How Scorsese Uses Dialogue in Goodfellas

Goodfellas is a 1990 movie in the gangster genre directed by Martin Scorsese, which just like most movies uses a lot of dialogue to bring the scriptwriter's message home. This movie which is based on Nicholas Pilleggi’s book Wise Guy revolves around the life of a young man who rises to various ranks as a result of his hard work in criminal life. Henry Hill as a young man idolized the Lucchese family for its criminal activities, and at the end of it, he quit school to join crime. As such, this young man lives his life to the fullest oblivious to the problems he might get himself into. Consequently, a few mistakes here and there and drug addiction come up to disrupt his success. More so, this movie which depicts how people live wasteful lifestyles as well as betrayal which Henry the main character did in order to save himself thus remaining a nobody whose work was only a police informant. The essay will explore some of the key elements that Scorsese employed in order to bring this film to life and make it have lasting impressions on its viewers

Use of Dialogue in Martin Scorsese Goodfellas

Dialogue is a very vital element of any conversation is it a movie or typical face to face conversation since it helps in soliciting and giving feedback which in turns frames the set-up of any communication process. Goodfellas following this pattern has used a lot of dialogues between the various characters in order to give this movie a meaning and structure. Martin Scorsese, the Goodfellas director, chose to use narrative dialogue which is spoken by Henry Hill who is the main character. Consequently, Henry Hill almost entirely narrates the entire movie to the viewers so that the viewers can understand the film from his point of view. As the movie starts, Henry Hill starts his narrative dialogue with his passionate and innate desire to become a gangster in his life “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster” (Scorsese, 1990). What this does is to give the story line some elements of truth considering that the narrator tends to give a firsthand account of his experiences. In this narrative dialogue, Henry Hill relays to the audiences on the theme of the movie, the origin of the gangster, his rise through the ranks and his ultimate fall which gives this film its structure. In this move, Henry Hill is on record claiming that being a gangster was far much better than being a president considering the kind of trappings that it came with. He states that “Being a gangster was better than being President of the United States" (Scorsese, 1990). Hill said this while he was praising the La Cosa Nostra family a mafia family which had taken him in while he was poor.

The use of dialogue which is majorly done by Henry Hill is very useful in bringing about the tone in this. The use of voice-over narrative by Henry Hill is very critical to shaping the entire mood and temper of the movie with the first act ridden with a quaint and charming attitude which comes out as Henry Hill reminisces his early childhood days before he became involved in gangster live. This life was so innocent, and one had offered much comfort to him as he had dreams to make it big in life. The tone drastically changes in the second act where Henry adopts a more serious attitude as he narrates how the numerous responsibilities he has accumulated as a gangster are forcing him to lead a different life than the one he had led if he did not get involved in gangster life. This change as the audience gets into the third act where again Henry Hill changes his attitude from seriousness to nervousness and anxiety since the lifestyle of cocaine he has adopted made him paranoid constantly fearing for his life. This attitude quickly changes to one of resentment seeing that his long time dreams of becoming a ‘made man’ in the crime world have been thwarted and he is left to seek refuge in witness, protection program. Additionally, through the dialogue, the audience can make out that Henry Hill is bitter especially when he remembered his former life which was full of respect for others as well as infinite riches. The use of dialogue by Henry helps the story line to become more alive as it takes twists and turns which are apparently relayed to the audience through Henry's first- hand account of gangster life experiences.

The dialogue in this film does not stop with Henry Hill since Martin Scorsese substantially uses Karen Hill who is Henry Hill’s significant other in this element of narrative dialogue. As such, Karen Hill uses narrative dialogue in order to give her opinion concerning her life with Henry Hill. This is significant since there is no one else who could understand the motivating factors behind Henry Hill’s involvement in gangster life better than she did. Additionally, her contribution to the narrative dialogues gives the viewer a firsthand account of how it is to live day in day out with a gangster and the risks that come with living such a life. The role played by narrative dialogue in this movie cannot be therefore overlooked considering it makes the narrators account to appear more real than they would have if they were only acted out on the screen. As a result, the movie comes alive and reality when these characters embrace the storyline and make it to about their own experiences delivered in their own words. Additionally, the use of dialogue in this movie is essential since it helps to give this film its tone as well as setting the right mood for its audience. This is very significant considering that film lovers tend to rate the acceptability of films based on their tones as well as the moods it elicits in them.

Use of tone in Martin Scorsese Goodfellas

The use of tone in visual arts genres is very vital since it sets the mood for the viewer which is important while judging the suitability of any film. The director of this movie tends to use various tones in this narrative movie in order to keep the audience entertained since the utilization of a single tone throughout the movie can be somehow annoying. The movie begins in high gear with a serious tone where Henry, Jimmy, and Tommy are driving on a highway late at night, and they hear a loud noise from outside their car. On checking the trunk of a car by the roadside, they realize that it contains a body of a man who had been beaten severely and his body wrapped by tablecloths. Out of excitement, Tommy stabs the body several times while Jimmy shoots it four times. At this point, Henry declares that he had always wanted to be a gangster. More so the writer uses both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds in the opening acts in order to build tension as well as set the scene. The tone that is employed right from the beginning of this film tends to grasp the viewer’s attention as the movie goes back to the days when Henry was a young boy so as to take a journey to the first scene.

The director uses a variation of tones throughout the movie to depict various situations points of view, thought process and characters who a real part and parcel of the movie. The audience cannot help but follow through the movie as the tones change from one scene to another. Some scenes provoke fear, tension, excitement, horror, pity among others as the movie takes different turns. For example, one cannot help but sympathize with Henry when he is arrested on his first criminal mission to sell cigarettes to factory employees and is slapped on the wrist and taken to court. However, the writer of this script uses a tone of sympathy to celebratory tone when he is heroes by his colleagues for not selling them out. The writer also uses a romantic tone to depict the moment that Henry Hill met Karen Hill who would become his lover. They go to the extent of lying to Karen's parents that Henry is half-Jewish in order to be allowed to get married. In spite of Karen knowing the kind of career that Henry does, she is turned on by it giving it a further romantic tone.

In conclusion, Goodfellas film by Martin Scorsese which is a gangster film and which is based on Nicholas Pileggi's book Wise Guy expertly uses both dialogue and tone in order to bring about the writers message. This film which begins with flash-forwards talks about the ups and downs of a gangster as depicted by Henry Hill the main character. The use of dialogue which is majorly done by Henry Hill and Karen Hill plays a significant role in bringing life into this film. This is so since telling a story through a character's perspective makes the story to be more believable as the audience can relate to the events as depicted by the characters. Additionally, this film uses a lot of tones in order to get rid of monotony which can make a film to be outright boring. The use of these elements helps in making a film which may endure the test of time for many years to come.

Reference

De Fina, B. Pustin, B. S. Winkler, I (Producers) & Scorsese, M. (Director). (1990). GoodFellas [Motion pictures]. The United States: Warner Home Video.