Goodfellas stylized as GoodFellas is a American biographical gangster film [ 5 ] directed by Martin Scorsese , written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of Pileggi's nonfiction book Wiseguy. Scorsese initially titled the film Wise Guy and postponed making it; he and Pileggi later changed the title to Goodfellas.
To prepare for their roles in the film, De Niro, Pesci and Liotta often spoke with Pileggi, who shared research material left over from writing the book. According to Pesci, improvisation and ad-libbing came out of rehearsals wherein Scorsese gave the actors freedom to do whatever they wanted.
The director made transcripts of these sessions, took the lines he liked most and put them into a revised script, which the cast worked from during principal photography. The film also won five awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts , including Best Film and Best Director , and was named the year's best film by various critics' groups. Goodfellas is widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made , particularly in the gangster genre.
In , it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress.
In , Henry Hill becomes enamored by the criminal life and Mafia presence in his working-class Italian-American neighborhood in Brooklyn. He begins working for local caporegime Paulie Cicero and his associates Jimmy Conway, an Irish-American truck hijacker and gangster, and Tommy DeVito, a fellow juvenile delinquent.
