Goodfellas

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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Drama	Theatrical Trailer(s)	Yes, 2 - 1.85:1, non-16x9, Dolby Digital 2.0
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	None
Year Released	1990	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	139 minutes	Other Extras	Cast & Crew Biographies Production Notes
RSDL/Flipper	Flipper (69:39)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Movie	Cast & Crew
Region	2,4	Director	Martin Scorsese
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Robert De Niro Ray Liotta Joe Pesci Lorraine Bracco Paul Sorvino
Case	Snapper	Starring
RRP	$29.95	Music	Various

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	MPEG	None
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Dolby Digital	5.1
16x9 Enhancement		Soundtrack Languages	English (Dolby Digital 5.1) French (Dolby Digital 2.0 ) Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Theatrical Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Macrovision	Yes	Smoking	Yes, heavily
Subtitles	English French Dutch Italian Spanish Portuguese Arabic English for the Hearing Impaired Italian for the Hearing Impaired	Annoying Product Placement	No
Subtitles		Action In or After Credits	No

Plot Synopsis

GoodFellas is based on the Nicholas Pileggi novel Wiseguy, which in turn is supposedly based on the true story of Irish-Sicilian mobster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta). This, of course, brings the usual problems of basing something on something that is already based on something, much like the Bible. While the narration from Hill's viewpoint, wonderfully spoken by Liotta, lends some credence to the "true story" claim, it is hard to suspend one's disbelief with the ability of Hill and his accomplices to get away with as much criminal behaviour as this film claims they did. In any case, the film follows Hill from his childhood, through his years in the Mafia with his friend Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) and their mentor Jimmy "The Gent" Conway (Robert De Niro), to the time when it all goes wrong and he flees to the confines of the Witness Protection Program. Those who are familiar with the real-life story of Henry Hill will already know how the film ends, so it is what happens between Points A and B that makes this film what it is. My only beef with this film, plot-wise, is that I have a severe distaste for Lorraine Bracco's performance as Karen Hill. Being one of the few vaguely innocent bystanders in the film, I would have thought she might elicit some sense of sympathy from me. No such luck, as she starts to become as annoying as a half-grown beard.

GoodFellas has a plot that really defies any further explanation, except to say that the blurb on the front cover ("Three decades of life in the Mafia") sums the premise up rather well. It is also a rather unique look at life inside the Sicilian crime organization, with director Martin Scorsese once again pointing out that the Mafia is a business, not an army of thugs determined to fight each other and society. This unique approach to films about what was once the world's most dominant criminal organization makes the film refreshing, and almost like a documentary. I would really like to see how Scorsese would approach making a film about the 15th century origins of the Mafia.

Transfer Quality

Video

This transfer is presented at the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and it is not 16x9 enhanced. This disc is also a flipper, and I am an avid hater of flippers that interrupt the flow of the film. Interestingly enough, the Region 1 version of this disc suffers the same resolution and formatting problems. I have been told that Warner Home Video plan to have another go at presenting this film in a vaguely acceptable manner, but only time will tell. Given the quality of their efforts with other films, I think they could soon find themselves being called on to remaster all of their DVD range. The transfer is sharp, but it obviously doesn't enjoy that much more resolution than your standard VCR because of the lack of 16x9 enhancement. In keeping with the style director Martin Scorsese has used ever since it was involuntarily introduced to him in Taxi Driver, Goodfellas contains a low level of brightness and saturation in particularly violent sequences. The night-time sequences are kept suitably dull and overshadowed, but once again, that's what I've really come to expect from this filmmaker. Shadow detail in a lot of sequences was somewhat lacking, especially in the long-distance shots during Henry and Tommy's argument outside the burning Bamboo Lounge.

Some pixelization becomes apparent during still frames, of which there are enough to make it rather noticeable. When the picture pauses for the narrator to deliver a particularly fascinating statement, it's as if the picture's resolution is suddenly cut in half. Moderate levels of aliasing on car chrome and venetian blinds also showed up, and this is second of the most telltale signs that this film is not 16x9 enhanced. While these artefacts remained acceptable at all times, there were plenty of occasions where they were starting to become a little trying for me. Film artefacts, however, plague this DVD, especially in the early stages of each side. A large vertical film scratch is visible on side B about four minutes into the film for a few seconds, for example.

Again, this disc is a flipper, with the flip occurring at 69:39, or at the end of the scene in which Tommy kills "Spider", who seriously has to be one of the most incompetent bartenders I have ever seen. This flip is placed right between two of the most pivotal and high-energy moments of the film, and has to rival the flip in the middle of Starship Troopers as one of the worst-placed flips I have ever been unlucky enough to witness. Given that this film is only about 140 minutes in length, this formatting is patently unacceptable, and I hope the reports of Warner Brothers having another go at this release are correct. While they're at it, I would like to see them get rid of the snapper cases. Someone should explain to the guys at Warners that cardboard's acid content basically means that no amount of preservation work will save them in the long run.

Audio

Three audio tracks are offered on this DVD. One in Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), and two in Dolby Digital 2.0 with surround-encoding: French and Italian. The default is English, but I also listened to half of the film in Italian for curiosity reasons. I'm pleased to say that the Italian translation keeps to an accurate sense of the original screenplay, according to the man who listened to it with me, anyway. The dialogue was typically clear and easy to understand, although the use of heavy accents from various regions (mostly notably New York-styled Italian accents) made some words hard to understand. Lorraine Bracco's weeping and whining also made for a somewhat unpleasant listening experience at times. There are ways to play a bored, estranged housewife, and there are ways to not do it. Bracco's performance in this film is a textbook case of the latter, and I find it especially pleasing to say that I cannot remember seeing her in a film before or since. As per usual, Robert De Niro steals the show in this area of the film with a voice that chills to the bone in spite of being so casual and calm that he could literally be discussing the colour of orange juice.

The music, in keeping with Scorsese's typical style, consists of songs from the eras being depicted. Most of the music is taken from the sixties and seventies, and while it is not exactly the music I would have chosen, it does suit the film well. A particular favourite of mine was Cream's Sunshine Of Your Love, one of the first songs I learned to play on my bass guitar. Otherwise, however, the film really wastes the 5.1 digital encoding, as the music is the only part of the sound track that enjoys use of the surround channels. The subwoofer was mainly exercised for music and the occasional special effects, such as Tommy stabbing the hapless Billy, who is lying in the boot of Henry's car, but was otherwise left wandering around waiting for something to do.

Extras

There are only very limited extras to be found with this disc. For some odd reason, the same extras are on both sides of the disc, which indicates what a major hash job the formatting is in the first place.

Theatrical Trailer

There are two theatrical trailers on this disc. Both are presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, with a somewhat muffled and indistinct Dolby Digital 2.0 mix.

Production Notes

These are quite brief, and unreadable on smaller screens.

Cast & Crew Biographies

These are quite detailed, but not all that many of the cast and crew are featured. They are also unreadable on smaller screens.

R4 vs R1

According to every review and report I have looked up, both versions of this disc are identical except for the usage of PAL formatting in Region 4. This would make our version the version of choice

Summary

GoodFellas is a great and highly original gangster movie. However, I strongly recommend voting with your money and waiting for an RSDL version with 16x9 enhancement to arrive on the market.

While the video quality is astoundingly good for a non-16x9 transfer, it is little better than the VCR version I disposed of shortly after I acquired my DVD player. Did I mention this disc is also a flipper? (As a side note, Casino is forty minutes longer, has twice as many languages, subtitles, and extras, and yet it isn't a flipper.)

The audio quality is good enough, although little different from the VCR version again.

The extras are just too limited to justify purchase in spite of the major negatives with formatting.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment

DVD	Grundig GDV 100 D, using composite output; Toshiba SD-2109, using S-video output
Display	Samsung CS-823AMF (80 cm), 4:3 mode, using composite and S-video inputs
Audio Decoder	Built In (Amplifier)
Amplification	Sony STR-DE835
Speakers	Panasonic S-J1500D Front Speakers, Sharp CP-303A Back Speakers, Philips FB206WC Centre Speaker, JBL Digital 10 Subwoofer