Goodfellas is in may ways the opposite of The Godfather. Whereas The Godfather portrays the mafia as a romanticised tragic family, Goodfellas shows the violence of the crime world with grittiness and realism. Based on a true story, the film tells the tale of the rise to power of gangster Henry Hill is 1950's Brooklyn to his cocaine addicted burnout and eventual exile in the Witness Protection Program.

The movie is more fast-paced than The Godfather simply because this movie plays out more like an action movie while The Godfather is really a drama. No one displays the realness of violence like Martin Scorcese and Goodfellas is full of shockingly violent scenes. Goodfellas is gangsterism without the romance, without the idea that being a gangster is cool. What Goodfellas tells us is when you become a gangster, you either end up dead or you end up hiding from those trying to kill you.