"As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster."
Henry says this in a narration in the first scene of the film. After we see Tommy brutally stab Billy Batts in the trunk of the car, Henry goes to close it, the camera freezes on his emotionless face, and we hear this line. It is the first instance of voiceover in the film and it welcomes the viewer into the outrageous and often tonally dissonant atmosphere of the film. The viewer has not quite recovered from the brutality of the stabbing when the use of conspiratorial voiceover is introduced and Henry begins extolling the virtues of the gangster life. While Henry tells us that the life of a gangster is desirable and exciting, we have already seen—less than 2 minutes in—that it is also exceedingly disturbing and horrific.
"I know there are women, like my best friends, who would have gotten out of there the minute their boyfriend gave them a gun to hide. But I didn't. I got to admit the truth. It turned me on."
After Karen is harassed by her across-the-street neighbor, Henry goes and brutally beats him up. Coming back over to her house, he hands her the bloody gun that he used to beat the guy with. Karen stares at the gun for a moment, at once sacred and intrigued, before we hear this line in voiceover. Karen's statement shows us that she is seduced by Henry's lifestyle and his brutality. Even though she is a nice middle-class girl and is able to tell what is right and wrong, she chooses to follow her feelings and stay with Henry, even though she knows it isn't the course of action her friends would have taken.
"And that's the hardest part. Today everything is different; there's no action... have to wait around like everyone else. Can't even get decent food—right after I got here, I ordered some spaghetti with marinara sauce, and I got egg noodles and ketchup. I'm an average nobody... get to live the rest of my life like a schnook."
After joining the Witness Protection Program, Henry is safe from getting whacked by the members of the Lucchese family, but he is discontent with his life in hiding. As far as he is concerned, he has lost all of the perks of being a goodfella, and taken on the role of everyday "schnook." In the absence of "action"—that is, heists and hit jobs—he is bored and under-stimulated. Even worse, the food isn't even good and he is left eating poor quality pasta and sauce that taste like ketchup. He laments being left with the spoils of his once glamorous and seductive lifestyle.
"You mean—let me understand this, 'cause, ya know maybe it's me, I'm a little f**ked up maybe—but I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to f**kin' amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?"
This is our introduction to Tommy as a grownup. At a mob restaurant, we see Tommy telling a funny story, to the delight of the other men. When he finishes, his good friend Henry tells him what a funny guy he is, and Tommy immediately pretends to feel very defensive about it. Tommy has a hot temper and doesn't like it when someone makes fun of him or "busts his balls." He makes a big deal of feeling offended by Henry's assessment, and goes on an angry tirade about how upset he is to be called a "funny guy" and be humiliated by his friend. Henry begins to get scared of Tommy's wrath and intimidation tactics, but at the last minute it becomes clear that Tommy is only joking. This portion of dialogue shows the way the lightheartedness and humor coexist with fierce and unhinged anger in Tommy.
"Hey, Tommy, if I was gonna break your balls, I'd tell you to go home and get your shine box. "
In this instance, Tommy really does get angry. When he runs into Billy Batts, a made man in the rival Gambino family, Batts makes a lighthearted but diminishing reference to Tommy's past as a shoeshine boy. Tommy takes immediate offense, but his friends try to talk him down. After it seems like Tommy and Billy have made amends, Billy goes back to his friends and once again provokes Tommy by telling him to "go home and get [his] shine box," yet again making fun of Tommy's lowly past. This is what sends Tommy over the edge, and even though his friends manage to get him to leave the bar, he comes back soon after and bashes Billy's head in.
"Jimmy had never asked me to whack somebody before—but now he's asking me to go down to Florida and do a hit with Anthony? That's when I knew I would never have come back from Florida alive."
Having gotten out of jail after the drug bust, Henry has lost all of his allies in the mob. Paulie feels betrayed that Henry sold drugs behind his back, and Jimmy Conway—his best friend—is worried that Henry will tell Paulie about the fact that he participated in the drug dealing. Henry meets Jimmy at the diner when it is crowded, to ensure that he won't get whacked during their meeting. At lunch, Jimmy tells Henry he wants him to go to Florida to take care of a hit, and Henry agrees in order to pacify Jimmy. After he agrees, however, we hear him say this in voiceover, confiding in us that he knew he couldn't actually go to Florida, because he would likely get killed. It is at this moment that Henry realizes that he has to turn himself in to the authorities if he wants to stay alive.
"You know, we always called each other goodfellas. Like you said to, uh, somebody, "You're gonna like this guy. He's all right. He's a good fella. He's one of us." You understand? We were goodfellas. Wiseguys. But Jimmy and I could never be made because we had Irish blood. It didn't even matter that my mother was Sicilian. To become a member of a crew you've got to be one hundred percent Italian so they can trace all your relatives back to the old country. See, it's the highest honor they can give you. It means you belong to a family and crew. It means that nobody can fuck around with you. It also means you could fuck around with anybody just as long as they aren't also a member. It's like a license to steal. It's a license to do anything. As far as Jimmy was concerned with Tommy being made, it was like we were all being made. We would now have one of our own as a member."
This is Henry's explanation for the term "goodfella." With pride, he outlines what makes a member of the gang a member, and the privileges and luxuries it affords him. He also outlines the particularities of being a goodfella, that a lot of it has to do with ethnic background. Henry will never become a "made man" in the mafia, because he is only half Italian. It doesn't matter that he is half Sicilian; the Lucchese family requires its "goodfellas" to be 100% from the "old country." To be a made man is the ultimate privilege, to live fully outside the law while enjoying the ensured protection of the mob.
"We always did everything together and we always were in the same crowd. Anniversaries, christenings. We only went to each other's houses. The women played cards, and when the kids were born, Mickey and Jimmy were always the first at the hospital. And when we went to the Islands or Vegas to vacation, we always went together. No outsiders, ever. It got to be normal. It got to where I was even proud that I had the kind of husband who was willing to go out and risk his neck just to get us the little extras."
Karen narrates this in voiceover, describing her acclimation to a life as a mob wife. At first, she is hesitant about a life in the mafia, and worries about her safety and future. Soon enough, however, she too gets pulled into the clannish social system, which she describes here. The key to the success of the mafia, and the reason her standards are able to slip and align with the mob's, is the insularity of her social world. Surrounded by other people who are in the same boat, she learns not to question the more unsavory elements of her position, choosing instead to embrace the life of a mob wife, even developing pride about it.
"One day some of the kids from the neighborhood carried my mother's groceries all the way home. You know why? It was outta respect."
This narration occurs early in the film, when Henry is still in school and becoming more and more indoctrinated into the ways of the mob. He tells us that after he started skipping school and working for Paulie, the kids in the neighborhood showed him more respect, even helping his mother with groceries. This gives the viewer a window into why a life in the mob appeals to Henry in the first place.
"I'm not mad, I'm proud of you. You took your first pinch like a man and you learn two great things in your life. Look at me: never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut."
After Henry gets arrested while selling cigarettes, he goes to court, but he doesn't say anything about his affiliations. Leaving the courthouse, he is met with affectionate approval from the mobsters he works for. Henry is afraid that they will be mad at him for getting arrested in the first place, but as Jimmy assures him here, getting arrested is not an issue because he was able to keep his mouth shut and not tell on the other members of the crew. Here, Jimmy teaches him the most important lesson of being part of the Lucchese gang.
