout in 1977.

Anyways, I think I know every line in GF-Billy Batts and when DeNiro goes crazy when everyone shows up in furs and pink Caddys are my favorite scenes...now go get your f&*!$% shinebox.....

It may well be my fav movie of all time.

 

You have great taste in movies.

 

What made this movie for me is the actors chosen were spot on the best for the roles they played. Over the past few weeks I have seen bio's on De Niro and Liotta and it all became quite clear that they were perfect for Martin's vision. I have probably seen this movie atleast 20 times.

 

I have such a hard time deciding if I like this or Casino better, I think since I grew up in Vegas Casino wins, but its close. Such a great movie.

 

I grew up in Queens too. I hung out a couple of times with Jesse Burke, Jimmy's son. Cool guy and we all knew who his father was but nobody ever brought it up. I lived in Howard Beach near John Gotti and right to next door to Anthony Guerrieri one of his long time associates. Cool place to be from but I am glad we eventually moved. When you mentioned College Point I remember Algen Press, my Uncle's printing company and my very first job...good memories!

 

Casino is a very good movie but doesn't compare to Goodfellas. It might be that Goodfellas was first, but if their release dates were reversed I really think Goodfellas would still be considered superior.

Goodfellas is perhaps one of the few "perfect" movies.

 

We through the "F$#^ You, Pay me" line around my office on a weekly basis. Pretty much anytime someone complains about something they had to pay for.

I'm actually shocked you've never seen the movie before - I suggest going to IMDB top 100 and looking through the list -

If you are into this type of movie, bestides Casino which has been mentioned, A Bronx Tale is also phenominal.

Erik

 

+1 Goodfellas...and a Bronx tale....you can't get better

 

Every aspect of Goodfellas was absolute perfection.

 

Wall Street is another one.

 

Fantastic movie I've seen it multiple times but when it comes on T.V. I still have to watch at least a little part of it. One thing I could never figure out is what is DeNiro putting ketchup on during the dinner scene at the mothers house when they go to pick up the knife?

 

+1
I love that movie.

 

They are playing this movie on pay-tv here as of late.

It's great, I love it. Have watched it MANY times and own it on DVD.

Thanks for sharing, certainly interesting stuff.

 

"You wanna see helicopters I'll show ya helicopters"

 

During college I worked at Kennedy airport as a truck driver in the Teamsters Union, Local 851 and 295.

I started in 1978. I was at Lufthansa the day after the heist. The police would not let us in for our pick-up. I would run into these people all the time. They used to make me do their deliveries for them. Most of them had a show no work job. They would show up at where I worked with a 30' straight truck with one tiny box in it. They would give me $20 to deliver it up the street.

I used to go to the Rockaway diner all the time to pick up or drop off some of these people. At the time I did not know anything about who these people were. I was only 18 years old at the time.

When I received my first paycheck the shop steward (Neily the Nitwit) made me give him $5.00 to send to Patty who was away. I did not know how Patty was but I learned real quickly not to ask questions. Neil was loan sharking out of the office and people used to come in to pay him when he was not in. I used to have to hold the money for him. Another guy I worked with was just out of jail. He served 20+ years for loan sharking and racketeering.

All these guys ever talked about was food. They used to start planning lunch around 9:00am. We were usually done with our deliveries around 10-10:30am. After lunch they would then leave and I would have to punch them out at 4:00pm.

At that time you could get anything you wanted at Kennedy, cloths, electronics, cars - you name it.

Believe it or not it was happy memories.

When I saw the movie I fell off my couch. It is one of my favorite movies.

Fred

 

I'm not sure about admitting any involvement in organized crime on an open/public forum but you are probably protected under the statute of limitations. Just to show that I am not trying to be a buzz kill I enjoyed your story and I'm certain they are great stories that you can eventually pass down, "Uncle Fred I did not know you were a wiseguy, I'm so gonna rule my block!" lol

 

Hey nobody knows diffrent. Fuggett about it.

 

Lol!!

I'm thinking I may watch the movie again tonight as I have it on vhs.

 

It's Fuhgeddaboudit LOL

 

I was never involved with them. They were just around every where. You could not help dealing with them. At the time I had no idea who or what they were doing. I just did my job and listened to my immediate bosses. If they told me to make a delivery that is what I did. I was going to college and kept to myself mostly.

This all came to light after I saw the movie in the 1990's. At the time I just thought they were other workers. You would never have known what some of these guys did at the time. The entire Kennedy Airport was that way. I do know that after I was done with working there that the entire airport was cleaned up an people (Teamsters) actually had to work.

This is all from a 18 year old from Long Island who was never exposed to any of this lifestyle. Mind you not everyone was part of this life style that I delt with. In fact none of the people that I worked with was ever involved in this as far as I know of. Neil wanted to be but was never actually involved. They used to call him a wannabe.

You mostly saw these poeple at diners and waiting for deliveries. A funny story that I never understood until many years later was why I used to have to wait at a cargo terminal to get my pick-up for hours on end when everyone else would come and go. I found out the the customs agents that inspected the cargo would take tips to expedite someones pick-up. I never did that and spent hours waiting. Again this was from a very naive 18 year old who never saw anything like this and did not even know it existed at the time. This all came to light when I saw the movie. I remembered seeing some of the individuals depicted in the movie. It was a very different time back then. I understand that the construction industry in NYC was very much the same way.

A few years before I started working there the Patty that I mentioned in my previous post was shot in front of the building that I worked at. Sometime after the shooting is when he went to jail. He used to send very religious cards to my parents house during Christmas. You thought they came from a Priest rather than from someone in jail.

This is what it was like at the time. It was just considered normal. I'm glad I stayed in school!

 

What are you a wise guy? You think I never dug a hole before..........

 

Just dance that drink over here....