Goodfellas (1990)

★★★★★
Age does not weary Goodfellas — indeed its breakin’-your-balls brio is worth savouring again and again, particularly with this big-screen re-release for the Martin Scorsese season at BFI Southbank. The crime thriller was based on Nick Pileggi’s book about the real-life wiseguy turned snitch Henry Hill, played by Ray Liotta, surrounded by fellow hardmen Jimmy (Robert De Niro) and Tommy (Joe Pesci). Every scene crackles with wit and violence.

“As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster,” is Henry’s opening line, as he takes us through his initiation into a mafia family in Brooklyn. Perhaps laying the ground for The Sopranos, it’s about two families, domestic and criminal.

Henry’s wife-to-be, Karen, is played by Lorraine Bracco, who went on…