If you’ve never seen “Goodfellas,” it’s probably best you stop what you’re doing and watch Martin Scorsese’s seminal mob flick now. The film is only one of the best mob movies you need to see immediately, and alongside “The Godfather” occupies a hallowed space within the genre. Luckily, for those that are somehow uninitiated, “Goodfellas” is now streaming over on MAX, where it’s managing to prove its worth as an undisputed classic all over again.
Based on the book “Wiseguy” by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-write “Goodfellas” with Scorsese, the film tells the story of Henry Hill, a Brooklyn kid whose dreams of joining the mob are fulfilled after Robert DeNiro’s Jimmy Conway takes him under his wing. Spanning three decades, the movie is a sweeping look at the life of a gangster, depicting all the glamor that comes with it while also not shying away from the brutality and morally vacuous nature of it all.
It’s hard to imagine the history of mob movies without “Goodfellas,” which debuted all the way back in 1990. While Scorsese previously made several films within the genre, and has made several since — most recently with the funny, melancholy masterwork that was 2019’s “The Irishman” — “Goodfellas” remains the best of them. That’s saying a lot for a filmography that also includes “Mean Streets,” “Casino,” and “The Departed.” With that in mind, the film’s modern day streaming success shouldn’t really be all that surprising.