Tagged: Goodfellas
Goodfellas: Tommy’s Gray Suit for Mob Mayhem and Mom Visits
Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas (1990)
Vitals
Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito, volatile and violent Mafia associate
New York, Spring 1970
Film: Goodfellas
Release Date: September 19, 1990
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy Mother’s Day! One of my favorite cinematic sequences depicting the relationship between a son and his mother comes by way of my favorite movie, in which master auteur Martin Scorsese cast his own mother Catherine as the charming Mrs. DeVito, mother to the psychotic gangster Tommy (Joe Pesci) who brings his cohorts Henry (Ray Liotta) and Jimmy (Robert De Niro) seeking a shovel in a covert night-time stop to fetch a shovel… only to be sweet-talked into an early breakfast.
Catherine Scorsese endearingly embodies the familiar archetype of the aging Italian-American matriarch with her plastic-covered furniture, the gift to effortlessly slip between American English and Italian dialects, and the fierce desire to feed her children and their friends… regardless of whether they’re hungry or not. Continue reading
Scott Fraser Collection’s Icon Series: The Goodfellas Shirts
Ray Liotta as Henry Hill in Goodfellas (1990), wearing a blue striped knit short-sleeved shirt that Scott Fraser Collection recently recreated as the “Salerno” Knit Shirt.
London-based brand Scott Fraser Collection has been on my radar for several years with its increasing lineup of beautiful clothes consistent with its maxim of “retrospective modernism”. With a collection tailored to men and women, Scott Fraser Collection offers knitwear, trousers, suits, and more that take inspiration from the golden age of leisure-wear across the mid-20th century.
In 2020, SFC introduced the first of its “Icon Series”, recreating two famous and distinctive shirts worn by Jude Law in The Talented Mr. Ripley. Less than two years later, SFC has expanded its Icon Series by turning its creative abilities toward what may be my favorite movie of all time: Goodfellas. Continue reading
Goodfellas: Henry’s Adidas Tracksuit in Prison
Ray Liotta as Henry Hill in Goodfellas (1990)
Vitals
Ray Liotta as Henry Hill, imprisoned New York mob associate
United States Penitentiary, Lewisburg, Fall 1975
Film: Goodfellas
Release Date: September 19, 1990
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno
Background
As an Italian-American with no known organized crime affiliations, I was always drawn to Goodfellas for how much I could resonate with the prominence of food—particularly Italian food—throughout my life, such as large family dinners with heaping portions of delicious pasta, sauce, and meats, usually with Dean Martin or Tony Bennett crooning from the hi-fi in the corner. In the spirit of that most relatable element from my favorite movie, I wish you all a Happy National Pasta Day! (And for those outside the United States, let’s all come together to celebrate World Pasta Day a week from now on October 25.)
Last month, as I was rounding up my 30 favorite style moments for Goodfellas‘ 30th anniversary, I realized it had been almost four years since I last explored any of Ray Liotta’s mobbed-up threads as famous turncoat Henry Hill. When I saw back-to-back celebrations of the Italian culinary tradition in October, I knew it was time to explore one of the most famous scenes from Martin Scorsese’s magnum opus.
Goodfellas: 30 Significant Style Moments
Vitals
Film: Goodfellas
Release Date: September 19, 1990
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today marks the 30th anniversary since my favorite movie, Goodfellas, was released, ten days after it premiered to rave reviews at the 47th International Venice Film Festival. Based on the true story told in Nicholas Pileggi’s book Wiseguy, this Martin Scorsese-directed mob epic details a life in organized crime as recalled by Lucchese Mafia family associate-turned-informant Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), from his teenage years in the 1950s through adulthood until his arrest on May 11, 1980.
The ensemble cast includes Robert de Niro, Joe Pesci, Paul Sorvino, and Frank Sivero as Henry’s criminal colleagues and Lorraine Bracco as his wife and eventual accomplice.
Pesci, Liotta, and De Niro in Goodfellas.
Goodfellas: Tommy’s “Funny” Gray Silk Suit
Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas (1990)
Vitals
Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito, volatile and violent Mafia associate
Brooklyn, New York, Summer 1963
Film: Goodfellas
Release Date: September 19, 1990
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno
Background
You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it’s me, I’m a little fucked up maybe, but I’m funny how, I mean funny like I’m a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I’m here to fuckin’ amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?
Well, Tommy, it is April Fool’s Day. Continue reading
BAMF Style: My 5 Formative Movie Suits
For my birthday today (July 21, same as Ernest Hemingway and Robin Williams), I hope you’ll excuse an indulgent post as I explore the suits that grabbed my attention from a young age and stirred my early interest in men’s style. Though, given the dapper white jacket that Sean Connery wore on the cover of GQ the month I was born, I should have known what direction my life would eventually take!
While not necessarily the greatest suits to every appear in the movies, these five each contributed to my interest in menswear that led to the eventual creation of BAMF Style a decade later. Interestingly, all of the featured outfits are from period films, highlighting fashion of an earlier era (the 1930s, in more cases than not) and accentuated by a musical soundtrack designed to emphasize the character and the moment.
Warren Beatty in Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Jack Nicholson in Chinatown (1974), Nicholas Clay in Evil Under the Sun (1982), Ray Liotta in Goodfellas (1990), and Robert Redford in The Sting (1973)
Goodfellas: Joe Pesci in Glen Plaid
Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas (1990)
Vitals
Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito, volatile and violent Mafia associate
New York, Spring 1979
Film: Goodfellas
Release Date: September 19, 1990
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
We always called each other “good fellas.” Like you said to somebody, “You’re gonna like this guy. He’s all right. He’s a good fella. He’s one of us.” You understand? We were good fellas. Wiseguys.
The line may have been an afterthought to explain the new Goodfellas title after Scorsese was unable to use the book’s original Wiseguy title, but it provides the perfect context and framework for Tommy DeVito prepping for his “made man” ceremony, especially against the optimistic driving piano exit of Derek and the Dominoes’ “Layla”.
Of course, little does Tommy know that he’s in for the ultimate case of the [Mafia] Mondays… Continue reading
A Goodfellas Christmas: Henry’s Red Velvet Jacket
Joe Pesci and Ray Liotta as Tommy and Henry, respectively, in Goodfellas (1990)
Vitals
Ray Liotta as Henry Hill, New York mob associate and ex-con
Queens, NY, December 1978
Film: Goodfellas
Release Date: September 19, 1990
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno
Background
Following the record-breaking Lufthansa heist on December 11, 1978, Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) hosted a few of his nearest, dearest, and soon-to-be-deadest Mafia pals over to Robert’s Lounge for some Christmas cheer.
Robert’s Lounge was a real-life mob hangout in South Ozone Park, Queens, only a few miles away from the Lufthansa terminal at JFK International Airport (formerly Idlewild) from which Jimmy’s crew had just stolen more than $5.8 million in cash and jewels. Robert’s Lounge hosted both the planning and the celebration of the crime. Continue reading
Goodfellas – Henry’s 1970s Brown Leather Jacket
Ray Liotta and Debi Mazar as Henry Hill and Sandy, respectively, in Goodfellas (1990).
Vitals
Ray Liotta as Henry Hill, New York mob associate, drug dealer, and ex-con
New York City, Fall 1978
Film: Goodfellas
Release Date: September 19, 1990
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno
Background
Today’s Mafia Monday post examines a brief – but brilliantly-scored – sequence in Goodfellas detailing the newly-paroled Henry Hill’s regression into criminality, now exacerbated with drug deals in Pittsburgh (hey, that’s my hometown!) Of course, not only is Henry’s interstate cocaine commerce illegal for many reasons, but it’s also verboten in his branch of the Lucchese family as dictated by capo Paulie. Continue reading
Henry’s Copa Date Suit in Goodfellas
Ray Liotta as Henry Hill in Goodfellas (1990).
Vitals
Ray Liotta as Henry Hill, ambitious New York mob associate
New York, Spring 1964
Film: Goodfellas
Release Date: September 19, 1990
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno
Background
Yesterday was Valentine’s Day, so BAMF Style is appropriating Mafia Monday for one of the most memorable scenes from Goodfellas, the impressive Steadicam shot that follows Henry and Karen’s date at their Copacabana. After leaving his Chrysler Newport with a doorman across the street (“It’s easier than leaving it at a garage”), the camera follows Henry as he spirits Karen through the labyrinth of hallways and kitchens into the famous nightclub, peeling off twenties for every hand that helps along the way. Continue reading