I think it's because as they're walking through the alley to get from the bar to the car, Morrie continues to ask Jimmy about the money...AT THAT MOMENT, JIMMY RECONSIDERS AND DECIDES TO KILL MORRIE BY MAKING HIM SIT IN THE FRONT SEAT - IT'S A SIGNAL TO TOMMY TO KILL HIM...AM I RIGHT??
Always took it as he just wanted to put Henry at ease, perhaps sensing his apprehension. And knowing of his close ties to Morrie, he decided to leave him out.
Yeah. Jimmy didn't change his mind. I always thought it was pretty obvious that "Forget about tonight" was just a ruse so that Henry wouldn't get in the way by trying to talk him out of it like he planned.
When Henry says his "never knew how close he'd come" line...I always took it that Henry honestly believed Morrie wasnt going to be killed...that he went home and slept easy that night not knowing Jimmy was doing away with Morrie. Henry had a lot of faith in Jimmy. So when Morrie's wife shows up Henry knows what happened...and realizes his faith in Jimmy was misplaced.
Very cogent analysis. For my part, I always assumed Henry was in the group of guys at the car joking around & then killing Maury. Never thought to check if he was actually there.
Yes, and this comes into play later with Karen when Jimmy tells her to walk over and grab herself a new coat. Karen, most likely having heard the Morrie story in its entirity realizes Jimmy is capable of being their best friend one moment and killing you the next declines.
I think that’s the point of the film. Henry goes in to mob life thinking he’s part of A family, and little by little with every violent event that there is no code of honor , no guilt, or ethics in mob life. Billy Batts, Spider, Maury, and ultimately Jimmy would have been next.
@@MarquisdeSuave Well that's when she figured out Jimmy would Kill anyone that he saw as someone that could get him Pinched by the Bull . The Bulls being the Police
Every scene before the murder that features Maurie, Jimmy and Henry is Henry preventing Jimmy from hurting Maurie. Maurie talked as if he was untouchable to Jimmy because he knew Henry would always be there to protect him. It continued to escalate, and Jimmy knew Henry would only get in the way so removed him from the equation. Jimmy didn't change his mind, he simply stayed consistent with his character by killing Maurie.
Jimmy Burke killed the other members of the gang for the money, 100%, not because they were buying expensive gifts. That was simply Henry's rationalization for why he was not going to get killed just like everyone else. An exact quote from Henry in the film and in book; - "Jimmy was cutting every link between himself and the robbery" - "I knew Jimmy. He had the cash. It was his." - "It made him sick to have to turn the money over to the guys who stole it. He'd rather whack them."
The money is a big part of it but there also had to be fear of the other guys involved getting busted doing something stupid and than singing like a bird to the feds. I mean in real life there was a lot more money stolen than even the real life Jimmy Burke realized till after they did it. They were thinking they were going to score like 2 to 3 million, but when he found out he had over 6 million. he knew the feds were all over him like white on rice. I can't lie, if I had done a heist like that, I would do the same thing Jimmy did. Cut all ties with everyone involved because if any of them get caught they will rat you out in a heartbeat. Jimmy's mistake was not killing Henry.
I disagree. I think it STARTED as Jimmy trying to cover his ass so the FBI wouldn't trace the Lufthansa heist back to him. But after Stacks, Jimmy realizes that not only has a loose end been tied up, but he also doesn't have to cut Stacks in for his share. After that, then the killings are claimed as 'cutting links' but the ultimate motive is to cut these guys out of getting their shares.
Another reason that wasn’t in the film was that Henry asked that his cut be paid out in small increments. The main reason, though, was Henry’s drug trafficking operation. Because it was just Henry, Tommy, and Jimmy getting big cuts and not having to cut Paulie and the gang in, they were making more than their shares of the heist money in one month.
Henry is re-telling the story from his recollection of events. He was not there when Morry was whacked. For all Henry knew Morry had made it home to his wife that night. When Morry's wife comes over to Henry's house in a frantic state saying Morry is missing. Henry kind of knows what happened but is genuinely surprised it happened that night. Liotta does a good job of conveying Henry's state of mind there. Jimmy wanted to whack Morry all along. He told that to Henry to disarm him and put him at ease. Jimmy didn't want Henry to be there when he whacked Morry because Henry always got in between Jimmy and Morry. Henry would always hold Jimmy back. That is why Jimmy wanted him to think tonight was a no-go. So they waited until Henry left and whacked Morry. Jimmy had his mind set to kill him the entire time. Saying that to Henry was purely tactical.
I always loved Maurie’s commercial. They way they cut it right when he jumps in the water, cause the wig obviously comes off, always made me laugh. Just small little details make this movie so much more amazing than it already is.
another nugget i noticed only after watching 20 times, as soon as jimmy starts strangling morrie with the phone cord, morrie's wig comes off instantly lol
then in the next scene, Jimmy strangles Morrie from behind with the phone that he's literally talking on. And his wig comes off because of that, and Henry just starts laughing hysterically from 4 ft. away
Morrie simply failed to see Henry was the only reliable character in that environment, they had a bond and Jimmy knew about this, Henry warned Morrie multiple times to let it go, like someone else commented on another video, Morrie never realized how dangerous Jimmy was, despite Henry warning him.
I always figured Jimmy could sense that Henry simply didn't have the heart to whack Morrie. Henry actually liked Morrie while on the other hand Jimmy clearly loathed the guy, so it made sense that he was sort of excused from having to participate in the murder.
I always assumed that Jimmy knew that Henry was close friends with Morrie and would try to talk him out of it, so he told Henry that it wouldn't go down, then when Henry was gone and Morrie started being Morrie again, Jimmy did what he was always gonna do.
If you watch Tommy when they're walking to car he's staring at Morrie with that death stare the whole walk. I think he knew Morrie's wife would go straight to Henry/Karen. So he put Henry at ease so that his reaction to Morries wife would be one of legit confusion. Henry knows but he doesn't know. Ya know? Lol
I always felt watching the movie that had Morrie not followed Jimmy and Tommy after the club and gotten in their car, asking for his money again he may have lived. But that was the last straw and Jimmy was too annoyed to let him stick around. But also, I don't think anyone actually believes he would have gotten his cut anyway, so he probably would have gotten whacked sooner or later. It was inevitable. Amazing movie.
I knew Jimmy., The danish was his. Sure he had to kick a few cannolis upstairs to Paulie, but that was it. It made him sick to have to turn the pastries over to the guys who stole it from Rockaway diner. He'd rather whack them. Anyway, what did I care? I wasn't. asking for anything
I never thought Maury wouldn’t be killed. When Jimmy tells Henry it’s off, it created an alibi for Henry. Henry legitimately didn’t know what Maury’s wife was talking about when he didn’t come home. This leads to a more credible, if so slightly narrative that he simply took off vs being offed.
I think you've missed the jist, jimmy was 85% going to kill Morrie, the only reason he said forget about it was a short fleeting moment were Morrie was making everyone laugh which made him look innocent and harmless in Jimmy's eyes, this quickly faded when Morrie started annoying him again and reverted back to what he was almost certainly planning to do which was whack him.
Absolutely agree with this. Jimmy saw Morrie that night and thought 'yeah he's alright I suppose' then he started pestering again and went 'oh yeah I remember now' and splat :)
Agreed. I think it goes to show the impulsivity of the gangsters and how everyone’s safety changes by the second. It’s lightly shown in the beginning when Tommy messes with Henry with the iconic “funny how? Like I amuse you? Like I’m just here to fuckin amuse you?” Henry and the other guys around thought he was serious at first - showing how temperamental they are. One word said complimentary but taken the wrong way made Henry fear for his safety. It’s shown again when Tommy shoots Spider over practically nothing. They act based on how they’re feeling in that moment with little regard for anything else. In that moment when Jimmy said “forget about tonight,” Morrie was there for his amusement. When the amusement turned back to annoyance, he made another decision.
No I don't agree. This is just my opinion but I think Jimmy told Henry to forget about it because he didn't want Henry to worry. Jimmy could tell Henry was bothered by it. Jimmy was going to kill Morrie no matter what and he didn't want Henry to be an obstacle in his way so he lied.
The fact that a moment like this can still inspire interpretations after all these years goes to show how great Goodfellas is! Another way to see it is that Jimmy had clearly made the decision to whack Morrie, then decided not to do it that night (they're having a good time, Henry's there and he doesn't handle killing too well and he likes Morrie, maybe Jimmy even briefly felt that Morrie's not so bad), then as the night ends, Jimmy decides to just get on with it. In a moment echoing Billy Bats, Morrie's last conversation with Jimmy is over money and Jimmy's fed-up expression could be read as him thinking, "I was gonna let this f*ckin' prick live another night and the first thing he does is start breaking my b*lls. Henry's not here, so no worries from him. F*ck it, let's just do this now before he p*sses me off even more." The whole purpose of this is to show how gangsters can casually commit murder based on their momentary whims. Like picking up some danish for Belle, it's nothing more than a quick errand for them.
I made a similar comment before seeing yours and you put it even better than me. That’s exactly what I was thinking about how with these guys things like murder can be decided on a whim
I think the point you may miss is that Henry was unreliable - Jimmy telling Henry it was off was not in any way saying it was actually off; it was simply Jimmy making sure that Henry would not be in the way... You do have some nice nuanced points there, but I don't think Jimmy was going to give Morrie a reprieve - he was going to do him at the first safe opportunity.
So true. There was a time when my friends and I would go for coffee (or beers) after a movie specifically to discuss the film. Not much to discuss after action movies but still enjoyable. Sci Fi is a particularly good genre for those chats.
While the movie story may have played out this way, I would suggest one other element to these kinds of scenes as related by the real life Henry - in each murder description, he tries to minimize his role in his account. Even in the Billy kill, while he admits to being there, he makes it seem like he wasn't one of the people who directly took a stab at him etc. But Henry was a constant liar, and we only have his word for it that he really wasn't more of an aggressive actor in any of these killings. It seems unlikely that, in real life, he would have always conveniently been only a bystander. Of course, we will never know the true extent of his role for sure.
@AL Capone yeah I was there too., I bought 2 paintings. we had a long talk that night over drinks before the arrest. He kept running in circles while being vague as hell. I think he just wanted someone to talk to but his guilt wouldn’t let him open up. My dad did that the last 6 months of his life every time we would talk. Same as Henry, both died before finding out what was going on up there.
Exactly. I noticed that too. I noticed that Henry always seemed to be legitimately horrified or surprised every time a murder took place and he was seemingly never directly involved until after the fact but I highly doubt that in real life.
@@mathewmcdonald3657 --Once on the Howard Stern show Henry was maudlin drunk and said he had once killed someone himself and was wracked with guilt. He said he'd never admitted that to anyone before and thanked Stern for being such a good therapist. But then, Henry might say anything.
I always took it that Jimmy never changed his mind. He was scared Henry would warn Morrie hence the reason he said "forget about tonight" to disarm Henry.
Morrie started "Singing" when after many attempts at getting his share of money failed. He sang literally, but metaphorically he was insinuating that he was going to "sing" to the authorities if Jimmy didn't pay him. He walked away from Henry singing. Not much of a mystery there, if you lived on the east coast you understood perfectly why Morrie got killed.
@@anthonyarcanumsanctumregnu9551 watch the movie, then get back to me. It's an obvious gesture and it became the point where Jimmy decided to off Morrie, along with everyone else involved.
Yea and he wore plaid underwear cause plaid starts with the letter 'p' and "police" starts with a 'p'. Also, he wore a toupee, which covered his head and all of Morty was under it. So that meant he was "under cover" and trying to sell out Jimmy & Co. You'd only understand this if you were from Pittsburgh and had the name Michael
Morrie had no muscle to collect one dime from Jimmy. Jimmy didn't have to pay him and had no plans to, giving Morrie about $500 grand was just not going to happen. Morrie was goin' regardless of singin' or not.
Considering that Morrie's death happens at a point in time before Tommy's death and before Henry's arrest, when Jimmy still has a great deal of affection for Henry, I think he removed Henry from the equation to put Henry's mind at ease. Henry was clearly distraught about the potential hit on Morrie, and Jimmy probably thought "Morrie is Henry's friend, I'll give the kid a break and keep him out of it." I don't think Jimmy considered Henry to be a threat to Jimmy's plans, and while removing Henry from the equation altogether did prevent him from becoming a liability, I don't think that was Jimmy's primary intention when he altered the plan.
I had never thought of the unreliable narrator angle. It makes sense that Henry would lie to distance himself from the murder. It totally fits in how wise guys behave. Excellent theory.
Henry Hill was an interesting person. But very unreliable. Various things were said from people in the mob, like he was not as involved as he said for example. Basically you can take most of what happens in Good Fellas with a pinch of salt (not the stuff that are provable but the stuff Henry says).
I have no definite viewpoint about what happened to Morrie, but Henry is indeed an unreliable narrator. The way he is on the edge of violent events but not a full participant is unlikely. To maintain credibility with Henry and Tommy, for example, I suspect that they would have wanted him to take part in shooting or stabbing Billy Batts, and if he did not they would have begun to view him with suspicion. But having decided to flip, Henry had every incentive to minimise his role in such things later.
They mentioned getting coffee before they murdered him and also did the same before Tommy killed stacks. Seems like coffee may have been some code word for carrying out a hit. Didn’t notice this until I saw a compilation
The story is told from Henry’s perspective, it’s a confession (as is the whole movie) so to distance himself from taking part in the murder of a relatively innocent man and putting the blame solely on jimmy and tommy he clears his own name in the eyes of the law
@@jvn4940 true, but you can be guilty by association, the Rico act basically works the same way (criminal enterprise members imprisoned even if not directly part of the act) what you will notice is hill never actually kills anyone, but was there as witness/ party to the act, he ratted on jimmy, tommy and everyone else but doesn’t actually admit to any of the killings or airport robbery (Lufthansa) he was guilty by association but never actually stated he carried out any of the major crimes. Immunity can still be granted even if not the direct perpetrator of the crime, immunity was given due to the evidence given against the “bigger” players He did however cop a plea for the more minor crimes, this was part or the deal for immunity against the major crimes….. not saying he didn’t carry these out, but the goodfellas movie doesn’t actually implicate hill as carrying out the major crimes
@@Originalstrangeface Even though Henry definitely minimizes his involvement in the murders, both in the movie and IRL, to me he doesn't come across as a "shooter" or "tough guy", he seems to me to be more of a "schemer" and a "scammer". Maybe he scammed me too lol
I always thought that Jimmy was just keeping Henry out of the loop on the Maury hit. I think Jimmy knew Henry liked Maury and just wanted to avoid Henry trying to talk him out of it
You make a good point. You are right. For the entire movie Henry might have been thrown into murders, but he never was the one planning them or pulling the trigger. That is awfully convenient.
Morrie was an extremely intelligent man who was very close to Henry. He told Henry, "if anything happens to me, get out (of the business.)" When Morrie was killed Henry Hill said he made up his mind, "that was it."
In the book by Hill & Daniel Simone it’s said that Martin getting killed struck Hill as greedy. It was Martin who ran the gambling for Burke when he was serving time; because Tommy was too dumb and Hill was apprehended with Burke. Martin was also the one who gave the initial tip to Henry, from the inside man at JFK airport, and Hill felt like Martin deserved his cut.
It might be revenge for the actor Robert DeNiro. In the movie King of Comedy, the actor who played Morrie in Goodfellas played a customer who mimicked and mocked the main character Rupert Pupkin (played by DeNiro) on his first date with Rita in the Chinese restaurant making her laugh at Rupert while he tries to impress her with his career ambitions.
As far as the really Henry Hill goes. It's not clear if he ever killed anyone by his own hands. It's very likely he was present when people were killed and played a part by hacking up bodies and burying them like the film alludes too. Hill has contradicted himself at times before he passed.
Very well explained in the video. We are brought along with the narrator (Henry) but we don't actually know what Jimmy was thinking either way. Thanks for the video.
a hidden easter egg in the scene where Maury gets killed is he starts to talk about a point shaving scam he had going on which is a reference to the point-shaving scam that Jimmy Burke and Henry Hill were part of with the Boston College Basketball team in 1978-1979.
Wow, this guy (narrator) REALLY doesn't understand this movie....Jimmy NEVER changed his mind about killing Morrie. Henry just thought he did because Jimmy told him to forget about it....which was because it was already going to be done....THAT NIGHT!! On another note, does this narrator really think whether the wife would go to the cops if her husband was killed is a question?? Of course she would? NEVER is that either a question or a factor in the decision as to whether Morrie would get whacked. To think that was a factor shows again how little this guy understands the movie or the nature of these characters. Finally, does this guy really think this movie was based on the story as told by the real Henry Hill? PLEASE!
It was totally to put Henry at ease and to keep him from intervening in any sort of way. Jimmy was always gonna kill Maurie. Plus, Tommy also wanted to kill Maurie badly.
Thanks for another excellent and in-depth analysis. Scorcese should be on English exams for the A-levels. When I graduated, though not in the UK, we were the first class that could actually study films for higher level English. The films were good - Dances with Wolves, The Third Man and more though thanks to a very traditional English teacher we didn't bother. That said, there's lots to be learned from the novel and the film and they'd make riveting items for teenagers to study.
Henry is the narrator. Henry is telling the story he wants the audience to hear. Throughout his story he keeps pushing the blame for everything onto Jimmy. Henry knows how the hit happened because he was there, he just didnt want to admit it.
the movie hasn't this specific layer, there's no the twist factor of the biased narration: you have just to accept what it's shown and take it for true.
@@Jerry_Gallo The movie is based on the book "Wise Guy". An autobiography. There are several instances throughout the book where it's obvious the Author is pushing the blame for crimes he committed off on others.
Morris Kessler owned "Just For Men Salon". Tommy DeVito stabbed him in the back of the head with a knife. His body was dismembered and buried at Vinnie Asaro's construction site in Jamaica, Queens in my old neighborhood. The same Vinnie Asaro who was the ONLY one indicted and tried for the Lufthansa Heist. I was being held for bank robbery charges in Brooklyn MDC at the same time as Vinnie, after the feds denied him bail when they accused him of trying to arrange the murder of a prosecutor in an arson case he was accused of. Usually when the feds have you, you're done. But not this time. Vinnie beat the charges at trial. He was a good guy and we were more than happy to see him beating the feds.
It could be interpreted that jimmy only changed his mind about who would do the hit, not changing his mind about the hit itself. He decided that it should be tommy and not henry to do it- possibly due to henrys regard for morrie and or the fact that henry had never been a hit man like tommy was.
Love this kind of shit man nice video. Another scene that I love (that u mentioned) is the Johnny Roast Beef scene. I think it's the actual moment that Jimmy realizes just how much of a liability his crew is, and it's the moment that proves that Jimmy is a psychopath. I love the way the scene lingers, even after Johnny apologizes several times. Jimmy even calms down, lowers his voice, changes his tone and says "Johnny, what's the matter with you?" and I think he reacts this way because he's genuinely confused. He's not interested in publicly shaming Johnny, he's just bewildered. It's like he's thinking "How could you be so stupid? Don't you understand I have to kill you now? Are you suicidal? I don't get it!" What Jimmy didn't understand was that these guys thought they could get away with disobeying him bc they were counting on him having some kind of compassion since "they're pals"...Jimmy doesn't have "pals". The only people he trusts are Henry and Tommy, since he basically groomed them from childhood with the #1 rule being "never rat on your friends" (#2: "keep your mouth shut." kinda redundant ala Fight club, but helps get the point across). His relationship with Paulie is strictly business. I'm pretty sure the only dialogue between them is when Paulie introduces Jimmy to Henry, and when Jimmy pays him. Anyways, when Carbone and his new-fir-coat-wearin wife come in it just kinda seals the deal. Love the way he throws his hands up and looks up; totally frustrated that he's surrounded by idiots.
I’m not gonna lie I liked Maury, but he was so annoying. I honestly got it. I really thought Jimmy ended Maury because he had just gotten on his last nerve.
One thing about this film that has never sat right with me is the premise that Henry was in the mob for years and never once killed anyone. Having no blood on his hands would have always made him a threat to rat on the others, and he would have been distrusted like a clean cop surrounded by dirty ones.
It was Jimmy Burke's intention of whacking everyone associated with the Lufthansa heist once the cops found the van used in the heist that Stacks Edwards failed to get crushed, especially Morrie who was a expecting a 10% commission or roughly 600K for tipping off Jimmy about the heist. Burke also knew it was only a matter of time before guys got greedy and were more likely to get pinched when they started spending big, drawing a lot of heat from the Feds. Goodfella's paints Henry Hill as some sort of peacemaking saint but he wasn't, in one of his last interviews with Howard Stern, Hill claims he whacked three guys on the orders of Paul Vario, which was conveniently left out of the film!
Tommy killed Maurie on his own on the spur of the moment, just like Tommy killed the bartender kid. Jimmy immediately expresses dissapointment about both killings as soon as they happen.
CineRanter. Your analytical abilities are absolutely incredible. Not just with this topic, but all of the topics I have viewed with your videos so far. Your talent with connecting dots i.e., piecing together known, facts in conjunction with logical conjecture, paints a clear picture of unseen events which I would heavily wager is absolutely true. ChatGPT can't hold a candle to you.
At the overall organizational strategic level, the constant murders of their own make no sense for someone as intelligent as Jimmy. He has a crew of guys who have worked for/with him, and instead of managing them for future use he kills them all. It's really short sighted. A lot of the guys have been working together for years with varying levels of trust. It is also dangerous. All it takes is for one relatively intuitive guy to say, well they are going to kill me anyway(before they can get to him), and goes after Jimmy. Yes, Jimmy is "protected" but if one of them figures it's me or him why not go for the preemptive murder. In the end, it all does come full circle, but takes time which is why IMHO Jimmy is not really that smart.
Ur point is valid but Jimmy wasn't made remember him and Henry were part Irish high earner for the organization absolutely but not "made" As far as whacking the crew of the hiest they d I d dumb things he didn't have a choice Definitely have to watch y Jimmy didn't get whacked for the Billy bats
@@ralphwilliams2396 I disagree. They didn't all do dumb things. If you read the written up account, and not just go by the movie, he liquidated the entire crew except his closest friends whether they went on spending sprees or not.
Interesting. I was always a little confused by that part of the film. I always assumed the most likely explanation was that Tommy killed Morrie on a whim just to shut him up.
I always took it as if he just wanted to make Henry think that he had changed his mind. He knew Henry was against it, he didn't want to make Henry paranoid etc
Great video. I think ultimately, Henry was visibly anxious and Jimmy put him at ease, as to not spook Morrie. As for what happened in real life, I highly doubt Henry had anything to do with it. The Henry Hill you see in interviews is very different than the handsome and charismatic Ray Liotta. He was more of a wannabe and a hanger-on. A little pathetic. Plus, since he was never going to be made, he had no obligation to "make his bones," so I really doubt Henry Hill ever killed anyone.
Henry was there; did they not take out the Shah a few scenes before? Jimmy was comfortable with Henry being around when he took out people. The mob likes to use guys like Henry to put a hard target at easy; because guys like Henry are not hitters or involved with hits. Morrie in the movie is played to be a dumb guy, but maybe the real Morrie was not that dumb and knew Jimmy and Tommy's reputation and was avoiding them. Jimmy used Henry to make Morrie relax and to think nothing was going to happen if he meet with Jimmy.
Because he was greedy and thought Henry's upright behavior would make Maury realize what was up that night. I hated seeing Maury being murdered I liked him and Belle.
I sort of agree, he sort of suspected that Henry might try to protect Maury somehow. He also knew Henry liked Maury so he spared him having to be present. There is no way Henry would've interfered if he was present, he'd have just been upset by it.
I always got the feeling that Morrie was going to get killed. I assumed that Jimmy said "don't worry about it" to put his friends mind at ease for whatever reason.
He left Henry out of the Lufthansa heist too. And in real life, he handed Tommy Desimone over to John Gotti for killing Ronnie Jerothe. The movie made it out like it was for killing William Bentvena(Batts), but Jerothe was like a son to Gotti, which is why they never found him. I've been told that they went to work on him for a couple of days breaking his arms, legs, ribs, and jaw. Then they took him out to the deepest part of the Long Island Sound, chained him to an anchor and castrated him before dropping him in the water alive.
You saying "Morry was one of the Lufthansa crew who needed to get payed PLUS HE WAS ANNOYING" The last part was the funniest part of this video 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I mean also the way you said it 😄😄 by the way vety well made video and great channel !
I always saw it as Jimmy only held off killing Morrie straight up because of respect for his friendship with Henry. Then at some point Jimmy had just had enough of Morrie and chose a moment to get rid of him when no one else expected it.
Morrie overrated what he considered to be his leverage over Jimmy. Unbeknownst to Morrie, Jimmy's leverage was his own cunning and far smarter personality. Morrie was never in a position of advantage, and Jimmy knew this. Great and much needed analysis. Keep up the great work!
I thought it tied in to Henry’s line earlier “that’s how it happens. That’s how fast it takes for a guy to get whacked.” Jimmy was thinking about killing Morrie, then he relaxed and had a good night and figured it wasn’t worth the hassle of killing him (after all, killing was like work for these guys). But then Morrie, not knowing how close he already was to getting whacked, went ahead and basically talked Jimmy into killing him. Tommy most likely knew what Jimmy wanted as soon as he invited Morrie to come with them to the diner, instead of trying to duck Morrie like he normally did.
I was always confused about this because as soon as he said “forget about tonight” Morie is killed anyway. But now I think I know it’s because he only changed his mind on including Henry on the hit
I always figured it was a subtle message to Henry that Jimmy was in control of the pace, paralleled again by Paulie reminding Jimmy of the same principle in taking out Tommy.
I have always wondered about this myself. I just assumed that Tommy either didn't get the word that the hit had been cancelled and went ahead with it, or never even knew Jimmy had planned the hit specifically for that night and just decided to do it himself, out of the blue. I interpreted the killing to symbolize how random and abrupt violence was in their world. (If Jimmy just wanted Henry to go home so as not to be involved in the hit, why would he have told him about it to begin with?)
Thank You for addressing this I got so tired of trying to explain to people why the hit was never off and it was all about Jimmy cutting Henry loose because he knew Henry and his wife were friends with Morrie and his wife and he already knew Henry didn't want to kill his friend, this why he told him not to worry about tonight. So many people argued saying " No no no no, Morrie talked Jimmy back into it, " and they didn't want to hear that it was Jimmy's plan all along to whack Morrie and that he was just cutting henry lose. Now that this has been brought up here. I'm hoping this video finally lays to rest the stupid argument that Jimmy had ever changed his mind.
I'd always thought he was telling Henry it was off for two reasons, 1) so Henry wouldn't try to change his mind about it and 2) to give Henry plausibly deniability to say "I don't know what happened to him." However #2 seems like a long shot since Jimmy didn't really care about anyone.
Jimmy was 100% lying to Henry when he said it wasn’t going down. That put Henry at ease and he went home. It was setup in such a way as to also surprise the audience with how evil these people really are. Although the theory of Henry leaving himself out of the hit is interesting. Especially since we already know that Henry was laughing when Jimmy was choking Morrie with a phone cord.
Morie's execution is done in another scene where Henry is not present, I thought, was to avoid incriminating Henry. There is no statue of limitations on murder in the USA. So it would seem Henry was there but can't say so to avoid incriminating himself.
I love your input, I also see that scene as the scene he added henry to the list, which is why we have the scene where jimmy tries to lure Karen into the warehouse, Karen was going to be a warning to Henry
Jimmy didn’t actually change his mind about killing Maury. He changed his mind about including Henry.
Exaktly
Been years since I seen the movie, but how I interpreted it at the time was that Jimmy was losing trust in Henry
That. Alternatively or also didn't want Henry, who he had affection and respect for, to be able to talk him out of it.
The movie was like the book in this regard. Henry had no idea and had to, along with Karen, deal with Maury's wife. Only later finding out by Jimmy
I think it's because as they're walking through the alley to get from the bar to the car, Morrie continues to ask Jimmy about the money...AT THAT MOMENT, JIMMY RECONSIDERS AND DECIDES TO KILL MORRIE BY MAKING HIM SIT IN THE FRONT SEAT - IT'S A SIGNAL TO TOMMY TO KILL HIM...AM I RIGHT??
Always took it as he just wanted to put Henry at ease, perhaps sensing his apprehension. And knowing of his close ties to Morrie, he decided to leave him out.
Bingo
Yeah I think that's the 99.9% most likely, obvious interpretation. I've never thought anything else.
Exactly.
Yeah. Jimmy didn't change his mind. I always thought it was pretty obvious that "Forget about tonight" was just a ruse so that Henry wouldn't get in the way by trying to talk him out of it like he planned.
Look at the signs from the scenes tell you different
When Henry says his "never knew how close he'd come" line...I always took it that Henry honestly believed Morrie wasnt going to be killed...that he went home and slept easy that night not knowing Jimmy was doing away with Morrie. Henry had a lot of faith in Jimmy. So when Morrie's wife shows up Henry knows what happened...and realizes his faith in Jimmy was misplaced.
Very cogent analysis. For my part, I always assumed Henry was in the group of guys at the car joking around & then killing Maury. Never thought to check if he was actually there.
Yes, and this comes into play later with Karen when Jimmy tells her to walk over and grab herself a new coat. Karen, most likely having heard the Morrie story in its entirity realizes Jimmy is capable of being their best friend one moment and killing you the next declines.
I think that’s the point of the film. Henry goes in to mob life thinking he’s part of A family, and little by little with every violent event that there is no code of honor , no guilt, or ethics in mob life. Billy Batts, Spider, Maury, and ultimately Jimmy would have been next.
@@MarquisdeSuave Well that's when she figured out Jimmy would Kill anyone that he saw as someone that could get him Pinched by the Bull . The Bulls being the Police
Every scene before the murder that features Maurie, Jimmy and Henry is Henry preventing Jimmy from hurting Maurie. Maurie talked as if he was untouchable to Jimmy because he knew Henry would always be there to protect him. It continued to escalate, and Jimmy knew Henry would only get in the way so removed him from the equation. Jimmy didn't change his mind, he simply stayed consistent with his character by killing Maurie.
I think the most disturbing thing about Morrie's murder, was that his wife Bell didn't end up getting her Danish.
😂
😂😂😂😂
Jimmy Burke killed the other members of the gang for the money, 100%, not because they were buying expensive gifts. That was simply Henry's rationalization for why he was not going to get killed just like everyone else. An exact quote from Henry in the film and in book;
- "Jimmy was cutting every link between himself and the robbery"
- "I knew Jimmy. He had the cash. It was his."
- "It made him sick to have to turn the money over to the guys who stole it. He'd rather whack them."
Even though he stole it with em😂😂😂😂
@@willleon9165 Exactly.
The money is a big part of it but there also had to be fear of the other guys involved getting busted doing something stupid and than singing like a bird to the feds. I mean in real life there was a lot more money stolen than even the real life Jimmy Burke realized till after they did it. They were thinking they were going to score like 2 to 3 million, but when he found out he had over 6 million. he knew the feds were all over him like white on rice. I can't lie, if I had done a heist like that, I would do the same thing Jimmy did. Cut all ties with everyone involved because if any of them get caught they will rat you out in a heartbeat. Jimmy's mistake was not killing Henry.
I disagree. I think it STARTED as Jimmy trying to cover his ass so the FBI wouldn't trace the Lufthansa heist back to him. But after Stacks, Jimmy realizes that not only has a loose end been tied up, but he also doesn't have to cut Stacks in for his share. After that, then the killings are claimed as 'cutting links' but the ultimate motive is to cut these guys out of getting their shares.
Another reason that wasn’t in the film was that Henry asked that his cut be paid out in small increments. The main reason, though, was Henry’s drug trafficking operation. Because it was just Henry, Tommy, and Jimmy getting big cuts and not having to cut Paulie and the gang in, they were making more than their shares of the heist money in one month.
Henry is re-telling the story from his recollection of events. He was not there when Morry was whacked. For all Henry knew Morry had made it home to his wife that night. When Morry's wife comes over to Henry's house in a frantic state saying Morry is missing. Henry kind of knows what happened but is genuinely surprised it happened that night. Liotta does a good job of conveying Henry's state of mind there.
Jimmy wanted to whack Morry all along. He told that to Henry to disarm him and put him at ease. Jimmy didn't want Henry to be there when he whacked Morry because Henry always got in between Jimmy and Morry. Henry would always hold Jimmy back. That is why Jimmy wanted him to think tonight was a no-go. So they waited until Henry left and whacked Morry. Jimmy had his mind set to kill him the entire time. Saying that to Henry was purely tactical.
Maybe Henry and lied about it
Yup
@@faisalkamal4319 always felt that he likes Morry and actually felt kind of sorry for him
@@frankmurphy7234 it's a movie we don't want really happened
Yep from Henry's recollection. For all we know Henry whacked him . And Frenchie And Frankie . Its Henry's side .
“Morrie’s wigs don’t come off!”…..Unless you’re being strangled by Jimmy Conway….
Today, Morrie. Today. Today.
TO...DAY!
@@grapefruitm00n You got it! You got it kid!
I always loved Maurie’s commercial. They way they cut it right when he jumps in the water, cause the wig obviously comes off, always made me laugh. Just small little details make this movie so much more amazing than it already is.
Morrie's wigs don't come off.
another nugget i noticed only after watching 20 times, as soon as jimmy starts strangling morrie with the phone cord, morrie's wig comes off instantly lol
then in the next scene, Jimmy strangles Morrie from behind with the phone that he's literally talking on. And his wig comes off because of that, and Henry just starts laughing hysterically from 4 ft. away
He did not use enough tape .
I always thought Jimmy was just lying to Henry cause he knew Henry was the only one who would put up a stink about Maurie being killed.
Makes sense.
Once it’s done, there’s no point in complaining. Henry knew what Morrie was like.
Or Henry was in and later lied about it
Morrie simply failed to see Henry was the only reliable character in that environment, they had a bond and Jimmy knew about this, Henry warned Morrie multiple times to let it go, like someone else commented on another video, Morrie never realized how dangerous Jimmy was, despite Henry warning him.
I always figured Jimmy could sense that Henry simply didn't have the heart to whack Morrie. Henry actually liked Morrie while on the other hand Jimmy clearly loathed the guy, so it made sense that he was sort of excused from having to participate in the murder.
I always assumed that Jimmy knew that Henry was close friends with Morrie and would try to talk him out of it, so he told Henry that it wouldn't go down, then when Henry was gone and Morrie started being Morrie again, Jimmy did what he was always gonna do.
If you watch Tommy when they're walking to car he's staring at Morrie with that death stare the whole walk.
I think he knew Morrie's wife would go straight to Henry/Karen. So he put Henry at ease so that his reaction to Morries wife would be one of legit confusion. Henry knows but he doesn't know. Ya know? Lol
I always felt watching the movie that had Morrie not followed Jimmy and Tommy after the club and gotten in their car, asking for his money again he may have lived. But that was the last straw and Jimmy was too annoyed to let him stick around. But also, I don't think anyone actually believes he would have gotten his cut anyway, so he probably would have gotten whacked sooner or later. It was inevitable.
Amazing movie.
They only had one danish left at the diner and Jimmy wanted it 4 himself
I knew Jimmy., The danish was his. Sure he had to kick a few cannolis upstairs to Paulie, but that was it. It made him sick to have to turn the pastries over to the guys who stole it from Rockaway diner. He'd rather whack them. Anyway, what did I care? I wasn't. asking for anything
I always thought that Jimmy really was postponing the hit until Maury brought up the money again.
Me too
I never thought Maury wouldn’t be killed. When Jimmy tells Henry it’s off, it created an alibi for Henry. Henry legitimately didn’t know what Maury’s wife was talking about when he didn’t come home. This leads to a more credible, if so slightly narrative that he simply took off vs being offed.
Plausible Deniability
I think you've missed the jist, jimmy was 85% going to kill Morrie, the only reason he said forget about it was a short fleeting moment were Morrie was making everyone laugh which made him look innocent and harmless in Jimmy's eyes, this quickly faded when Morrie started annoying him again and reverted back to what he was almost certainly planning to do which was whack him.
Absolutely agree with this. Jimmy saw Morrie that night and thought 'yeah he's alright I suppose' then he started pestering again and went 'oh yeah I remember now' and splat :)
Agreed. I think it goes to show the impulsivity of the gangsters and how everyone’s safety changes by the second. It’s lightly shown in the beginning when Tommy messes with Henry with the iconic “funny how? Like I amuse you? Like I’m just here to fuckin amuse you?”
Henry and the other guys around thought he was serious at first - showing how temperamental they are. One word said complimentary but taken the wrong way made Henry fear for his safety. It’s shown again when Tommy shoots Spider over practically nothing. They act based on how they’re feeling in that moment with little regard for anything else.
In that moment when Jimmy said “forget about tonight,” Morrie was there for his amusement. When the amusement turned back to annoyance, he made another decision.
Totally agree.
Or he never changed his mind and just decided Henry wouldn't be reliable help in killing him since Henry was a lot closer to him.
No I don't agree. This is just my opinion but I think Jimmy told Henry to forget about it because he didn't want Henry to worry. Jimmy could tell Henry was bothered by it. Jimmy was going to kill Morrie no matter what and he didn't want Henry to be an obstacle in his way so he lied.
The fact that a moment like this can still inspire interpretations after all these years goes to show how great Goodfellas is!
Another way to see it is that Jimmy had clearly made the decision to whack Morrie, then decided not to do it that night (they're having a good time, Henry's there and he doesn't handle killing too well and he likes Morrie, maybe Jimmy even briefly felt that Morrie's not so bad), then as the night ends, Jimmy decides to just get on with it. In a moment echoing Billy Bats, Morrie's last conversation with Jimmy is over money and Jimmy's fed-up expression could be read as him thinking, "I was gonna let this f*ckin' prick live another night and the first thing he does is start breaking my b*lls. Henry's not here, so no worries from him. F*ck it, let's just do this now before he p*sses me off even more."
The whole purpose of this is to show how gangsters can casually commit murder based on their momentary whims. Like picking up some danish for Belle, it's nothing more than a quick errand for them.
I made a similar comment before seeing yours and you put it even better than me. That’s exactly what I was thinking about how with these guys things like murder can be decided on a whim
I think the point you may miss is that Henry was unreliable - Jimmy telling Henry it was off was not in any way saying it was actually off; it was simply Jimmy making sure that Henry would not be in the way... You do have some nice nuanced points there, but I don't think Jimmy was going to give Morrie a reprieve - he was going to do him at the first safe opportunity.
So true. There was a time when my friends and I would go for coffee (or beers) after a movie specifically to discuss the film. Not much to discuss after action movies but still enjoyable. Sci Fi is a particularly good genre for those chats.
Scorsese has so many good movies!
I need to buy them all eventually
While the movie story may have played out this way, I would suggest one other element to these kinds of scenes as related by the real life Henry - in each murder description, he tries to minimize his role in his account. Even in the Billy kill, while he admits to being there, he makes it seem like he wasn't one of the people who directly took a stab at him etc. But Henry was a constant liar, and we only have his word for it that he really wasn't more of an aggressive actor in any of these killings. It seems unlikely that, in real life, he would have always conveniently been only a bystander. Of course, we will never know the true extent of his role for sure.
He was haunted till his death. Robberies don’t haunt you. Taking lives for greed absolutely can drive you crazy. He was hiding something.
@AL Capone yeah I was there too., I bought 2 paintings. we had a long talk that night over drinks before the arrest. He kept running in circles while being vague as hell. I think he just wanted someone to talk to but his guilt wouldn’t let him open up. My dad did that the last 6 months of his life every time we would talk. Same as Henry, both died before finding out what was going on up there.
Yup
Exactly. I noticed that too. I noticed that Henry always seemed to be legitimately horrified or surprised every time a murder took place and he was seemingly never directly involved until after the fact but I highly doubt that in real life.
@@mathewmcdonald3657 --Once on the Howard Stern show Henry was maudlin drunk and said he had once killed someone himself and was wracked with guilt. He said he'd never admitted that to anyone before and thanked Stern for being such a good therapist. But then, Henry might say anything.
I always took it that Jimmy never changed his mind. He was scared Henry would warn Morrie hence the reason he said "forget about tonight" to disarm Henry.
Morrie started "Singing" when after many attempts at getting his share of money failed. He sang literally, but metaphorically he was insinuating that he was going to "sing" to the authorities if Jimmy didn't pay him. He walked away from Henry singing. Not much of a mystery there, if you lived on the east coast you understood perfectly why Morrie got killed.
You are over thinking this dude. Lol I'm from Howard Beach I grew up with this generation of wise guys and my father those exact guys in the film.
@@anthonyarcanumsanctumregnu9551 watch the movie, then get back to me. It's an obvious gesture and it became the point where Jimmy decided to off Morrie, along with everyone else involved.
Yea and he wore plaid underwear cause plaid starts with the letter 'p' and "police" starts with a 'p'. Also, he wore a toupee, which covered his head and all of Morty was under it. So that meant he was "under cover" and trying to sell out Jimmy & Co. You'd only understand this if you were from Pittsburgh and had the name Michael
@@ZDiddy7777 💀💀💀💀
Morrie had no muscle to collect one dime from Jimmy. Jimmy didn't have to pay him and had no plans to, giving Morrie about $500 grand was just not going to happen. Morrie was goin' regardless of singin' or not.
Considering that Morrie's death happens at a point in time before Tommy's death and before Henry's arrest, when Jimmy still has a great deal of affection for Henry, I think he removed Henry from the equation to put Henry's mind at ease. Henry was clearly distraught about the potential hit on Morrie, and Jimmy probably thought "Morrie is Henry's friend, I'll give the kid a break and keep him out of it." I don't think Jimmy considered Henry to be a threat to Jimmy's plans, and while removing Henry from the equation altogether did prevent him from becoming a liability, I don't think that was Jimmy's primary intention when he altered the plan.
Frankly in that situation I'd assume more gangsters would make Henry do the hit. As a test of loyalty and to get something on them.
If that was his plan, then why tell him about the murder beforehand at all?
I had never thought of the unreliable narrator angle. It makes sense that Henry would lie to distance himself from the murder. It totally fits in how wise guys behave. Excellent theory.
Henry Hill was an interesting person. But very unreliable. Various things were said from people in the mob, like he was not as involved as he said for example. Basically you can take most of what happens in Good Fellas with a pinch of salt (not the stuff that are provable but the stuff Henry says).
I have no definite viewpoint about what happened to Morrie, but Henry is indeed an unreliable narrator. The way he is on the edge of violent events but not a full participant is unlikely. To maintain credibility with Henry and Tommy, for example, I suspect that they would have wanted him to take part in shooting or stabbing Billy Batts, and if he did not they would have begun to view him with suspicion. But having decided to flip, Henry had every incentive to minimise his role in such things later.
@@stevekaczynski3793 I’m curious to how much fact checking the writers did.
They mentioned getting coffee before they murdered him and also did the same before Tommy killed stacks. Seems like coffee may have been some code word for carrying out a hit. Didn’t notice this until I saw a compilation
Stacks, the victim, brought up coffee.
Jimmy's own greed was his downfall. He just couldn't see the bigger picture and wanted everything for himself.
The story is told from Henry’s perspective, it’s a confession (as is the whole movie) so to distance himself from taking part in the murder of a relatively innocent man and putting the blame solely on jimmy and tommy he clears his own name in the eyes of the law
Hill was granted immunity though. Sammy the bull confessed to murders as part of his deal
No, because for Hill to not admit to a crime would have risked his immunity deal. He had to admit to everything, or lose the deal.
@@jvn4940 true, but you can be guilty by association, the Rico act basically works the same way (criminal enterprise members imprisoned even if not directly part of the act) what you will notice is hill never actually kills anyone, but was there as witness/ party to the act, he ratted on jimmy, tommy and everyone else but doesn’t actually admit to any of the killings or airport robbery (Lufthansa) he was guilty by association but never actually stated he carried out any of the major crimes.
Immunity can still be granted even if not the direct perpetrator of the crime, immunity was given due to the evidence given against the “bigger” players
He did however cop a plea for the more minor crimes, this was part or the deal for immunity against the major crimes….. not saying he didn’t carry these out, but the goodfellas movie doesn’t actually implicate hill as carrying out the major crimes
@@playboymaxim Sammy was a different story, higher ranking member taking down a top player and family, but I see your point
@@Originalstrangeface Even though Henry definitely minimizes his involvement in the murders, both in the movie and IRL, to me he doesn't come across as a "shooter" or "tough guy", he seems to me to be more of a "schemer" and a "scammer". Maybe he scammed me too lol
I think how they whacked Morrie , was showing the unexpected nature of how quickly you can get killed in that world.
Yep, I was thinking the same thing, it was a reoccurring theme within the film. I always felt the title of the film was slightly ironic.
I always thought that Jimmy was just keeping Henry out of the loop on the Maury hit. I think Jimmy knew Henry liked Maury and just wanted to avoid Henry trying to talk him out of it
Or he knew and lied about it
@@faisalkamal4319 anything’s possible
@@johnochiltree1170 Bobby bacala ova here
Jimmy had considered killing Henry & Karen too.
The minute Jimmy got all the money is the second he made up his mind on killing everybody involved....That’s just how the game is played
But was it him or the guys above ??
Actually it's a good strategy no more distribution and the dead couldn't rat on him
You make a good point. You are right. For the entire movie Henry might have been thrown into murders, but he never was the one planning them or pulling the trigger. That is awfully convenient.
If you’re smart you never do your own killings
Morrie never had the makings of a varsity wig dealer. It's among the Italians with hair. real greaseball shit.
Morrie came to the precipice of an enormous crossroads. But Jimmy didn't realize that a pint of blood costs more than a gallon of gold.
Very allegorical
Morrie was an extremely intelligent man who was very close to Henry. He told Henry, "if anything happens to me, get out (of the business.)" When Morrie was killed Henry Hill said he made up his mind, "that was it."
In the book by Hill & Daniel Simone it’s said that Martin getting killed struck Hill as greedy. It was Martin who ran the gambling for Burke when he was serving time; because Tommy was too dumb and Hill was apprehended with Burke. Martin was also the one who gave the initial tip to Henry, from the inside man at JFK airport, and Hill felt like Martin deserved his cut.
@@cedricbeard4609 loop loop
Oooo
@@nake5555 I’m just telling you how you’re being perceived …
@@nake5555 That is exactly how I spell that as well. Oooo. Did you get it from Homer Simpson?
It might be revenge for the actor Robert DeNiro. In the movie King of Comedy, the actor who played Morrie in Goodfellas played a customer who mimicked and mocked the main character Rupert Pupkin (played by DeNiro) on his first date with Rita in the Chinese restaurant making her laugh at Rupert while he tries to impress her with his career ambitions.
Roger fuckin Ebert ova here
King of Comedy has arguably the greatest ending in movie history
@@andrewmartin7697 LOL
My favorite Jerry Lewis movie.
More creative than Spielberg.
Honestly I didn't even know this was a debate. I always thought it was him putting Henry's mind at ease, And always planned to kill Morty.
Or Henry just lied
The original screenplay was called Jimmy the Wop but Scorsese never proceeded with it.
As far as the really Henry Hill goes. It's not clear if he ever killed anyone by his own hands. It's very likely he was present when people were killed and played a part by hacking up bodies and burying them like the film alludes too. Hill has contradicted himself at times before he passed.
Hill was low level thug Goodfellas is good movie but not documentary
I think hill kinda exaggerated tommy and Jimmy crimes and play down his own crime
Yep Henry probably did his share of whacking . Who
Knows , he mite've been the biggest whacker .
Yeah it's wierd how he doesn't commit Even one killing in the flim
he made deals with govt and they wiped his record clean in return. His story is self serving.
@@spankyx8606 good movie shaky source
Very well explained in the video. We are brought along with the narrator (Henry) but we don't actually know what Jimmy was thinking either way. Thanks for the video.
You’re the best. I can always expect quality discussion and analysis with your videos.
a hidden easter egg in the scene where Maury gets killed is he starts to talk about a point shaving scam he had going on which is a reference to the point-shaving scam that Jimmy Burke and Henry Hill were part of with the Boston College Basketball team in 1978-1979.
Why did Jimmy change his mind about killing Morrie?
*He didn't.*
I always thought it was what you mentioned in the video that he knew Henry was uneasy about it so he lied to him. Great video, man.
Wow, this guy (narrator) REALLY doesn't understand this movie....Jimmy NEVER changed his mind about killing Morrie. Henry just thought he did because Jimmy told him to forget about it....which was because it was already going to be done....THAT NIGHT!! On another note, does this narrator really think whether the wife would go to the cops if her husband was killed is a question?? Of course she would? NEVER is that either a question or a factor in the decision as to whether Morrie would get whacked. To think that was a factor shows again how little this guy understands the movie or the nature of these characters. Finally, does this guy really think this movie was based on the story as told by the real Henry Hill? PLEASE!
THIS channel is FLAMES 🔥🔥🔥
Bravissimo, Salute!!🥃🍺🥃🥃🍺🍺🥃🥃🥃
It was totally to put Henry at ease and to keep him from intervening in any sort of way. Jimmy was always gonna kill Maurie. Plus, Tommy also wanted to kill Maurie badly.
Thanks for another excellent and in-depth analysis.
Scorcese should be on English exams for the A-levels. When I graduated, though not in the UK, we were the first class that could actually study films for higher level English. The films were good - Dances with Wolves, The Third Man and more though thanks to a very traditional English teacher we didn't bother. That said, there's lots to be learned from the novel and the film and they'd make riveting items for teenagers to study.
Henry is the narrator.
Henry is telling the story he wants the audience to hear.
Throughout his story he keeps pushing the blame for everything onto Jimmy.
Henry knows how the hit happened because he was there, he just didnt want to admit it.
the movie hasn't this specific layer, there's no the twist factor of the biased narration: you have just to accept what it's shown and take it for true.
@@Jerry_Gallo The movie is based on the book "Wise Guy".
An autobiography.
There are several instances throughout the book where it's obvious the Author is pushing the blame for crimes he committed off on others.
Morris Kessler owned "Just For Men Salon". Tommy DeVito stabbed him in the back of the head with a knife. His body was dismembered and buried at Vinnie Asaro's construction site in Jamaica, Queens in my old neighborhood. The same Vinnie Asaro who was the ONLY one indicted and tried for the Lufthansa Heist. I was being held for bank robbery charges in Brooklyn MDC at the same time as Vinnie, after the feds denied him bail when they accused him of trying to arrange the murder of a prosecutor in an arson case he was accused of. Usually when the feds have you, you're done. But not this time. Vinnie beat the charges at trial. He was a good guy and we were more than happy to see him beating the feds.
Vinnie assaro was made feds wasn't
It could be interpreted that jimmy only changed his mind about who would do the hit, not changing his mind about the hit itself. He decided that it should be tommy and not henry to do it- possibly due to henrys regard for morrie and or the fact that henry had never been a hit man like tommy was.
Wow. I love this channel. It always finds a new perspective and potential motives I never even considered. Brilliant stuff.
Love this kind of shit man nice video. Another scene that I love (that u mentioned) is the Johnny Roast Beef scene. I think it's the actual moment that Jimmy realizes just how much of a liability his crew is, and it's the moment that proves that Jimmy is a psychopath. I love the way the scene lingers, even after Johnny apologizes several times. Jimmy even calms down, lowers his voice, changes his tone and says "Johnny, what's the matter with you?" and I think he reacts this way because he's genuinely confused. He's not interested in publicly shaming Johnny, he's just bewildered. It's like he's thinking "How could you be so stupid? Don't you understand I have to kill you now? Are you suicidal? I don't get it!" What Jimmy didn't understand was that these guys thought they could get away with disobeying him bc they were counting on him having some kind of compassion since "they're pals"...Jimmy doesn't have "pals". The only people he trusts are Henry and Tommy, since he basically groomed them from childhood with the #1 rule being "never rat on your friends" (#2: "keep your mouth shut." kinda redundant ala Fight club, but helps get the point across). His relationship with Paulie is strictly business. I'm pretty sure the only dialogue between them is when Paulie introduces Jimmy to Henry, and when Jimmy pays him. Anyways, when Carbone and his new-fir-coat-wearin wife come in it just kinda seals the deal. Love the way he throws his hands up and looks up; totally frustrated that he's surrounded by idiots.
Excellent take. I wondered if Henry just said he wasnt involved as well.
I’m not gonna lie I liked Maury, but he was so annoying. I honestly got it. I really thought Jimmy ended Maury because he had just gotten on his last nerve.
Fantastic video, as usual! Btw, at 02:09 - it’s pronounced RANKOUR, with a hard C.
Keep up the good work!
He might have also talked to Tommy about it before and if he decided not to “do it”, he’d tell Tommy on the way out to the car.
One thing about this film that has never sat right with me is the premise that Henry was in the mob for years and never once killed anyone. Having no blood on his hands would have always made him a threat to rat on the others, and he would have been distrusted like a clean cop surrounded by dirty ones.
It's based on true events, from the mouth of Henry Hill, why would he snitch oh himself.
Henry Hill was an earner
It was Jimmy Burke's intention of whacking everyone associated with the Lufthansa heist once the cops found the van used in the heist that Stacks Edwards failed to get crushed, especially Morrie who was a expecting a 10% commission or roughly 600K for tipping off Jimmy about the heist. Burke also knew it was only a matter of time before guys got greedy and were more likely to get pinched when they started spending big, drawing a lot of heat from the Feds. Goodfella's paints Henry Hill as some sort of peacemaking saint but he wasn't, in one of his last interviews with Howard Stern, Hill claims he whacked three guys on the orders of Paul Vario, which was conveniently left out of the film!
Henry hill is a liar
"Remember that points shaving we did up at that college?"
Tommy killed Maurie on his own on the spur of the moment, just like Tommy killed the bartender kid. Jimmy immediately expresses dissapointment about both killings as soon as they happen.
That is my take as well. Not sure why everyone else is saying Jimmy arranged it.
CineRanter. Your analytical abilities are absolutely incredible. Not just with this topic, but all of the topics I have viewed with your videos so far. Your talent with connecting dots i.e., piecing together known, facts in conjunction with logical conjecture, paints a clear picture of unseen events which I would heavily wager is absolutely true. ChatGPT can't hold a candle to you.
Thank you kind sir
At the overall organizational strategic level, the constant murders of their own make no sense for someone as intelligent as Jimmy. He has a crew of guys who have worked for/with him, and instead of managing them for future use he kills them all. It's really short sighted. A lot of the guys have been working together for years with varying levels of trust. It is also dangerous. All it takes is for one relatively intuitive guy to say, well they are going to kill me anyway(before they can get to him), and goes after Jimmy. Yes, Jimmy is "protected" but if one of them figures it's me or him why not go for the preemptive murder. In the end, it all does come full circle, but takes time which is why IMHO Jimmy is not really that smart.
Ur point is valid but Jimmy wasn't made remember him and Henry were part Irish high earner for the organization absolutely but not "made"
As far as whacking the crew of the hiest they d I d dumb things he didn't have a choice
Definitely have to watch y Jimmy didn't get whacked for the Billy bats
@@ralphwilliams2396 I disagree. They didn't all do dumb things. If you read the written up account, and not just go by the movie, he liquidated the entire crew except his closest friends whether they went on spending sprees or not.
The way his wig comes off while Jimmy has got him with the telephone cable always cracks me up.
Interesting. I was always a little confused by that part of the film. I always assumed the most likely explanation was that Tommy killed Morrie on a whim just to shut him up.
I always took it as if he just wanted to make Henry think that he had changed his mind. He knew Henry was against it, he didn't want to make Henry paranoid etc
Because a ball breaker
Love your essay. I will rewatch.
As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a RUclips commenter .
Who wouldn't want to kill Maury? He was annoying as hell.
Great video. I think ultimately, Henry was visibly anxious and Jimmy put him at ease, as to not spook Morrie.
As for what happened in real life, I highly doubt Henry had anything to do with it. The Henry Hill you see in interviews is very different than the handsome and charismatic Ray Liotta. He was more of a wannabe and a hanger-on. A little pathetic. Plus, since he was never going to be made, he had no obligation to "make his bones," so I really doubt Henry Hill ever killed anyone.
I saw it as Jimmy let him off for that day but Tommy killed him because he also found him annoying.
Henry was there; did they not take out the Shah a few scenes before? Jimmy was comfortable with Henry being around when he took out people.
The mob likes to use guys like Henry to put a hard target at easy; because guys like Henry are not hitters or involved with hits.
Morrie in the movie is played to be a dumb guy, but maybe the real Morrie was not that dumb and knew Jimmy and Tommy's reputation and was avoiding them. Jimmy used Henry to make Morrie relax and to think nothing was going to happen if he meet with Jimmy.
Morris' wig really held on when Tommy impaled that scratch awl into the back of his head, and no danishes for Belle
Because he was greedy and thought Henry's upright behavior would make Maury realize what was up that night. I hated seeing Maury being murdered I liked him and Belle.
I sort of agree, he sort of suspected that Henry might try to protect Maury somehow. He also knew Henry liked Maury so he spared him having to be present. There is no way Henry would've interfered if he was present, he'd have just been upset by it.
This was a great breakdown of the scenario!
I always got the feeling that Morrie was going to get killed. I assumed that Jimmy said "don't worry about it" to put his friends mind at ease for whatever reason.
There is no way that happened in real life.
No way what happened in real life? All these killings definitely DID happen in real life, just different names.
He left Henry out of the Lufthansa heist too. And in real life, he handed Tommy Desimone over to John Gotti for killing Ronnie Jerothe.
The movie made it out like it was for killing William Bentvena(Batts), but Jerothe was like a son to Gotti, which is why they never found him.
I've been told that they went to work on him for a couple of days breaking his arms, legs, ribs, and jaw.
Then they took him out to the deepest part of the Long Island Sound, chained him to an anchor and castrated him before dropping him in the water alive.
You saying "Morry was one of the Lufthansa crew who needed to get payed PLUS HE WAS ANNOYING" The last part was the funniest part of this video 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I mean also the way you said it 😄😄 by the way vety well made video and great channel !
I always saw it as Jimmy only held off killing Morrie straight up because of respect for his friendship with Henry. Then at some point Jimmy had just had enough of Morrie and chose a moment to get rid of him when no one else expected it.
Morrie overrated what he considered to be his leverage over Jimmy. Unbeknownst to Morrie, Jimmy's leverage was his own cunning and far smarter personality. Morrie was never in a position of advantage, and Jimmy knew this.
Great and much needed analysis. Keep up the great work!
When Morries wig falls off when he’s choking him with the phone cord is hysterical
Another Banger from Cineranter 🧨
I thought it tied in to Henry’s line earlier “that’s how it happens. That’s how fast it takes for a guy to get whacked.” Jimmy was thinking about killing Morrie, then he relaxed and had a good night and figured it wasn’t worth the hassle of killing him (after all, killing was like work for these guys). But then Morrie, not knowing how close he already was to getting whacked, went ahead and basically talked Jimmy into killing him. Tommy most likely knew what Jimmy wanted as soon as he invited Morrie to come with them to the diner, instead of trying to duck Morrie like he normally did.
I was always confused about this because as soon as he said “forget about tonight” Morie is killed anyway. But now I think I know it’s because he only changed his mind on including Henry on the hit
Dude I love your vids. Very insightful
Maybe Jimmy changed his mind about getting Henry involved in the killing, or where and how it was to happen?
3:43 the wig coming off was unintentional, and Ray Liotta's reaction was genuine.
That DeNiro stare while smoking is probably the most scariest in cinematic history.
I always figured it was a subtle message to Henry that Jimmy was in control of the pace, paralleled again by Paulie reminding Jimmy of the same principle in taking out Tommy.
I love your video intro sound of Joe Pesci making sounds! LOL
he might have thought senseless killing would be useless
Agreed, I also thought that Morrie was making him laugh at the card table and, simply changed Jimmy's attitude/mood.
I have always wondered about this myself. I just assumed that Tommy either didn't get the word that the hit had been cancelled and went ahead with it, or never even knew Jimmy had planned the hit specifically for that night and just decided to do it himself, out of the blue. I interpreted the killing to symbolize how random and abrupt violence was in their world. (If Jimmy just wanted Henry to go home so as not to be involved in the hit, why would he have told him about it to begin with?)
"forgot about tonight"
I was under the impression that Jimmy wasn't going to involve Henry into it.
He wanted Henry to think he changed his mind about killing that pain in the ass, end of story!
Or Henry lied about it
Thank You for addressing this I got so tired of trying to explain to people why the hit was never off and it was all about Jimmy cutting Henry loose because he knew Henry and his wife were friends with Morrie and his wife and he already knew Henry didn't want to kill his friend, this why he told him not to worry about tonight. So many people argued saying " No no no no, Morrie talked Jimmy back into it, " and they didn't want to hear that it was Jimmy's plan all along to whack Morrie and that he was just cutting henry lose. Now that this has been brought up here. I'm hoping this video finally lays to rest the stupid argument that Jimmy had ever changed his mind.
I'd always thought he was telling Henry it was off for two reasons, 1) so Henry wouldn't try to change his mind about it and 2) to give Henry plausibly deniability to say "I don't know what happened to him." However #2 seems like a long shot since Jimmy didn't really care about anyone.
Jimmy was 100% lying to Henry when he said it wasn’t going down. That put Henry at ease and he went home. It was setup in such a way as to also surprise the audience with how evil these people really are.
Although the theory of Henry leaving himself out of the hit is interesting. Especially since we already know that Henry was laughing when Jimmy was choking Morrie with a phone cord.
Morie's execution is done in another scene where Henry is not present, I thought, was to avoid incriminating Henry. There is no statue of limitations on murder in the USA. So it would seem Henry was there but can't say so to avoid incriminating himself.
I love your input, I also see that scene as the scene he added henry to the list, which is why we have the scene where jimmy tries to lure Karen into the warehouse, Karen was going to be a warning to Henry