What Are Film Techniques Used In Goodfellas

In the film “Goodfellas” directed by Martin Scorsese, Scorsese uses many techniques to bring the true story of Henry Hills rise and fall in the Lucchese crime family to the big screen. Throughout the film, Scorsese uses the Lufthansa heist to highlight the greed that corrupts the crime world which is the mafia. Scorsese illustrates the greedy and violent reality of mafia culture through multiple camera techniques and studied acting that contrasts the flamboyant appearance of the mob lifestyle to its constraining reality. Throughout the film “Goodfellas” Scorcese uses a diverse array of film techniques to bring the Lucchese crime family to the screen. The association between the reality of the mafia lifestyle and the “Goodfellas” is made in the opening scene of the movie.

Not only does the intercut technique raise the intrigue of the scene and change the mood of the film completely, it personifies the real life mafia member Tommy DeSimmone, and shows the unpredictable and violent characters of the mafia lifestyle. Joe Pesci's role as Tommy DeSimmone was extremely written and developed by Scorsese, but not to the extent of Robert DeNiro’s character Jimmy Conway. Jimmy Conway’s character (based on the real life Lucchese crime family member Jimmy Burke) played an essential role in the heist. His role is described in the passage “On 11 December 1978 Burke personally orchestrated the Lufthansa heist, in which over ten criminals participated, and in which about eight million dollars in cash and nearly a million dollars in jewels were stolen” (The Society of Transgression, 267). Jimmy Conway’s character is heavily examined throughout the film, and he played an essential role in the Lufthansa heist. Jimmy’s power and greed is illustrated multiple times in the film, but it is first closely examined after the