FAQ

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for Goodfellas can be found here.

Goodfellas is based on Wiseguy, a 1986 book by Nicholas Pileggi. The title of Pileggi's book was changed to Goodfellas because it had already been used for a TV series and for Brian De Palma's comedy Wise Guys (1986).

The book is based on a true story, so the film follows the book fairly well except for a few changes. The character of Tommy is based mostly on mob enforcer Tommy DeSimone—in the movie, Tommy's last name is never mentioned but it's "DeVito" in the closing credits. Played by Joe Pesci, Tommy is shown as a small man with a violent temper and as being somewhat older than Henry Hill (Ray Liotta)—when Tommy and Henry first meet, they're both teenagers. In reality, DiSimone stood over six feet tall and was several years younger than Henry, disappearing when he was only 29 years old. When Tommy, Henry, and Jimmy (Robert De Niro), were on their way to bury Billy Batts (Frank Vincent), Tommy was driving, not Henry. It was Tuddy (Frank DiLeo), not Tommy, who wanted Henry to come with him on the double date. Tommy just vanished, no one knows how he was killed, so the scene where Tommy is actually shot and the line about Tommy's mother not being able to have an open coffin at Tommy's funeral are both fictional and thrown in for dramatic license. The major change in the film adaptation is that Tommy isn't a main character in the book. He is only mentioned in it, but is still regarded as a violent killer. Several of the characters' names were changed for the film, the most notable being Paulie Vario, who became Paul Cicero. Tommy DeSimone was changed to Tommy DeVito, and Jimmy Conway was Jimmy Burke A.K.A. Jimmy Conway-Burke.

The film also omits Henry's enlistment in the US Army in 1960 where he served for three years. While in the Army he continued to run schemes and made several connections he used after he was discharged.

Warner Brothers did not receive permission to use the airline's logo in the film. It was an American Airlines ticket and the company did not want to be affiliated with the illegal operation depicted in the movie (drug trafficking).

Actors who have had roles on the TV show The Sopranos who also made an appearance in GoodFellas include: Lorraine Bracco (Dr. Jennifer Melfi), Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti), Tony Darrow (Lawrence "Larry Boy" Barese), Tony Lip (Carmine Lupertazzi), Tony Sirico (Paulie Gualtieri), Vincent Pastore ("Big Pussy" Bonpensiero), Frank Vincent (Phil Leotardo), Anthony Caso, Tobin Bell, Gene Canfield, Nicole Burdette, Gaetano LoGiudice, Vito Antuofermo, Chuck Low, Frank Adonis, Suzanne Shepherd, Nancy Cassaro, Frank Pellegrino, Marianne Leone, Paul Herman, Frank Albanese, Anthony Alessandro, Victor Colicchio, and John "Cha Cha" Ciarcia. (A list with headshots can be found here.)

Both The Big Heist and The $10 Million-Dollar Getaway cover much the same ground and feature the same characters but are more down-to-earth and tend to concentrate on the Lufthansa robbery and its aftermath. In some ways, they are more true to life; for instance, The Big Heist depicts Tommy's physical appearance much more accurately than Goodfellas does. Fundamentally it depends on how much Henry Hill's recollections are to be trusted.