Goodfellas received numerous awards in the year of its release, was nominated for 6 Oscars (Joe Pesci took home its only trophy), was listed by Roger Ebert (among others) as one of the best films of the 90s, was named the second best gangster movie of all time and one of the top 100 movies of all time by the American Film Institute, and is shown on TV and quoted by its many devoted fans ad infinitum. At this point, it ought to be safe to call the movie an undeniable giant of cinematic history.
There’s no way of knowing how the same movie would be received were it released in today’s Twitter-filled and divided cultural climate, but it’s hard to imagine its reception being much different from that of The Wolf of Wall Street. And that’s all fine. There is so much quality output in cinema today that there is room to consider both The Wolf of Wall Street and American Hustle excellent films that could very well improve in stature over time in their own ways. My evaluation of Wolf is that it’s on par with Goodfellas for the strength of its individual scenes, its reconciliation of subjectivity with moral distance, and its unique tone. All it lacks is the time to appreciate it, and for it to appreciate in value itself. That will come.
For now, let’s look at some of the key differences between the two films.
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