Godfather Goodfellas Essay

The Godfather and Goodfellas are both considered “mafia movies.” Both of these films portray some form of organized crime committed by Italians. They mutually romanticize the mob lifestyle and depict it with pure clarity. Although both of these movies portray the lives of the same kind of people, they are more than just a simple characterization. Violence plays a major role in each of these films. The Godfather and Goodfellas are obviously very similar. However, they also have several aspects that differ from one another.
In both The Godfather and Goodfellas, violence penetrates the daily lives of both Henry Hill and Michael Corleone. Although violence is a key factor of each of the movies, Goodfellas is more brutal in comparison to The Godfather. In the film Goodfellas, Henry Hill was exposed to the gangster lifestyle since he was very young. In the film Henry says, “As far back as I can remember, I wanted to be a gangster.” His out-of-control partner, Tommy is one of the most violent characters in the film. Blood shed is frequently joked about in this movie. In one of the scenes, Tommy was telling a story in a restaurant. After the story Henry laughs and tells Tommy that he is funny. Upon hearing this, Tommy gets defensive and loses his temper. For a moment Henry is nervous because he knows Tommy’s violent personality. However, he realizes that hw is joking and they all laugh about it. Tommy proceeds to wave his gun around and joke about killing Henry. This scene proves that murder is taken lightly in this movie. Another violent act is when Tommy brutally beats a mobster named Billy Batts to death. He kills Billy for insulting him about his younger years as a shoe shine boy. In this scene even Henry looks appalled. Tommy shows no remorse as they hide the evidence of Batts’ body. He continues to surprise the characters with his short temperedness and violence. Another shocking vicious act is when he kills Spider because he was disrespecting him. This scene