As Far Back A I Can Remember I Always Wanted To Be a Gangster

Goodfellas, The Greatest Editing of All Time, and the Line Between Depiction and Endorsement.

Bing! Pow! You calling me funny? Hello Film Club! This week we'll be discussing Martin Scorsese's deadly mafia romp Goodfellas. Spoilers ahead.

I've loved this movie for years. As a teenager I had always heard people hype up The Godfather. I'd heard there was this gangster movie and it was one of the greatest movies of all time. Well, reader, I'll risk my film bro card by saying that when I eventually watched The Godfather as a budding teenage cinephile, I didn't really get the hype. I was like, why is this wedding scene sooooo long? etc etc. Not long after that, I saw Goodfellas for the first time. I was enthralled from beginning to end. Now this, I thought, this is a gangster picture.

I've since come around on The Godfather of course, learning to appreciate its more sober meditation on family, and spiritual corruption –but the point is I've always loved Goodfellas. And in my mind it will always be the gangster film. It has all the usual gangster stuff, robberies, shocking violence, waxing eloquent about the sauce— but there is just something else about this one.. it sings. It's almost musical. To this day I think my favorite film editing of all time, all thanks to this genius:

The Great Thelma Schoonmaker

Thelma Schoonmaker, Scorsese's long-time editor is one of the best film editors in cinema, and Goodfellas is one of her greatest achievements. If you want to understand how to use rhythm in editing... study this film. Every cut, every freeze frame, every line of dialogue, needle drop, crash-dolly, J-cut, L-cut, punch, and gunshot hits at exactly the right moment. The whole thing kicks off with a bang and just... never stops going. The weave of background dialogue, camera movement, music, voiceover never misses a beat. It's such incredible story craft.