Voiceover is a risky business in filmmaking. It too easily transforms into a crutch, a get-out-of-jail-free card for narrative gaps. Or, an actor loses the thread between their divergent performances (sorry Harrison Ford). It’s then the first of many miracles in Goodfellas (1990) that Ray Liotta’s narration is downright incandescent. Liotta, who died last week, delivers two all-time performances as Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese’s mob masterpiece.
“As far as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster”
Thus, begins the second of those performances – his voiceover. Liotta’s pockmarked charisma crackles in those words, launching the film into the darkly comic register it maintains throughout. Even when a different actor plays a younger Hill, Liotta’s voicework centers on his personality. Yes, Goodfellas may feature a kaleidoscope of gangsters, but Liotta’s dual performances ensure Hill is every bit the bullseye.
Power, money, and women are all things the young Hill sees as available if he embraces the mob. Liotta provides the shining eyes of a twisted American dreamer, content to shoot his way to the metaphorical white picket fence. On the screen, Liotta’s mastery of Hill’s rise and incipient fall play as a brutal tragicomedy. Hill swears that to him:
“being a gangster was better than being president of the United States”
Even so, there’s fundamental reliability under all the mobster trappings. Henry’s is a story of striving. Of the ambition that is so often heralded as aspirational by “the American Dream.” What Liotta manages over two and a half hours is to curdle that seed of hope into pure evil. And yet, when his face breaks out into that glorious cackle, we still want to laugh along. Liotta makes sure we love Henry so we fall with him.
It’s Liotta’s ticks in a movie defined by major swings that solidify the performance as one of the all-time greats. Take the iconic Steadicam entrance into the Copacabana. In how we talk about it, the shot is one of Scorsese’s gems alone. Yes, it is a sensational directorial vision, but Liotta holds the center of that frame.
Leading Karen (Lorraine Bracco), Liotta hits each beat of familiarity with the staff. He flicks out bills, trades good-natured ribbings, and slyly shows off for his date. What you might miss on the first go though is that roughly halfway through the film, Liotta hip checks a table. He lets out a short “Whoa!” and carries on. The beauty of the moment is that it doesn’t matter if it was scripted or an accident. It works either way. Liotta plays it as a performance note of a man riding a high, ready to forge ahead.
What’s true too is that Goodfellas is only one of the marvels that built Liotta’s career. Combing through the internet right now is to find that everyone had a Liotta gem to cling to. For some, his arrival in Something Wild (1996) is unmatched. Others point out his divorce attorney turn in Marriage Story (2019) deserved as much attention as Laura Dern’s. Spend a few minutes on his IMDB and you will no doubt have a similar “God, I loved him in that!” moment.
For me, it will always be his achingly human supporting turn as “Shoeless” Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams (1989). When he first emerges from the corn, he and Kevin Costner share a quiet batting practice scene. The focus is on Costner’s boylike joy at meeting Joe, but in this writer’s eyes, Liotta has always stolen the scene. He looks out at the field, hardly able to believe he’s getting this second chance. Staring, he whispers “Man, I did love this game,” sounding like a prayer between him and the audience.
Liotta went through a quiet period in his career. Chalk it up to a combination of personal problems and the shadow of Henry Hill. Recent years had seen a resurgence, with him popping up in knockout supporting roles. Lucky for all of us who loved his work, he has a few completed projects yet to come. It’s always hard to say exactly what you’ll get from a Liotta performance, but I’m excited for each of them. Why? Because Ray Liotta always delivers.
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