History YMMV / Goodfellas

* AnythingThatMoves: Billy Batts. After Tommy's outburst a demand to fight Batts, the latter remarks "I fuck guys like him, in the can, in the ass." Later on, seconds before being ambushed by Tommy, he explains to Jimmy, "I''be got fucking mouths to feed...", implying that he is married and has at least two children. The remarks he made about Tommy are most likely a derisive taunt, highlighting Billy's contempt for the former shoe-shine boy.

** Also snubbed was Thelma Schoonmaker for Best Editing. The fast-pace editing of ''Goodfellas'' was controversial at the time but in hindsight it's considered one of the most expertly edited films of the last 30 years.

** When Paulie is being arrested, one of his guys yells, "Why don't you go to Wall Street, get some ''real'' criminals. Cut to 20 years later and Scorsese makes ''TheWolfOfWallSreet'', the SpiritualSuccessor to both this movie and ''Casino'' and is pretty up front about how Wall Street brokers are just as corrupt as gangsters.

** When Paulie is being arrested, one of his guys yells, "Why don't you go to Wall Street, get some ''real'' criminals. Cut to 20 years later and Scorsese makes ''TheWolfofWallSreet'', the SpiritualSuccessor to both this movie and ''Casino'' and is pretty up front about how Wall Street brokers are just as corrupt as gangsters.

* TheWoobie: She may be a stereotypical overbearing JewishMother but Karen's mother is completely right about Henry, albeit for the wrong reason, and in the end she loses her daughter to the Witness Protection Program with no promises of ever seeing her again.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: The movie itself made it hard to say whether or not you should care about Henry himself, alongside with the other gangsters, Tommy and Jimmy included, throughout the movie itself.

** Jimmy crosses this when he has his conspirators in the heist violently murdered rather than share money with them
** Tommy's behavior towards Spider.

** Ray Liotta wasn't even nominated.

* MagnumOpus: Regularly in the running (along with ''TaxiDriver'' and ''RagingBull'') as Marty's best film.

** This might be intentional to keep him from being too much of a KarmaHoudini- the punishment seems light to everyone else, but it's torture for him. Compare his "Egg noodles and ketchup" complaint about the misery of living life as an "average nobody" to when he was in prison as a wiseguy and eating like a king every night.

** Jimmy crosses this when he has his conspirators in the heist murdered rather than share money with them

* MagnumOpus: Regularly in the running (along with ''TaxiDriver'' and ''RagingBull'') as Marty's best film. Given how much the other two strive to be dark character studies, ''Goodfellas'' is probably the most "re-watchable" and entertaining of the three.

** Tommy completely obliterates it when he kills Spider

* MagnumOpus: Regularly in the running (along with ''TaxiDriver'' and ''RagingBull'') as Marty's best film. Given how much the former two strive to be dark character studies, ''Goodfellas'' is probably the most "re-watchable" and entertaining of the three.

* MisaimedFandom: Just like with most Gangster Movies, there are those who share's Henry Hill's warped views of the perks of being a Gangster.

* AwardSnub: ''Goodfellas'', Scorsese, and Braco lost to ''DancesWithWolves'', Creator/KevinCostner, and Whoopi Goldberg for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress, respectively. In hindsight, ''Goodfellas'' is considered Scorsese's MagnumOpus. On the other hand, Joe Pesci not only got a fully deserved Oscar for Best Supporting, he didn't even expect to win and gave one of the shortest and most modest speeches in Academy history ("It's my privilege. Thank you.")

** For some (most notably, RogerEbert [[AtTheMovies and]] GeneSiskel), the loss for Best Director was particularly galling. Kevin Costner was already listed as a co-producer for ''Dances With Wolves'' (the heavy frontrunner for Best Picture), so it seemed redundant for the Academy to honor him again as a Director over Marty, especially given how much the latter's direction really shines in ''Goodfellas''. To make matters worse, ''Wolves'' was Costner's film debut, and many already thought Scorsese was due for recognition after losing out for ''RagingBull'' against Robert Redford and ''Ordinary People'' (and, fittingly enough, Redford had beaten Marty for a directorial debut, also).

** For some (most notably, [[RogerEbert Roger Ebert]] [[AtTheMovies and Gene Siskel]]), the loss for Best Director was particularly galling. Kevin Costner was already listed as a co-producer for ''Dances With Wolves'' (the heavy frontrunner for Best Picture), so it seemed redundant for the Academy to honor him again as a Director over Marty, especially given how much the latter's direction really shines in ''Goodfellas''. To make matters worse, ''Wolves'' was Costner's film debut, and many already thought Scorsese was due for recognition after losing out for ''RagingBull'' against Robert Redford and ''Ordinary People'' (and, fittingly enough, Redford had beaten Marty for a directorial debut, also).

* AwardSnub: ''Goodfellas'', Scorsese, and Braco lost to ''DancesWithWolves'', Creator/KevinCostner, and Whoopi Goldberg for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress, respectively. In hindsight, ''Goodfellas'' is considered Scorsese's MagnumOpus. On the other hand, Joe Pesci not only got a fully deserved Oscar for Best Supporting, he didn't even expect to win and gave one of the shortest and most modest speeches in Academy history ("This is a great privilege. Thank you.")

* AwardSnub: ''Goodfellas'', Scorsese, and Braco lost to ''DancesWithWolves'', KevinCostner, and Whoopi Goldberg for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress, respectively. In hindsight, ''Goodfellas'' is considered Scorsese's MagnumOpus. On the other hand, Joe Pesci not only got a fully deserved Oscar for Best Supporting, he didn't even expect to win and gave one of the shortest and most modest speeches in Academy history ("This is a great privilege. Thank you.")

* RealityIsUnrealistic: The person that Tommy is based on was reputedly '''worse''' in terms of temprament and violent tendencies.

* FridgeHorror: If you pay attention to the personality of Tommy, is pure FridgeHorror. He is incredibly irrational and paranoid, and any word misunderstood by himself can lead to murder. So here, it is very likely already committed other killings or beatings before the movie. Worse, you can imagine how he must have been in school?