Made Men
Page 35
The flick will be based on an untitled memoir to be penned by Hill’s thirty-one-year-old daughter and thirty-three-year-old son, who’ve just signed a publishing deal with Warner Books for $900,000.
The children, who’ve lived under assumed names since their family entered the witness protection program, will tell about growing up with their dad—whose experiences in the mob were chronicled in Scorsese’s 1990 box-office smash Goodfellas.
Casting is now under way for the yet-to-be-named movie.
Lorraine Bracco, who played Hill’s wife in the original—and now plays Dr. Melfi on HBO’s mob hit The Sopranos—has already been signed.
It is not known whether Ray Liotta will reprise his role as Hill or if Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, who played bloodthirsty mob men, will be involved.
But a source at Disney told the Post, “I wouldn’t be surprised if Bobby [De Niro] and Joe [Pesci] were involved, because Marty [Scorsese] is doing it and they have great respect for him.”
The source added that “There’s a fifty-fifty chance Scorsese will direct. Disney would love him to do it. They would be thrilled.”
The movie never materialized, perhaps because its contents were too intractable to make a film palatable enough to bring to market.
A GUY’S GUIDE TO BEING A MAN’S MAN, FRANK VINCENT AND STEVEN PRIGGÉ (FOREWORD BY JAMES GANDOLFINI), 2006, Berkeley/Penguin
Because Frank Vincent was such an ingratiating character in real life, one feels inclined to root for this book. It is humorously intended, for the most part, a loose parody of self-help and how-to books.
But the material wobbles. From the dating advice section: “Now, when you’re approaching a woman, it’s important to be persistent, but not overly persistent. Overly persistent equals STALKER! Next thing you know, you’re being locked up.” Wow, that escalated quickly. (And, many women might note, if only the locking-up part were so simple.) Vincent offers some surprises—didn’t see the recommendation of Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line as a “man’s man” war movie coming—but hits many clams throughout, as in this bit from his list of “man’s man” songs: “‘Red, Red Wine’ (UB40): great song, especially if you’re at Sparks Steak House (red is also better than white when having a steak).” No comment, except a jaw agape at the fact that Vincent didn’t see fit to mention the song was written and originally recorded by Neil Diamond, a figure with a lot more wiseguy/mook clout than the British band UB40.
Also, the book leans on the phrase “man’s man” a little heavily. For instance: “A treasured man’s man ‘collectible’ of that era is the 1966 Reprise Records album Sinatra at the Sands, produced live on location by Sonny Burke and arranged and conducted by man’s man Quincy Jones.” One wonders just where Sonny Burke fell short.
THE LUFTHANSA HEIST: BEHIND THE SIX-MILLION-DOLLAR CASH HAUL THAT SHOOK THE WORLD, HENRY HILL AND DANIEL SIMONE, 2015, Lyons Press
This is a very odd book. It has an index, a note on sources, even a glossary of wiseguy argot. But it’s written as a novel by Hill, or at least in first person as Hill, except when it’s not. And then it’s in omniscient third person, as in the opening of Chapter 57: “Ed McDonald was a devoted husband and father, and sadly his weekends dashed fleetingly into Monday morning.” It also toggles a bit between tenses. And it reproduces reams of dialogue that cannot be considered verbatim under any circumstance. It introduces John Gotti into the world of Hill, with a chapter depicting Jimmy Burke requesting a favor from Gotti, then politely demurring when Gotti suggests a more substantial collaboration. In an epilogue, Lisa Caserta says, “Daniel Simone has buoyed Henry Hill’s legacy in this book. Henry amassed fans all over the world, though some people view him as a pariah because, in the end, he became a ‘rat.’ Those dissenters, however, may not know that unlike most Mafia turncoats, he didn’t inform on his associates merely to save himself; rather, he was slated to be killed whether he held his silence or not.” This thread is hard to follow, logic-wise, but never mind. The book, with its outlandish elaborations, is a sort of “Here comes Mr. More” from Hill, a final storytelling session from a guy for whom stories were about the only things left.
THE BIG HEIST: THE REAL STORY OF THE LUFTHANSA HEIST, THE MAFIA, AND MURDER, ANTHONY M. STEFANO, 2017, Citadel Press
The most recent recounting of the famous crime was spurred by the 2014 indictment of Vincent Asaro for his supposed part in the heist, almost forty years after the fact. Asaro was acquitted in 2017. Stefano also loops in the murder of one Paul Katz, a truck driver whose remains were found in the ground below the basement in a house whose deed was once in the name of Jimmy Burke’s daughter. This is not uninteresting stuff and Stefano is a solid veteran crime reporter with commendable insights, including this one: “[With Henry] Hill having gone through bouts of drug and alcohol abuse, a researcher has to be careful about his recollection of events. There is also a nagging suspicion that Hill in later years may have embellished events or had been confused.”
Unfortunately, the book is overwritten throughout. From the beginning, in which Stefano goes into arguably tedious detail into the background of the forensic anthropologist who examined Katz’s remains, to the end, in which he offers an explanation of jury nullification complete with a citing of the John Peter Zenger case (that was in 1733, people).
GOOD ADVICE FROM GOODFELLAS, D. X. FERRIS, 2017, 6632 Press
This self-published item opens with a series of confident assertions, not one of them deigning to address what many would consider the absurdity of its premise. Ferris begins by recalling an episode of The Sopranos in which Tony Soprano considers an Italian American alternative to the advice book Chicken Soup for the Soul, which Tony proposes to call Tomato Sauce for Your Ass. Ferris considers Goodfellas to be that very thing. He also insists that the movie is “a workplace drama,” one “about businessmen.” He waxes further in this vein: “Boss Paulie, executive Henry, and wife Karen all suggest ways to live a better life.” Hoo boy.
How much good advice has Ferris gleaned or extrapolated from the film? Well, the book is over 300 pages but, n.b., once you get into the advice part, each advice module is announced in white type over black on the verso page, with nothing else there; on the recto page is Ferris’ short text explicating the life lesson. For instance. After a verso page reading, “Tommy: ‘I’m the Oklahoma Kid!’” Ferris writes:
Spider aggravates Tommy.
Tommy—no surprise—is quick to let loose on Spider.
Tommy berates the kid.
Spider’s lackluster tableside manner escalates the situation.
Tommy goes full cowboy. He recalls a Humphrey Bogart movie, 1939’s The Oklahoma Kid. In the flick, a wild-eyed cowboy shoots at a civilian, making him dance as bullets fly at his feet.
Tommy, as is his habit, starts acting like he’s in a Western. He pulls out his revolver, waves it around, and fires at Spider’s feet, telling him to dance.
As previously disclosed, the scene ends badly for Spider.
Don’t play with guns.
They’re not toys.
All right, then.
HOLLYWOOD GODFATHER: MY LIFE IN THE MOVIES AND THE MOB, GIANNI RUSSO WITH PATRICK PICCIARELLI, 2019, St. Martin’s Press
The relationship of this memoir to Goodfellas is peripheral, but noteworthy. Russo is in The Godfather, not Goodfellas. In The Godfather he plays Carlo, the abusive husband of Corleone sister Connie, who clearly has a type. (In The Godfather Part II she’ll take up with an oily creep played by Troy Donahue.) However. The book boasts a front cover blurb from Robert De Niro. And on the back cover, Nicholas Pileggi chimes in, as does Pileggi’s cousin, the writer Gay Talese.
Russo has a lot of stories, many of which he tells with a special emphasis on the improbable detail, as when he has Elvis Presley bring up peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches at the very beginning of their first substantial conversation. His account of an af
fair with Marilyn Monroe, begun when he was a teenage hairdresser, checks out, one supposes. And there’s a lot of Vegas stuff, misadventures in the Moe Greene mode. Russo relishes sharing his lifelong Hungry Boy status; recounting his childhood stint in a polio ward, he toggles between fear of Harold, a reputed child molester on its staff, and lust for Delores, a candy striper nurse he befriends. These roiling interior states eventually yield this immortal sentence: “About a year passed and I hadn’t had any problems with Harold, and with hormones beginning to rage like the Colorado River, all thoughts turned to Delores and her Magic Tits.”
* * *
Appendix
A GOODFELLAS TIMELINE
Marianne Bower, Scorsese’s print archivist, very kindly compiled a timeline of pertinent dates in Goodfellas’ history, which Scorsese signed off on before it was delivered to me via Barbara De Fina. I reproduce it below. Scorsese, De Fina, and Irwin Winkler all agree that there were two California previews (this may be the only thing that all three now agree on) but no verified locations or dates are in the papers.
GOODFELLAS SCHEDULE
INFO FROM SCORSESE ARCHIVE
Step
Date
Notes
First Draft Outline
May 23, 1986
Script, earliest (?) draft
November 4, 1986
Warner Bros.—first production board Based on script dated 3-24-1987
May 4, 1987
Warner Bros.—script timing
June 3, 1987
Script Feedback
from Studio
February 6, 1989
Preproduction
February 14, 1989
(first correspondence)
Location Scout
February 17–18, 1989
Preproduction continues
February 20–28, 1989
Location Scouting
Casting
Props/Vehicles Meeting
Wardrobe fittings ongoing
March 14–23 and
April 3–13, 1989
Marty Krugman
TV Commercial
“Morris Kessler”
April 12, 1989
Dailies for Commercial
Art Dept meetings
April 13, 1989
Rehearsals
City Center & “TBD”
April 17, 1989–
April 29, 1989
(including weekend)
Tech Scouts
April 18, 19, 20, 21, 1989
Hair Makeup Tests
April 24–25, 1989
Production Meeting
April 26, 1989
Principal Photography
68 days
May 1, 1989–
August 4, 1989
(call sheets)
2nd Unit
August 5, 1989, or August 7, 1989
(call sheets)
Postproduction/
editing continue
September–December 1989
Screening, Warner Bros. LA
Film & trailer
(MS, producers, editor)—
+ others on the 15th
January 14, 15, 1990
Looping Session
Warner Bros., LA
January 17, 1990
Screenings, NY
January 31, 1990
PREVIEWS also during this time period
(Friends & Family)
February 5, 1990
March 5, 1990
April 11, 1990
Press Screening & others,
NY (work print)
June 29 and July 2, 1990
Screenings, NY
July 12, 23, 24, 27, 31, 1990
Screening, LA
July 31, 1990
Screenings
August 13, 15, 16, 17, 20, 22, 23, 27, 29, 30, 1990
Publicity Interviews
July–August 1990
London Screening
August 30, 1990
Screenings
September 5, 1990
PREMIERE,
Venice Film Festival
September 9, 1990
(Silver Lion Award
for Best Director &
Audience Award)
Trade Reviews
Published
September 10, 1990
Cast & Crew Screening
September 12, 1990
Industry Screening, LA
September 17, 1990
NY PREMIERE, MOMA
September 18, 1990
WIDE RELEASE
September 21, 1990
Press Junket
September 1990
Screening, NY
September
24, 25, 1990
October 16, 1990
BAFTA nominations
(7 nominations, 5 wins)
February 12, 1991
Oscar Nominations
(6 nominations)
February 13, 1991
Academy Awards announced
(1 win for Joe Pesci)
March 25, 1991
Notes/Sources
PROLOGUE
“The shorter attention span”: “The Second Screen,” Scorsese, Martin, Video Review, April 1990.
CHAPTER ONE
“I read in the Village Voice that Jim Jarmusch”: Christie, Ian, and David Thompson, Scorsese on Scorsese, London: Faber and Faber, 2003, p. 88.
“There’s a wonderful scene”: Christie and Thompson, p. 32.
“I grew up on the East Side”: Christie and Thompson, p. 88.
“Henry Hill frequently recounted how he ‘kidnapped’ the reclusive mob underboss”: Wilson, Michael Henry, Scorsese on Scorsese, Paris: Cahiers du Cinéma, 2005. On page 164, Scorsese says: “This man, who lived like a feudal overlord, didn’t even have a phone, never went to the movies, was carted off one day by Henry and his friends who wanted him to see... Mean Streets! He saw himself in it and loved it!”
“The only reason I was able to write Wiseguy”: Author interview with Nicholas Pileggi, October 8, 2018. All other Pileggi quotations in this chapter are from this interview.
CHAPTER TWO
“I was getting my mail”: Author interview with Barbara De Fina, June 19, 2019.
“My ritual was to visit the English-language bookstore”: Winkler, Irwin, A Life
in Movies: Stories from 50 Years in Hollywood, New York: Abrams Press, 2019, p. 153.
“We’d get all the magazines and newspapers”: Author interview with Irwin Winkler, June 3, 2019.
“I read a review of Wiseguy”: “Martin Scorsese: The Rolling Stone Interview,” Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, November 1, 1990.
“When I was doing The Color of Money in Chicago”: Schickel, Richard, Conversations with Scorsese, 2011, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, p. 186.
“Michael Ovitz at that time”: Schickel, p. 160.
“And he smiled”: Schickel, p. 163.
“It did not, however, result in another term in [...] ‘movie jail’ for Scorsese”: This was emphasized for me in conversations with Barbara De Fina. As we shall see in the book’s Epilogue, however, Scorsese’s self-assessment of his career prospects at the time was markedly different from what De Fina laid out for me.
“He said, ‘You know, I gotta be a producer’”: Author interview with Winkler.
“I didn’t think he had the charm”: Winkler, p. 155.
“Like the date who says he’ll call you, right?”: “Lorraine Bracco on Goodfellas, therapy, and almost turning down The Sopranos,” Leigh, Danny, The Guardian, February 20, 2017.
“I asked if Cruise had even read the script”: Winkler, p. 155.
“The real difficulty there was the inner life”: “One of the stars of Goodfellas almost quit right before it started filming,” Ian Phillips, Business Insider, April 27, 2015.
“With our casting of Ray Liotta”: Winkler, p. 156.