Martin Scorsese on Goodfellas1990.

1.     The desire to make a picture like Goodfellas or certain aspects of MeanStreets, for example. I always felt that MeanStreets too, was the tradition of WarnerBrothersGangsterFilms, in a way. Goodfellas is a better example, because, mid-nineties, ninety-one, ninety, I think. And, we, uh, very simply trace the lineage right past, right to the forties of the ganster films by RaoulWalsh. Films coming out of WarnerBrothers. Particularly, TheRoaringTwenties. Down to the thirties, particularly, two films. Scarface and ThePublicEnemy. And Scarface, you have an interesting situation, where these characters, they're really despicable, but presented in such a way that you like them. That was the key. That was the first movie that I saw that made me realise, He has the same dillema I have, basically, because I grew up around a lot of these guys. They're not [at] all like PaulMuni or GeorgeRaft. More like HenryHill, where I grew up, in a way. And Paulie, for example, PaulVarrio, played by PaulSorvino. I understood that. I also understood it as human beings. I know that they came out of tradition, though, of outlaws, in a way, which is something very popular in American [US] culture. All the way back to 19th century. In fact, we take TheMusketeersinPigAlley by [DavidWark]Griffith. I even took it even further. But also, I took it even further. TheGreatTrainRobbery. They commit this great robbery, and, at the end, the police get them all, and somebody, the last shot, fire a gun right into the camera . That's why Joe Pesci character firing a gun at the end into the camera of Goodfellas. In the sense that, basically, Goodfellas, a bunch of outlaws, they do this incredible robbery, they all kill each other, and the police get [apprehend] them at the end. It's exactly the same story.

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3.     Now, the first real gangster picture that I saw was ThePublicEnemy. My father took me to see that. It was on double-bill with LittleCaesar. LittleCaesar's good. I thought ThePublicEnemy was more truthful. Some people say it's crude, the way it's shot. But I don't think so. I don't think so. You never see the violence. It's always off-camera. And we understood. My father, he was basically, he was with those people. He was around them all the time. He grew up with them. He basically knew that was the truth. You can call him TomPowells. You can call him anything. Any ethnic [immigrant] name, up there. It's basically the same thing. It's basically the moment he tells his brother, "They pin medals on you for killing those Germans over there. You get medals and I get what? I'm not to be respected?" You understand? It's that kind of thinking, thinking of putting food on the table, protecting your family, then it goes out of control.

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5.     It's very funny [What's funny?] because, I must say again, some of the best entertainment I had was listening to some guys on street corners and tell stories. Oral tradition. Self-deprecating, funny. Some of the toughest people I've ever seen do this, too. Tell stories with greatest humour about human nature that is so funny. Human nature, granted, under strange circumstances. Very odd, not your average circumstances. But still, get the humour out of it, bring humanity out of it was quite something, you know. Killing people. Robbing somebody's house. To hear some of these stories, humour, prison humour, in a way. I don't know what to say. Joe Pesci said one day, "Marty, they think your movie is funny in prison." Not audiences, regular convicts think they're funny. That's when I said, "Well, what do you want me to do?".But he, but you know, that's what it is. That's what the trick of that film was. The idea of that humour, in a way. I was exploring how I could still be endear to people like that, because I grew up around them. Yet I know what they do, you know. It's that economy. I can't bring the two together. Granted, in the film, the certain point, the minute they kill BillyBatts, FrankVincent, it's ["]down-hill["].

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7.     I think I brought more of almost documentary attitues towards it. I wanted to show you the stars of the movie is the way of life, not a character. Somebody commented it was Scarface without Scarface, but that's what it is. We don't need Scarface in the film. It's the way of life. You grow up around that, what I wanted to show you was, The danger of exuberance of that kind of life, at first, you see. The danger of exuberance. The danger of excitement. When you're young, you think you're gonna live forever. You think you're tough. You can take few more shots in the head. You think you're tougher than the other person. Eventually, if you don't use your brain, you're not gonna ["]wind up["]  anywhere. That's what happens in the Joe Pesci character. I think the danger of the excitement of that life-style, what I grew up around, I saw a lot of people ["]disappear["] because of that.