Goodfellas questions

Ok i rented Goodfellas and watched it for the first time and there were things that i wasnt sure of...

The day that Henry gets busted (i think its May 11) after the babysitter hangs up from talking to him she pulls out her plane tickets (i think thats what it was) but on the paper it looks like there is a big censor line. anyone know what this is?

and near the end when Jimmy gives Karen that money and tells her to go into that little alley what was in there? i couldnt hear what he said. and also does she run off because she thinks she is going to be killed?

i always seem to miss the obvious so these questions might be kinda stupid

Not stupid at all, Scarface! That, I believe, was just Karen's paranoid imagination taking its toll on her. I don't think Jimmy intended to have her killed--she was no real threat to him, like the other guys who got whacked were. Sorry, can't answer the other question.

Mick

Tony, as Mick said, your questions weren't stupid--they were good ones.
The ticket folder Lois was holding probably was embossed with the name of a real airline. It's usual in films to see corporate logos in passing--for example, someone lights a cigarette, you see a Marlboro box momentarily. But in that scene, the camera freeze=framed and focused on that ticket folder for about 15 seconds while Henry provided a voice-over. I'm guessing that the studio's lawyers advised the production team to black-out the airline's name lest they be sued for infringing on the airline's intellectual property (their logo and corporate name) to show it in a negative way (Lois flies that airline to deliver dope).
This wouldn't have been an issue if the airline were portrayed in a positive or neutral way. In fact, many companies pay movie companies to focus on their logos. Watch people talking on phones in many films of the Eighties and Nineties--the camera will focus on the handset, showing an AT&T logo, even though regular AT&T phones have no logos on their handsets. If you're familiar with "The Shining," watch the scene where Dick Halloran flies from Miami to Denver because he thinks Danny is in trouble--there's a ten-second shot of a Continental Airlines aircraft flying over the majestic Rockies.
In the other scene you mentioned: Jimmy was directing Karen to his stash of swag (stolen goods) and was inviting her to take what she wanted. I don't think Jimmy intended to whack her. As Mick said, her reaction was a product of her paranoia.

thanks guys.

The censor line was a Scorsese arty trick. The narrator, Henry Hill, is getting extremely paraqnoid. The censor line prevents you from seeing the number that Lois called. I think it emphasises Henry's obsessive paranoia at that point - he (and the director) doesn't want you to see the number.

The stuff in the alley was "dresses". In real life, it was actually t-shirt material. Karen really did freak and run in real life.
If you look carefully at the scene you can see men unloading boxes in the alley - so probably Karen was just being needlessly paranoid.

Also, I was thinking about this last night, why was Karen calling Henry from a phone booth when the guy that was grabbing her and stuff lived across the street? Wouldnt she already be at her house?

She said he threw her out of his car. Must have been far from her home.

Oh yeah thanks Turnbull

Y'know what, I always just assumed that Jimmy was trying to whack Karen. If not, why didn't he walk her over? Those guys "loading boxes" were not something to be irrationally paranoid about -- guys in a dark room? -- I could swear I heard one of them say "there she is"... I don't know for sure... but I always got the impression that she was to be whacked for some reason. Next time I watch it, I'll pay more attention to see if I can tell better.

As for the airline ticket, I think Turnbull's right... just a trademark thing...

[QUOTE]Originally posted by J Geoff:
I could swear I heard one of them say "there she is"...

Yeah same here but I dont think Jimmy really cares if Karen is alive or dead. I think all he was worrying about at that time was Henry even though he was acting suspicious...

Well, okay, cuz I can't think of any real reason WHY Jimmy would want Karen killed... it's just the vibe I get.

If I sent you to some dark room "around the corner" you'd probably shit your pants, too -- as would I

If I sent you to some dark room "around the corner" you'd probably shit your pants, too -- as would I [/QB][/QUOTE]


Yeah I sure would

I kind of wondered why Karen was out with the neigbor at all when she and Henry were already seeing each other at the time? Hmmmmmm?

well I think that they were just friends. Karen said that she knew him her whole life, maybe they went to lunch together or something

JG, I think that the guys in the room saying "there she is" was also part of her paranoia--they didn't really say it.

Mick

OK well I have some more questions after rewatching some of it... Did Tommy's mom know he was going to be made? Also in the scene with the guys across the street for Karen, it sounds like one of them says something like "Henry what are you doing?" or something like that. So do you think that they knew each other? Does anyone know anything about these? Thanks

Good question about Tommy's mom. She was so adoring, it's possible that she knew he was going to be made, but didn't really associate anything bad with being made--or blocked it out. I don't think Tommy made much effort to hide stuff from his mom because he didn't have to.
When Henry advances on Bruce and his pals to pistol-whip Bruce, you hear Bruce in a moment of false bravado (before Henry showed his gun): "Whadda want? Ya want something, f**k?"

if you remember a couple of seens before the one where henry pistol whips bruce, karen and henry are on vacation somewhere (that's what i assume) and henry is introduced to bruce by karen. so bruce and henry know each other but not sure about the other guys.

Yeah but when I watched that it just sounded like one of the other guys said something to Henry too...

Yes. After Henry pistol-whips Bruce, he points the gun at the others, and one says, "Don't shoot!"

The part where Karen is supposed to go choose dresses and gets scared and jumps in the car and drives off, is exactly what I would have done too It looks really suspicious to me being sent into the little back room with the boxes in and the burly looking guys.....no way haha plus, Jimmy watching closely and directing her not friendly and helpful but more concerend she did as he told her. It's possible they wanted Henry and Karen out of the way everything was falling apart for them and they could/did become loose cannons!!
By the time she meets up again with Henry shes regained some composure and he asks is she ok and she says yes, and more or less tells herself it was nothing just her imagination and she got 'scared' I aint so sure :p