GoodFellas re-release By Liam Grange

Release and other information Goodfellas is a crime/drama, which stars Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. It's based on a non-fiction book called Wiseguy (Nicholas Pileggi). The film originally came out in 1990, but was re-released in January 2017 in 4K in selected UK cinemas.  The film was rated an 18 in the UK and an R in the US. To ensure this R rating from the MPAA, Scorsese had to remove 10 frames of blood. It premiered at the Venice International film festival and was given a wide release in North America on September 21st 1990. Over a month later it was released in the UK on October 26th. American films being released awhile after in the UK was common and still is today. A recent example of this happening is with La La Land, which premiered December 9th 2016 in the US and January 12th 2017 in the UK. 

Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia family Wiseguy is a 1986 non-fiction book written by Nicholas Pileggi. The book details the life of Henry Hill who was part of the mafia, but later became an informant for the FBI. Henry Hill is also the main character in the film and is portrayed by Ray Liotta.  Nicholas Pileggi was born and raised in New York city and later became a crime reporter for more than 30 years. It was his knowledge and fascination with Gangsters, such as the mafia, which he used to write many crime books and screenplays for crime films. Aside from writing Wiseguy and then later GoodFellas, he also wrote Casino: Love and honour in Las Vegas and then the screenplay for the film Casino. Both of the films were co-written and directed by Martin Scorsese. 

Trailers 1990 trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo5jJpHtI1Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTBRNXGQR9Q

Poster The poster features Robert De Niro in the centre ; he has been in other films similar to this. For example, The Godfather part 2. The fact that he is in it will appeal to fans of his previous films and will make them want to go and watch it. De Niro won Best actor in a supporting role for Raging Bull and this would make people want to see him again in Goodfellas. The poster is dark and this perfectly represents the tone of the film.  It's effective as the poster does not give much a way and leaves people wanting more. A woman can be seen lying dead in the road and it implies that the film will be quite violent and is for a mature audience. 

Director and distribution The 1990's classic was directed by Martin Scorsese and he also wrote the screenplay along with Nicholas Pileggi. Scorsese originally wanted to call it Wise Guy after the book, but later settled on Goodfellas. The film was distributed by Warner Bros.  For it's re-release in January 2017 the BFI and Warner Bros joint together to distribute it to celebrate "Scorsese season". This was a period dedicating to celebrating his films with GoodFellas, undoubtedly being his most famous. 

Producer GoodFellas was produced by Irvin Winkler. Winkler who has been the director or producer of 50 motion pictures. He has produced every Rocky film, including the spin-off: Creed. Irvin Winkler and Robert Chartoff's biggest success is with Rocky; they earned the Academy award for best picture.   Winkler and Chartoff also produced Raging Bull and The Right Stuff, both of these were nominated for best picture. GoodFellas was nominated for best picture too. 

Reviews Goodfellas was a success, both critically and financially and seen by many as one of the best in the crime genre. It's rated at 8.7/10 on IMDb and 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. Also, Goodfellas is ranked 17 on the top 250 films on IMDb. However, there was controversy surrounding the violent nature of the film. In the first test screening 40 people walked out within the first 10 minutes. In addition, others reported how they were agitated by Henry's last day as a wise guy sequence. Scorsese defended this by saying that was his intention and the point of the scene.

Budget and performance at the Box Office. GoodFellas was made on a budget of $25 million, at the time this was Scorsese most expensive film. However, $25 million is a medium budget by Hollywood standards.  In it's opening weekend the film grossed $6,368,901. This means 13.6% of the films total earnings were made on the opening weekend.  The Worldwide earnings at the box office are $46.8 million. 

Award wins and nominations GoodFellas won an Oscar for Best actor in a supporting role (Joe Pesci). In addition, the film was nominated for 6 Oscars, including: Best picture, Best actress in a supporting role, Best director, Best writing, screenplay that was based from another medium and Best film editing.  Other wins include 5 BAFTA awards for: Best adapted Screenplay, Best costume design, Best Direction, Best editing and Best film.