History Awesome / Goodfellas

* Spider telling [[{{Jerkass}} Tommy]] ''[[ShutUpHannibal to go fuck himself]]'' after making one too many jokes about shooting his foot. Yes, he did end up getting shot by Tommy, but the kid gets credit for telling this to someone as {{ax crazy}} as Tommy. Only two characters in the film treat Tommy with as much respect as he truly deserves -- Billy Batts, who reminds Tommy that he wasn't always a cool gangster, and Spider, who tells Tommy to go fuck himself after Tommy has behaved like a colossal asshole -- and Tommy kills both of them, almost immediately.

* Henry's CurbStompBattle on the guy who groped Karen. It's arguably [[DisproportionateRetribution disproportionate]] (couldn't Henry have just threatened him?) but the guy is such a smug asshole that you find yourself wanting him to do it anyway.
** The sheer sound of the gun hitting the guy's face, the sound of metal hitting bone repeatedly, along with the horrified reactions of the guy's friends retreating at the sight of it.
* "I'm funny how?" - A scene that goes from SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}} to [[MoodWhiplash deadly serious]] as Tommy, known for his anger issues, starts pressing Henry about a compliment seemingly gone wrong. After a minute of horrified silence, Henry figures out Tommy is only ''joking'' about being angry, and everyone starts laughing again... The most-remembered - and parodied - part of the entire movie.

* Spider telling [[{{Jerkass}} Tommy]] ''[[ShutUpHannibal to go fuck himself]]'' after making one too many jokes about shooting his foot. Yes, he did end up getting shot by Tommy, but the kid gets credit for telling this to someone as {{ax crazy}} as Tommy. Only two characters in the film treat Tommy with as much respect as he truly deserves -- Billy Batts, who reminds Tommy that he wasn't always a cool gangster, and Spider, who tells Tommy to go fuck himself after Tommy has behaved like a colossal asshole -- and Tommy kills both of them, almost immediately.

* Edward A. [=McDonald=].

** [=McDonald=] completely improvised the line, "don't give me the babe-in-the-woods routine, Karen." Apparently, he actually said this to the real Karen Hill.

* Scorsese's level of DoingItForTheArt, right down to actually playing ''Layla'' while shooting scenes for the montage so the music would perfectly match the shots in the exact manner he wanted.

** And then Jimmy starts getting paranoid [[KillEmAll about all the money getting thrown about]]...

'''As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff as per policy]]. [[{{Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned}} You Have Been Warned.]]'''

* Special mention MUST be made of Edward A. [=McDonald=], and for several reasons:

* Special mention MUST be made of Edward A. McDonald, and for several reasons:

** Most of all, he doesn't take any of Henry or Karen's crap for a second. When Henry tries to demand where he'll be sent, McDonald shuts him down. When Karen says she doesn't know anything, he immediately shuts her down. He talks to them in a way that they thought they couldn't be talked to and gets away with it completely. After all of Henry and Karen's deeds, it's awesome seeing them get taken down a peg.
** McDonald completely improvised the line, "don't give me the babe-in-the-woods routine, Karen." Apparently, he actually said this to the real Karen Hill.

'''As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff as per policy.]] Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''

** The Steadicam shot of the Copacabana which is still one of the greatest scenes in movie history. All scored to "And Then He Kissed Me"

*** Made more awesome in it was a work around, as the owners of the Copa didn't want the film crew going in and out of the main doors, so Scorsese made going in through the employees entrance a seemingly special thing, all in one long walking shot through a working restaurant.

* "I'm funny how?" - A scene that goes from CrowningMomentOfFunny to [[MoodWhiplash deadly serious]] as Tommy, known for his anger issues, starts pressing Henry about a compliment seemingly gone wrong. After a minute of horrified silence, Henry figures out Tommy is only ''joking'' about being angry, and everyone starts laughing again... The most-remembered - and parodied - part of the entire movie.

* Spider telling [[{{Jerkass}} Tommy]] ''[[ShutUpHannibal to go fuck himself]]'' after making one too many jokes about shooting his foot. Yes, he did end up getting shot by Tommy, but the kid gets credit for telling this to someone as {{ax crazy}} as Tommy.

* Henry's confrontation of the guy that groped Karen.

* Karen maintaining her cool after figuring out that Tommy was planning to kill her. Gets extra points for figuring it out only by ''instinct'' and not being a gangster.

* Scorcese's level of DoingItForTheArt, right down to actually playing ''Layla'' while shooting scenes for the montage so the music would perfectly match the shots in the exact manner he wanted.

** And then Jimmy [[ItGotWorse starts getting paranoid]] [[KillEmAll about all the money getting thrown about]]...

* The crew pulls off the Lufthansa heist, the high point of their careers.

** And then Jimmy [[ItGotWorse starts getting paranoid]] [[KillEmAll about all the money getting thrown about]]...