Goodfellas

1970. Trunk. Stabbing body. "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster." Henry Hill narrating. Flash forward to violence. Then flashback to beginning. Before rise and fall. Glamour and horror. Dream becoming nightmare.

Henry: "To me, being a gangster was better than being President of the United States." Theme of American Dream corruption, loyalty vs. law, and price of belonging. Glamour seduces. Violence destroys. Cannot escape consequences.

Brooklyn 1955. Young Henry across from cabstand. Paulie Cicero mob boss. Jimmy Conway. Tommy DeVito. Admires wiseguys. Quits school. Works for them. "As far as Paulie concerned, we were earners, he got a piece of everything we made." Before made man. Apprenticeship. Before he knows the cost.

First arrest. Jimmy and Paulie proud. "Congratulations." Never rat. Code. Status rising. Meets adult - now Henry grown. Girlfriend Karen. Before marriage pulls her in. Entering life fully. Cannot imagine other existence. This is it. Peak glamour approaching.

Should Karen stay with Henry? Dangerous. Exciting. Wiseguys fascinating. Copacabana entrance - one shot through club. Power, respect, money. But also violence. Gun pistol-whipping neighbor. Should she marry into this? Can she handle it? Seduced by lifestyle. Love and danger.

Marriage. Entering family life in mob. Heists. Lufthansa planning. Tommy kills Spider. Killing casual. Violence normalized. Money flowing. "Fuck you, pay me." Lifestyle peak. Wives, girlfriends, restaurants. Entering world where crime is career. Before paranoia. Before drugs. Golden age.

Henry and Karen relationship. She knows. Accepts. Mob wives. Janice apartment. Betrayal and acceptance. Also Henry, Jimmy, and Tommy friendship. Brothers. Trust. Loyalty. Until tested. Paulie father figure. Billy Batts murder. Crossing line. Burial. Deeper in. Bound by blood.

Mob life peak. Lufthansa heist - $6 million! Richest ever. Spending money. Power everywhere. Cocaine starting. Promise: wiseguy lifestyle, violence and glamour, heists, crime methodology. Scorsese energy. "Layla" montage coming. High life. Before fall.

Batts body discovered. Paulie furious. Jimmy killing Lufthansa crew. Paranoia. False victory: rich! But Tommy kills made man - death sentence. Henry cocaine dealing. Everything unraveling. Stakes raised: FBI investigating, Jimmy killing everyone, Tommy will die. Peak to valley. Beginning of end.

Cocaine spiral. Henry dealing. Helicopter following. Paranoia. Karen flushing drugs. Jimmy wants Henry dead - knows too much. Tommy killed - revenge for Batts. "Thought he was going to be made." Body never found. Everything collapsing. Drugs, murder, betrayal. Life destroyed.

Henry arrested with drugs in car. Everything seized. Prison likely. Jimmy wants him dead. Tommy dead. Paulie wants nothing to do with him - broke rule. Alone. Karen furious. Family endangered. No money. No protection. Drugs ruined everything. Wiseguy life over.

Henry in jail. Facing life. Jimmy trying to kill Karen. Threatened. "For a guy who moved all day long I am going crazy in here." Everything lost. Must choose: prison/death or rat. Unthinkable. But necessary. Survival over loyalty. Code breaking. Identity death.

Henry becomes informant. Testifies. Witness protection. Synthesis: betrayal for survival. Dream died. Must live. Family first. Wiseguy identity gone. Normal life forced. Cannot be gangster. Pittsburgh. Suburban nowhere. Living but dead inside. Protection from both sides.

Trials. Jimmy, Paulie imprisoned. Life sentences. Henry ratted. Safe but empty. Newspaper on driveway - civilian life. "I am an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook." Dream over. Revenge: boring life. No excitement, no danger, no respect.

Henry suburban home. Bathrobe. Nothing. "As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster." But cost everything. Alive but dead. Glamour was lie. Violence was real. Protection from prison but prison from life. Tragedy: got what he wanted, lost who he was.