Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas, his breakneck-paced biopic of mobster Henry Loma, is arguably his finest and nearly memorable film. Scorsese's goal with the movie was to make it feel like a two-and-a-one-half-hour trailer — jumping all over the story'south timeline with unparalleled manic free energy — using Jules and Jim'due south opening montage every bit a guide.

The way Scorsese saw information technology, this was the simply way to capture the recklessness of the mafia lifestyle on film. Equally a event of every scene existence distilled to its essential components, the flick has a ton of unforgettable moments. And so, here are Goodfellas' most iconic scenes.

Updated on May 12th, 2021: Martin Scorsese'south Goodfellas remains a timeless classic and one of the most rewatchable movies of all time. Like all the best movies, there isn't a unmarried scene in Goodfellas that drags on or feels out of identify. This tightly edited masterpiece is jam-packed with iconic moments, from the Copacabana tracking shot to the murder of Billy Batts. Since there are endless memorable scenes in this beloved movie, we've updated this listing with a few new entries.

15 Jimmy Decides To Kill Morrie

All throughout Goodfellas, Robert De Niro's Jimmy Conway butts heads with Morrie, the wig store owner who wants a cut of their loot for coming upwardly with the thought for their biggest score. After finding out Morrie spent the money he owed Jimmy on a commercial for his shop, Jimmy strangles him and makes his wig autumn off.

When Jimmy overhears Morrie idly singing "Danny Boy" to himself in a bar, he decides to kill him. Cream'south "Sunshine of Your Beloved" kicks in on the soundtrack equally Jimmy smokes a cigarette in the bar and realizes he could just kill everybody and keep all the coin for himself.

14 Henry In Court

Throughout the entire movie, Henry is told that ratting on his friends is the worst possible thing he could practise. After Henry is arrested and becomes a federal witness, he's seen in court, turning in all his closest associates. Ray Liotta delivers a powerful monologue directly to the camera that sums up the thesis of the moving-picture show.

Having showered the soundtrack with popular hits when Henry was a happy-go-lucky mobster, Scorsese creates a stark dissimilarity with the silence of his post-arrest scenes.

13 Tardily-Night Dinner At Tommy'southward Mother's House

Goodfellas opens in the middle of the story, with Henry, Tommy, and Jimmy driving Billy Batts' corpse out to the woods to coffin it. They stop off at Tommy's mother's business firm to option upwardly a couple of things and they accidentally wake her.

She insists on feeding them, and then they finish up sitting downward for a repast with her — all while Baton is bleeding out in the body. Tommy'south mother is played by Martin Scorsese's own mother, who cameoed in many of his films.

12 Jimmy Finds Out Tommy Is Expressionless

Jimmy is standing outside a diner, talking on a payphone, when he learns that Tommy — one of his protégés and his closest friends — has been shot in the dorsum of the head.

He breaks down and starts slamming the phone against the wall of the phone box. Then, he starts kicking the phone berth and the whole thing comes crashing downwards. It's unconfirmed if this was improvised, but De Niro briefly looks surprised when the booth falls over.

eleven The "Layla" Montage

I of the most memorable uses of music in Goodfellas is the 2d half of Derek and the Dominos' "Layla," starting time with the soft piano riff. It plays over a montage of all the bodies existence discovered.

The massacre that eventually brings down Jimmy's criminal enterprise begins to unfold as corpses show up in places like garbage trucks and xindustrial freezers.

10 The Ending

At the end of Goodfellas, Henry Hill avoids jail by selling out all of his friends and going into witness protection with his family unit. In his voiceover narration, as the camera pans across an boilerplate suburban neighborhood to his new house, Henry explains that, while he's not in prison, he still feels imprisoned, because he's go just like everybody else. The glamour of the mobster lifestyle is gone.

And so, we run into a shot of Tommy firing a gun at the camera against a black background, à la The Corking Train Robbery, symbolizing the target on Henry's dorsum. It was an unforgettable catastrophe.

9 Tommy kills Spider

Tommy's rivalry with Spider led to some really intense scenes, like the moment when Tommy ended up shooting Spider in the foot. In their follow-up meeting, Tommy made fun of Spider for wearing a cast. When Spider told Tommy, "Go f*ck yourself," he sealed his fate. The other guys idea it was funny, just Tommy only opened fire.

Michael Imperioli played Spider and would go along to become an icon with his role as Christopher in HBO'south The Sopranos. He was one of many actors from the bandage of Goodfellas that David Hunt recruited for the series, having been heavily influenced by the film.

8 The pistol whip

The first instance of Karen existence enraptured by Henry's criminal lifestyle comes when one of her neighbors attacks her and she calls Henry to pick her up. Henry asks her to identify which guy did it and and so walks over to his driveway to confront him.

At starting time, the guy acts cool, saying, "What exercise you lot want, f*cko?" but then Henry takes out his pistol and repeatedly smacks information technology into the guy'southward confront. Then, he tells him, "I swear on my mother, if yous impact her again, you're expressionless!" He walks back over to Karen'southward house and gives her the blood-spattered pistol to hide.

7 Billy busts Tommy's chops

The bar scene in which Billy Batts gives Tommy DeVito a hard time starts off funny, but it quickly becomes tense when Tommy's offense begins to evidence. Baton doubles downward on insulting Tommy: "Hey, Tommy, if I was gonna break your balls, I'd tell ya to become home and get your polish box." The scene ends with the brutal murder of Billy at the easily of Tommy, Jimmy, and Henry.

Tommy starts kicking him to death, and Jimmy and Henry join in to support their friend. This ends upwards landing them in huge problem because Billy is a made man and killing made men is strictly prohibited.

6 Henry wakes upward to Karen pointing a gun at his face

Rather than vindicate Henry Hill'due south domestic violence and extramarital diplomacy, Goodfellas sympathizes with his wife Karen. Merely like nosotros are, as viewers throughout the moving picture, Karen was seduced past Henry's lifestyle, only to find that the reality of it isn't very glamorous. In ane scene, Henry wakes upwardly to the sight of Karen holding a gun in his face.

It'due south a tense moment, and as Henry talks Karen down and somewhen overpowers her, we experience even worse for her. During i of the takes for this scene, the gun obviously flew out of Lorraine Bracco's hand and hit cinematographer Michael Ballhaus in the caput.

5 "As far dorsum as I can call back..."

In the opening scene of Goodfellas, Henry, Jimmy, and Tommy drive out into the countryside in the center of the nighttime with Baton Batts' body in the torso. Billy turns out to be alive, and Tommy stabs him with his mother'due south kitchen knife until he isn't.

Illuminated past the automobile'due south red lights, Henry looks down at the encarmine corpse. In voiceover, he says, "As far back every bit I can call up, I always wanted to exist a gangster." In that instant, Tony Bennett's "Rags to Riches" comes on the soundtrack and nosotros dive into the picture show. The juxtaposition of Henry'southward babyhood dreams of beingness a powerful criminal and the grisly reality of that life straps us in for the ride.

four Tommy gets whacked

It'southward easy to understand the reasoning behind whacking Tommy, but it'due south still a shocking moment. And the way they do it is and then barbarous. They lead Tommy to believe he's getting made. Then, he dresses upward in his finest suit, he celebrates with his mother, and and then he'southward driven to what he thinks is his initiation ceremony.

Equally he enters an empty room, he realizes what's going on — he'southward had the wool pulled over his eyes — in the split-second before he'south shot in the back of the caput. Henry's voiceover explains that to add insult to injury, they shot Tommy in the face, so his mother couldn't have an open catafalque at the funeral.

3 A helicopter starts following Henry around

The frantic, feverish climactic sequence in Goodfellas is some of the most intense filmmaking of all time. There are a scattering of soundtrack changes — from Harry Nilsson's "Leap into the Fire" to George Harrison's "What Is Life" to Muddy Waters' "Mannish Male child" — as Henry buries himself in coke, darts all over town, and becomes paranoid that the feds are following him in a helicopter.

This might exist the best cinematic portrayal of paranoia e'er put on pic. Scorsese even spends a few shots lingering on Henry, not matching his eyeline with a shot of the helicopter, to create the sense that it might be in his head.

2 "Funny how?"

This scene was reportedly improvised from an experience that Joe Pesci had when he was working as a waiter and he told a mobster he thought he was funny. Tommy tells a table full of friends a story about insulting a well-built man who trounce him upward, and when he came to, he did information technology again.

Henry tells him he's funny and the atmosphere suddenly turns tense. Tommy rants, "How the f*ck am I funny? What the f*ck is then funny most me?" Later a few seconds, Henry catches on that Tommy'southward messing with him and they burst into hysterical laughter.

1 The Copacabana tracking shot

There's no question that the almost iconic moment in Goodfellas is the long tracking shot that follows Henry as he takes Karen to the Copacabana nightclub. They arrive at the club and in that location's a long line of customers coming out of the door. Henry takes Karen through a side door and they accept a secret entrance into the kitchen.

The staff bring out a table just for them and place information technology correct in front of the stage, all prepare to the sounds of the Crystals' "Then He Kissed Me." It's a very seductive view of Henry's lifestyle. We can see why information technology consumed him, and why Karen went along with it.

NEXT: "As Far Back As I Can Recollect..." x Backside-The-Scenes Facts Near Goodfellas

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About The Author

Ben Sherlock (3527 Articles Published)

Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, contained filmmaker, and Burt Reynolds enthusiast. He writes lists for Screen Rant and features and reviews for Game Rant. He'south currently in pre-production on his first feature (and has been for a while, because filmmaking is expensive). You can catch him performing standup at odd pubs effectually the UK that will give him stage time. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resource, and BabbleTop.

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