Goodfellas (1990) - The Copacabana Shot

[MrSupastar83]

Ahhhh....Dr. Melfi !!!

[JonnyHebrew]

lol just had a quiz in english that included this scene =/

[chyman]

i LOVE this scene!!

[cherry1976]

Luv this scene.

[gthalfbloodful]

nice



[Boomeraaaang]

Amazing shot. Iconic. Now go get your fucking shine box!

[nole1217]

This scene resonates with people because everyone has or will have the experience that Henry is having in the scene. Gangster or not we will all try to impress a date at some point in our lives while still playing it cool. BTW LOL @ 4:35 "aaaah im a union delagate...'

Also at 2:55 couldnt he just have gone straight towards the fire hose and saved time...???

look at 3:25.

[MrDenizen]

@nole1217 - haha, well pointed out with the fire hose. I guess he was just checking that everybody was working and not skiving. Also, maybe he just wanted some exercise? Or perhaps the director was just showing off :)

[lesterclaypool1]

@MrDenizen

Agreed, there's nothing impressive about taking the girl straight to the fire hose, much more impressive to engage in the ass grabbing and back slapping of showing off that you're allowed in the kitchen.

My first date with my wife it got super hot outside while we were on the date so I stood inside my open driver's door, dropped trou, and put on a pair of shorts. How fucked in the head is my wife that THAT impressed her lol?

[MrBaker0927]

@SaorAlbaComingSoon Anytime

[MrBaker0927]

@SaorAlbaComingSoon They said in the clip. This particular shot took only one take.

[nole1217]

@MrBaker0927 No...It took 8 takes...Listen again @ 1:50. You are Dumb.

[shutterbugblues]

I first watched GoodFellas when I was 9 or 10 years old, I remember how entrancing this scene was when first seeing it- the camera work and the choice of music.. it was a magical cinematic marriage.

[lesterclaypool1]

@shutterbugblues

"it was a magical cinematic marriage" AND the movie held up.

I remember watching the opening of "ALI" with the great live version of Sam Cooke's "You Send Me/Bring it on Home" melding so perfectly with the fast cutaways and thinking, despite the fact that I fucking HATE Will Smith this opening is stunning and promising. Meh, the movie was alright.

Another great scene is the bar scene after the La Guardia job where "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" is playing,

[buffilms]

shot starts on a closeup of hands holding an object...inspired by first shot from orson welles' touch of evil maybe?

[Kluivert23]

@SaorAlbaComingSoon they say it in the video, 8 times.

[HHilton94]

My YouTube Buffering ruined this Steadicam work of art!

[magicman00005]

ATH

[jstef1209]

It's always bothered me how they just go around in a circle in the kitchen...he could just take a left right when he gets in and skip that whole part.

[CoolerKing37]

"Take my wife.....uh...line?"

Cut! No we have to shoot the whole fucking scene over again!

[JSFfromNYC]

@CoolerKing37 If that would have happened they would have probably stuck the guy in a meat freezer so it would take 2 days for him to thaw out before the autopsy.

[playerhatersball]

Without The Crystals, the scene would not have been the same. The shot along with the music and dialogue, made it memorable.

[sexanoe]

this scene is brilliant... it turns a relatively uneventful scene (walking a date into a club) into a magical moment. Even when I was younger without a real appreciation of cinematography I felt something special about this scene.

[puccio17]

3 people are not in construction

[ChesterStone]

@puccio17 One of the best youtube comments ever

[serialclone]

@puccio17 They're union delegates.

[MsCoke13]

Imagine how a woman in real life would react to having all these doors open up and get a front row table

[welles2002]

simple but genius at the same time

[NickReece001]

Does anyone else notice them going around in a circle in the kitchen? The entrance into the kitchen is also where they leave the kitchen. I think anyways

[raulox17]

a lesson in cinema

[Gaston088able]

Another great great very well use of long shot, not neccesary steady-cam. Is in the Argetine OScar wining film "El secreto de sus ojos" or "the secret in their yes". Watch it!!!!  Scorsese LEgendary!

[THX1205]

Then He Kissed Me by The Crystals makes this scene wonderful!

[eoinlyons91]

i was kinda hoping that it would show the rest of the film...

[donjuan831]

Please embed?!?

[morajuice93]

3 of the people who had vote were on the line

[Qulprit]

3 people are still waiting for their table.

[dublinrupepupkin]

The song absolutely makes this scene. Its a match made in heaven.

[DarKnightofCydonia]

What I wanna see is the crew's reaction when this shot was completely done. They must have partied for like a week.

[TheChromanoise]

Have you people seen Children of Men?

[SiveyBeats]

@TheChromanoise that's got some great scenes in it but they are digitally edited together rather than one long take

[A2thedouble]

@TheChromanoise Yea, it's one of my favorite movies. Those long shots were amazing ;D

[jackdylan43]

@TheChromanoise

I have and I know the scene you are talking about, where there is the big battle gun-fight shoot-out. As I saw it for the first time, I was thinking "this is one take." Amazing. Underrated film.

[inrwizards]

@TheChromanoise that was just showing off, this had a purpose. 

[spfccsmft]

@inrwizards I think Children of Men used it for more than just showing off. It really put the viewer in the warzone environment. That, along with the amazingly detailed sets, gave the whole movie more of a documentary feel, which is the exact opposite of most action movies.

[BigGayBear2007]

Still haven't seen a more amazing shot than this one.

Imagine if the comic stufffed up his line at the end?

[hallesdad]

@BigGayBear2007 lol... actually he did... GQ did a great interview article on the 20th anniv of the movie and Scorsese said that right at the very end Henny Youngman forgot the punch line to his most famous joke "Take my wife... Please." A joke he probably told about 10,000 times

[pouderpuff]

In 1990 everyone didn't depend on McDonalds to feed their family.

[blad3nicky]

@xtelevisionset is that really grant?

[234234234werrrrrrr]

Epic Scorseserz(tm)

[yoboss1049]

i am martin scorsese and i am pissed that you guys are watching my moview for free on jewtube! stop stealin my shit!!!

[btnheazy03]

his wife has a pretty fuckin good memory

[pouderpuff]

Hey look everyone is actually fit...

[btnheazy03]

@pouderpuff this was before everyone got addicted to mcdonalds

[wparkhurst]

@pouderpuff Yeah they are called actors. =p

[gatorade350125]

Nice work, instead of all this handicam stuff so popular now days...

[stratman06]

Imagine if the old guy at the end screwed up his line.

[Sweighs]

@stratman06 Actually, they did seven takes for this shot and one of the takes was because he forgot his line at the end...

[chinesekid05]

this reminds me of the scene in fast and the furious tokyo drift when han takes sean into the club.

[manbearhines]

@chinesekid05

Do not compare the abysmal Fast and Furious saga to an epic film like Scorcese's Goodfellas.

[chinesekid05]

@manbearhines I'm just saying it reminded me of it... never said it was any better or any worse (I haven't watched Goodfellas yet, puttin it on my to watch list now)

[chonjinho]

@chinesekid05 never compare such shitty movie to a masterpiece.. its utterly disrespectful. fuck tokyo drift

[chinesekid05]

@chonjinho ok! jesus!  i'm just saying it reminded me of it. I'm not going to say it was better than goodfellas (i haven't watched the movie yet btw), but i'm just saying ti reminded me of it.

[BOOSTRED]

take my wife please

[ajv570]

Like a Boss

[hosvos]

"We'll I'm a union delegate."

HAHAHA, what a beast.

[hellotyler]

Goodfellas is a golden standard, like Casablanca for gangster movies.

[phillymct]

pretty awesome scene. The camera work is great, and the assholes nowadays making those shakey "handicam" pieces of crap movies that are terrible enough to make parkinson's sufferers turn away could learn from this.

[gstallons]

The whole lifestyle these "bad guys" lived is glorified and beautified in this one segment. I knew this was the best part of the ( and any) movie ever put on film.

[PuppetDA]

I love the fact that when we're old and have kids and grand children, they will say "what is this crap". And we will say "THIS MOVIE IS A CLASSIC!!!"

[toribal]

@PuppetDA doubt it, i've made multiple people watch this movie (of all ages) everyone loves it. a good movie is a good movie, doesn't matter how old you are. I'm 17, saw it 3 years ago on tv and it's been my favorite movie ever since. Just because you're young doesn't mean you can't appreciate the quality of this film.

[nico19611]

the dream-like gliding through space, the capture of the zeitgeist by the music of the crystals - simply the greatest steadicam sequence in movie history

[netsurfercinema]

an excellent result from a director's and cinematographer's collaboration

[xtelevisionset]

@ 3:03 <- Grant Imahara from Mythbusters

[TheNickLovin]

@xtelevisionset Holy shit...

[CT27NX]

fantastic

truly brilliant

i mean everything worked together beautifully - the camera, the acting, the music, the movement - everything was in perfect sync as if a complex ballet of sorts

i think that's why i love this movie so much, it's just so beautiful to look at!

[1975Spanky]

A master class in film making.

[kurlis]

nice steadicam work