Klonor
13-04-2005, 16:00
The Godfather is a fictional movie, it has no basis in reality and its creators don't claim that it does. Goodfellas is "inspired by" and "based on" a true story, but was no doubt changed a bit to better fit the Big Screen and to be received more openly by the public when released in theatres. The two movies both portray very different views of the Mafia and view the organization from the viewpoints of different people in the Mafia. Which do you think more accurately represents the real-life institution (if such an institution exists)?
In The Godfather the Mafia is portrayed as high-society crime. The members are more than willing to murder, steal, and break laws as they see fit; but they live lives of leisure in their off time in mansions seated in the middle of broad estates. They dine with senators and judges and have Hollywood celebrities as Godchildren (Okay, they movies only mention one Hollywood Godchild, but I feel that it helps illustrate my point). They are public figures, known and feared not just in 'the hood' but also in Washington and Wall Street. The organization itself is very structered and ordered, different Families have long established methods of communication, interaction, and cooperation that speaks of years of experience. Negotiations are held and Alliances are formed in the same manner as different countries. Here we see the "Organized" part of "Organized crime".
In Goodfellas the Mafia is portrayed more as a bunch of petty thugs who happen to work together in one small part of town. They're rich and successful thugs, but they don't live in multi-million dollar houses and don't hold thousand-person parties where you'd expect to see a Presidential candidate show up. They run their part of town, they've bought off the cops and threatened the district attorney, but they hold no real for-reaching power; if a New York guy went out to Vegas he wouldn't be able to start ordering the Mayor around and have the muscle there to help him out if the Mayor says no. But, even though it's not as smoothly oiled and well-controlled as the Mafia in The Godfather, they seem to be just successful, if not more so, in their criminal activities. If I'm not mistaken one scene has them stealing six million dollars in a single night. In The Godfather the expected yearly return on their investment in the Heroin business is only three million dollars. Here we see the "Crime" part of "Organized crime".
In all likelihood neither movie is dead on. Even if the Mafia bosses in real life do hold the power and live like the Corleone's do there's going to be people lower on the ladder who live and act like Paulie, Jimmy, and Henry. A blending of the two movies, so to speak. Still, one is probably closer. Which do you think?
In The Godfather the Mafia is portrayed as high-society crime. The members are more than willing to murder, steal, and break laws as they see fit; but they live lives of leisure in their off time in mansions seated in the middle of broad estates. They dine with senators and judges and have Hollywood celebrities as Godchildren (Okay, they movies only mention one Hollywood Godchild, but I feel that it helps illustrate my point). They are public figures, known and feared not just in 'the hood' but also in Washington and Wall Street. The organization itself is very structered and ordered, different Families have long established methods of communication, interaction, and cooperation that speaks of years of experience. Negotiations are held and Alliances are formed in the same manner as different countries. Here we see the "Organized" part of "Organized crime".
In Goodfellas the Mafia is portrayed more as a bunch of petty thugs who happen to work together in one small part of town. They're rich and successful thugs, but they don't live in multi-million dollar houses and don't hold thousand-person parties where you'd expect to see a Presidential candidate show up. They run their part of town, they've bought off the cops and threatened the district attorney, but they hold no real for-reaching power; if a New York guy went out to Vegas he wouldn't be able to start ordering the Mayor around and have the muscle there to help him out if the Mayor says no. But, even though it's not as smoothly oiled and well-controlled as the Mafia in The Godfather, they seem to be just successful, if not more so, in their criminal activities. If I'm not mistaken one scene has them stealing six million dollars in a single night. In The Godfather the expected yearly return on their investment in the Heroin business is only three million dollars. Here we see the "Crime" part of "Organized crime".
In all likelihood neither movie is dead on. Even if the Mafia bosses in real life do hold the power and live like the Corleone's do there's going to be people lower on the ladder who live and act like Paulie, Jimmy, and Henry. A blending of the two movies, so to speak. Still, one is probably closer. Which do you think?