Martin Scorsese had a well-known history of skillfully directing visually dazzling and action-packed mafia movies when he directed Goodfellas, a movie he said would be his last gangster film. After a great deal of success in the 1970s with films such as Mean Streets, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Taxi Driver, New York, New York, and the concert documentary, The Last Waltz, Scorsese floundered throughout the 80s. In 1980, he made the film Raging Bull starring Robert DeNiro, but failed to follow up with any major successes until Goodfellas.
Goodfellas marked a return to the milieu of gangster films that had made Scorsese famous in the first place. Not only was he well-suited for the genre, but he directed the film with a punk bravado and sure-handed ostentatiousness that is well-matched with his colorful story and coterie of characters. He modeled much of his directing style on the French New Wave films of Truffaut and Godard from the 1960s; the film is packed with compact and fast-paced scenes to heighten momentum and excitement in the pace of the film.
Many of Scorsese's directorial stamps stand out in Goodfellas. The uncut tracking shot in the Copacabana, in which the camera starts on the street with Henry and Karen getting out a car and follows them through the labyrinthine nightclub to their table, as the classic Motown song “Then He Kissed Me” plays, is iconic and breathtaking. It is justifiably considered one of the most cinematically impressive moments in film history. This sequence typifies Scorsese's skill with the material; the way that the scene is shot invites the viewer into the world of the mafia and shows its enticing, romantic luster. Like Karen, we are outsiders wandering through the basement of the operation and into the glamorous treatment that the mafia affords its members. Moments later, we are reminded of the brutal and animalistic violence that keeps the mob afloat. With subtle ease and an eye for detail Scorsese shows the glamor of the mafia without glamorizing it. The luster has a distinct underbelly, an unsavory foundation.
The film serves as a critique not only of the mob, but of the culture that allows the mob to flourish. Through Henry's eyes, the gangsters of the film are presented as larger-than-life heroes filling in the gaps where the American system has failed them. Thus, Scorsese puts both his viewers and his characters in morally ambiguous and ambivalent territory throughout. The camerawork reflects Henry's journey. Early on, it is often stationary with subtle movements and panning. By the time Henry has become a coke-addicted entrepreneur working outside the purview of his bosses, the camera is in constant movement and the musical accompaniment has shifted from the low-key love standards of the 50s to the jittery rock music of the 70s and early 80s.
