Goodfellas
The 1991 Martin Scorsese filmGoodfellastold a true story , but the director change a identification number of the real - living gangsters ' names . In Scorsese ’s movie , Jimmy Burke became Jimmy Conway ( Robert De Niro ) , Tommy DeSimone became Tommy DeVito , Paul Vario end up as Paulie Cicero and so on . One cardinal exception to this was the name of the protagonist of the film , Henry Hill ( Ray Liotta ) .
Goodfellaswas a cinematic retelling of Hill ’s actual life in the mobster Earth , which see him rubbing shoulders with prolific gangster like Burke and DeSimone . Part of whyGoodfellashas been so acclaimed is due to how thoughtfully - crafted it is . There are layer of import behind every shot , editing proficiency , and operation . Considering that , there must be a reason whyMartin Scorseseopted to change the names of veridical - world figures .
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Part of this is becauseGoodfellasis base on the 1985 bookWiseguyby Nicholas Pileggi , which was an account ofHenry Hill ’s time as a gangster . Pileggi ’s book captured the imagery of Scorsese and , after confide to creating a feature flick adaptation ofWiseguy , Scorsese and Pileggi proceeded to indite the screenplay forGoodfellas . Through this originative summons , Goodfellasradically reshaped its source material through storytelling gimmick like a non - linear narration . One of the many waysGoodfellaseventually carve out its own identity element separate from its source material was by make newfangled name calling for the fecund mobsters Henry Hill interact with .
Another ground for the changing of these names was to allow for greater creative flexibility on the parts of Scorsese & Pileggi . While characters likeJimmy Conwaywere revolutionize by actual people , giving them false names allow the film writer ' room to bring fresh - created personality traits and events to the tabular array rather than be slavishly devoted to reality . This choice also afford creative freedom to the actors portray these part . Performers likeJoe Pesciapparently improvise heavily on the set , in the process bringing further dimensions to characters like Tommy DeVito . The opportunity for Pesci to deport those element could have been curtail ifGoodfellashad opted for a more realistic approach to characters like DeVito / DeSimone .
Above all else though , this originative decision reflect Martin Scorsese ’s driving force as a filmmaker to create compelling dramatic play , even if that mean eschewing aspects of realness . This fixture of his work was specially evident in his 2019 filmThe Irishman . In response to the notion thatThe Irishmanwas factually inaccurate , Robert De Niro , in an interview withIndieWire , stated"We’re not say we ’re say the existent story , we ’re telling our account . “That sums up how Scorsese approached the people in Henry Hill ’s animation when makingGoodfellas . Creating fictional personas for tribe like Jimmy Burke may not have been exact to reality . But it did allow originative freedom for Scorsese , Pileggi and thecast ofGoodfellasto tell their own history .
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