«STS week MCIODET 10, 1770. FAGS Wily AT THE MOVIES Ca OODFELLAS (Capitol 6) It took eight months, two weeks and five days, but this decade has finally produced its first un- zieniably great film, not surprisingly created by the director whose films have defined quality, innovation and power for the past two # decades, Martin Scorsese. In the ’70s Scorsese redefined the street drama with the searing Mean =| Streets and Taxi Driver. In = the 80s his work included the brilliant dark comedies King of Comedy and After Hours, the intellectual reworking of the Christ story The Last Temptation SIVEFSCIeer By DAVID RYLAND ———— — a of Christ, and the stagger- ingly impressive Raging Bull, easily the decade’s finest film. Now in 1990, Scorsese has teamed up once again with his favorite actor Robert De Niro and gone back to the street he knows so well to tell an epic true story of life in the Mafia that spans more than 30 years. Adapted from the novel Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi (who co-wrote the script with Scorsese) Goodfellas opens in the mid-50s, introducing us to Henry Hill (Ray Liotta, who played the ghost of Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams), a young Italian/Irish boy growing up in New York who is far more impressed by the neighborhood gangsters than his parents or school. Starting off as an errand boy, Henry shows enthusiasm Scorsese triumph and promise, and by the early *60s he is one of the local mob’s golden boys. Teaming with the cool, connected Jimmy Conway (De Niro) and the dangerously nutso Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), Henry is on top of the world, pulling any heist he wants, getting the best seats for any show in town and sitting pretty with the local Mafia boss ~ (Paul Sorvino). For the next few years Henry's situation seems solid and secure. He marries a nice Jewish girl (Lorraine Bracco) and sets up a cozy home for his family. He gets a cute mistress and sets her up in a cozy apart- ment. And all the while the tax- free stacks of cash wrapped in elastic bands keep rolling in. Then the bottom drops out. Mounting domestic problems, an unexpected jail term, the botched aftermath of a major heist and a variety of complica- tions stemming from his dab- bling in the blossoming drug trade all conspire to make Henry's version of the American _ Dream a crumbling, paranoid nightmare. Finally, as a last resort, with his friends shutting him out, and maybe even con- spiring to rub him out, Henry places himself and family in the governments Witness Reloca- tion Program, agreeing to testify against his old pals. Violent, powerful, technically brilliant, shockingly hilarious, and at times almost playful in its tone, Goodfellas is a gangster film like no other. For two-and- a-half hours Scorsese, Pilegpi and the sterling cast paint an unflinching portrait of the mean streets as only this ensemble could achieve. Propelled by Liotta’s past-tense narration ‘flavored more with pride than regret, the story moves effort- lessly from one episode to the next revealing an overview of Mafia life that probably gets closer to the real stuff than any- thing Hollywood has yet offered. But for all its grittiness and heavy doses of bloody reality, Scorsese never fails to find the humor in the most outrageous situations, the hearts of seem- ingly heartless characters, and the constantly compelling qualities of a hard and dangerous world. A first class effort from all in- volved, Goodfellas especially ex- Focusi on ng Women. B.C’s women share common problems, beliefs, interests, S with Mafia epic | GOODFELLAS, Martin Scorsese’s latest film, stars Robert De Niro (Center as Jimmy Conway one of the most respected men in organized crime. The movie spans 30 years in the life of Conway's Mafia family. cels in its editing by Scorsese's long time cutter Thelma Shoon- maker, photography by Michael Ballhaus, costumes and period detail, Liotta’s starmaking per- formance, and Pesci’s viscous and unnervingly funny portrayal that must win him a supporting Oscar. In fact, if the extreme violence doesn’t turn the stomachs of too many of the Academy’s voting members, look for Goodfellas to clean up next spring come awards time. This perfect blend of style, sub- stance and entertainment offers up a potent moviegoing ex- perience that both audiences and an usually conservative Academy will find hard to refuse. *****(R) Extreme violence, frequent language. PACIFIC HEIGHTS (Odeon/Caprice) Hitchcock thriller meets yuppie nightmare in this new film from director John Schlesinger (Widnight Cowboy). Melanie Griffith and Matthew Modine star as a co- habitating couple whose dream of remodeling and subletting an old Victorian house turns to ter- ror when tenant Michael Keaton starts doing some un- authorized remodeling while ac- ting like a psycho and worst of all (for yuppies anyway) refus- ing to pay any rent. Fine direction from Schlesinger, committed perfor- mances from Griffith and Modine, and a chilling portrayal by Keaton make this enjoyable on a superficial level but Daniel Pyne’s script shows its hand way too early, then frustratingly mixes some good plot turns with cheap scares and a conclusion that should be looking for a room on Elm Street. - Certainly a watchable effort, but not very imaginative or com- pelling. **1/2 (Mature) Lan- guage, violence. RATINGS KEY: ***** classic; x excellent; ***, good; ** fair; * poor and no stars, worthless. root. PRIVACY This quality constructed custom built 4 bedroom home with 3 bathrooms features a large country kitchen. 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