It's 2 scenes that don't add up. We all know Henry Hill is half Italian half Irish, but what's not said in the movie how Jimmy Burke was fully Irish. In the scene where Bats gets whacked, he says," Get the two Irishmen a drink" and Jimmy or Henry replies, "Only one of us is Irish". Then later on before Tommy gets whacked, Henry and Jimmy are sitting in the diner. Henry narrated that they couldn't get made because they both have Irish blood. Was that on purpose or just a mistake?

He actually said "get those two irish hoodlums a drink" . and what i took away from that scene when they said that theres only one irishmen here was that they thought Jimmy was the only real irishmen bc henry was half italian.

I see, but I think Henry tried to hide his Irish blood by saying that because he wants to be fully in the family. Jimmy too, but he's accepted that there's nothing he can do about it.

Well, what I found interesting was that the first thing we hear Henry say (voiceover) is "Ever since I was a little kid I always wanted to be a gangster." And he was. His half-Irish background didn't prevent him from being "with" Paulie, being accepted by Paulie and his crew, working for them, pulling jobs, etc. All that mattered to Paulie was that he (and even more so, Jimmy) was a good earner. No, he couldn't be made, but I never heard him say in the film that he was hiding his Irish blood or that he wanted to be a made guy. I think he accepted it.

He never said it directly. Henry's father was a rough Irishman who Henry didnt want to become so he turned away from him and more to his mother's ancestry, Sicilian. I think you would want to be a made guy if you're in the mob, to have some sort of protection. Of course they both wanted to be made, but its possible that Henry didnt want to get made if it involved whacking someone. Jimmy was more welcome to it and did it before, in the movie and in real life. If Jimmy was Scilian, he would have been already made.

Paul Vario was a mafioso, a capo, and later the consigliere of the Lucchese crime family. He also has the distinction of being Henry Hill’s teacher/father figure on the mobster way of life. A fictional character played by actor Paul Sorvino based on Vario was featured in the film Goodfellas.

http://youtu.be/JcFpQ6Ryaq0?list=PLQhDH_WZbs1N0jqZ9y9naMtgUfZ3VoVbo

No paddy james you are wrong,i watched henry say on tv tha he didn't want to became a mede man.because made men answer for a lot of things..and the fact was that henry could never hide that he was irish..fist of all his last name was hill,but even if someone thought that was his nickname he grow up across the street from vario's cab stand so everyone probably knew his father.i don't want to belive that you can fool the mob that way..in fact there was a member of burke's crew who was a pr,and he told everyone he was italian even changed his name..but burke and vario found out and gave that guy a beating...so i think that henry was ok with his irish sicilian heritage

Random Goodfellas post...

I watched this film a couple of weeks ago and this one is still my time favorite..

Has anyone heard about "The Goodfellas" reunion next month?

Check out this link HERE

Cool SC.

NO Friggin way! I cannot believe it! Youtube put my video back on that a made for Goodfellas.
I made this awhile ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ex7vKwTI5I

I just spoke to my friend Johnny who was in the movie. He knew about it but no one contacted him to be their for the q & a.

But he did tell me he is now the meeter and the greeter for Rao's in LA.

Another actor from the movie is Paul Herman was also played beansy in the Sopranos.

He was the original meeter and greeter for cafe central restraunt when it was on Amsterdam ave and then it moved to Columbus ave.

He is now the meeter and greeter at an la restraunt named Ago something like that.

Hey can't make ends meet just being in movies anymore.

@Dellacroce nicely put.that's how I view that situation as well.

Sorry I missed this awhile back, Delly. But that's right on the money. Now, this isn't politically correct. But then again, neither am I. But back then, the children borne of mixed marriages were often never fully accepted by either side. And believe it or not, there was a time in this country when Irish-Italian was considered a mixed marriage.

Now, in this day and age, with what's happened to this country, we've come to realize that we're MUCH better off with each other than with some of the newer immigrants who arrive here hating this country but here for the handouts.

It's almost hard to believe that forty or so years ago that the European immigrants in New York were still often at each other's throats. Fuck that. Give me the Jews, the Irish, the Poles, the Germans, the Italians, the Albanians (who arrived later, but they're honorary Italians in the Bronx lol), and the rest of the Europeans any day. We're much better off with each other than we are with a bunch of Middle Easterners who come here with hate in their hearts and the destruction of America on their agenda.

And this has nothing to do with Blacks or Latinos from the various Islands. I'm talking about European immigrants vs. Middle Eastern immigrants. There's no Goddamned comparison.

Sorry if I hijacked the thread. I'm wound up on coffee and can't sleep.

Funny things about the scene

-Billy's party favors and his 4 person guest list.

-The toupee that one of his guests seems to be wearing.

-Jimmy using the phrase "Top of the morning to you" to Billy when it's night time. (or is that a standard greeting among Irishmen good for all occasions and times of the day?)

Henry was considered almost Italian in some ways (obviously he bullshits about many things) since he was Paulie's boy. This I believe though, I think Vario really did keep him very close, since there was no other way he'd have gotten away with half the shit he did. However, he was also a great earner at times, aside from the usual crap, he pulled two heists... gave Vario like 60,000$ only from Air France and then probably like a million dollars in cash after the Lufthansa deal.



Lol, can't say I disagree buddy. Any day now we gonna hear about the first Albanian getting his button.

Pizza,

It was Blacks and Puerto Ricans that brought older White ethnic communities together in New York. In both cases, the new residents didn't technically qualify as immigrants..because the Blacks were coming from rural South and PRs are citizens. Throw some West Indians and Dominicans in there also, but mainly American Blacks and Latinos.

I bring the distinction about them not being immigrants because as non immigrants....they don't go through the vetting/screening process that actual immigrants go through to get here. Normally, because of that screening process....some of the most determined, resourceful, and motivated people are allowed to come here. Regardless of what social strata of their homeland they are from, they have the tools to thrive here.

The Americans migrating from one region to the other(rural south or PR to New York) don't go through that process, so while many of them are determined,motivated and resourceful and will succeed...the ne'er do wells aren't weeded out.

The behavior of the new groups brought the White ethnic groups together as they realized that they shared some core values that they didn't see in the newly arrived groups.Also after a generation..people were no longer of mother country nationality, but Americans of this or that background so kids went to school and dated each other and eventually marry.Even just between Irish, none of the animosity and hostility which exists back home along religious lines carries over here.


People blend into the proverbial melting pots.



I've always said and believed that New York hyphen Americans are more advanced and evolved than their fellow countrymen who landed in different parts of the country or even the region. Faster paced life and more mingling of different people in New York.
In a lot of parts of Jersey, the different White hyphen Americans are still at each other's throats...and there are towns and sections of towns that are exclusively (insert country of origin). On several occasions..in social outings... I've had White people tell me straight up how they HATE another White ethnic group. First time it happened, I'm thinking wow...what do I say?...and if he feels this way about other Whites..I'd better get the F out of here before they start burning crosses. Whites shitting on other Whites in front of Black guy let's you know that they REALLY don't like the other group.
It's happened enough that I know how to react. I use the classic Seinfeld line and it always gets me off the hook "Yeah, and don't get me started about the Blacks and the Jews". They get the reference,they laugh and change the subject. When the Bridge Gate story broke and the Christie guy's email read "time for trouble for that little Serb"...that's typical Jersey stuff.

http://www.avclub.com/article/goodfellas-turned-wiseguys-simple-prose-cinematic--224013

Interesting article comparing the book to the movie.

Thanks :