Most scenes together: Henry Hill & Tommy DeVito (5), Henry Hill & Karen Hill (5), Henry Hill & Paulie Cicero (5)
Goodfellas quotes
Page 1 of 6If it's gonna make him a happy witness, a better witness, I'd like you to be with him. They're not gonna be able to get to him. The only way they can get to him is by getting to you. Or getting to your kids. Karen, I've listened to those wiretaps. And I've heard you on the telephone. You're talkin' about cocaine. Conversation after conversation you're talking to Henry on the phone. You're facing a lengthy prison sentence.
We're basically your only salvation. We're gonna save your life, we're gonna save his life. I'm gonna keep you out of jail.
What kind of people are these? He's not Jewish. Did you know how these people live? You don't know where he is. You don't know who he's with. Normal people don't act like this!
What am I, a schmuck on wheels?
But I'm worried, I mean, I'm hearin' all kinds a ****in' bad things. I mean he's treating me like I'm a ****in' half-a-**** or somethin'. I'm gonna wind up a lammist, I gotta go on the ****in' lam in order to get away from this guy? This ain't right, Paulie.
And then there was Jimmy Two Times, who got that nickname because he said everything twice, like:
I'm gonna go get the papers, get the papers.
In prison, dinner was always a big thing. We had a pasta course and then we had a meat or a fish. Paulie did the prep work, he was doing a year for contempt and he had this wonderful system for doing the garlic. He used a razor and used to slice it so thin that it used to liquify in the pan with just a little oil. It was a very good system. Vinny was in charge of the tomato sauce. I felt he used too many onions but it was still a very good sauce.
Vinny? Don’t put too many onions in the sauce.
I didn’t put too much onions, Paul. Three small onions that’s all I did, three onions.
How many cans of tomatoes did you put in there?
I put two cans! Two big cans.
You don’t need three onions.
Johnny Dio did the meat. We didn’t have a broiler so Johnny did everything in pans. And it used to smell up the joint something awful and the hacks used to die, but he still cooked a great steak.
Vinny? How do you like yours?
Rare. Medium rare.
Medium rare, hmm, an aristocrat.
See, you know, when you think of prison you get pictures in your mind of all those old movies with rows and rows of guys behind bars but it wasn’t like that for wise guys. It really wasn’t that bad. Except that I’d miss Jimmy. He was doing his time in Atlanta. I mean, everybody else in the joint was doing real time all mixed together living like pigs but we lived alone. I mean, we owned the joint. Even the hacks we couldn’t bribe would never rat on the guys that we did. [Enters the room with a sack of contraband] Sorry it took so long, that skinny guard’s getting to be a real pain in the ass
We’re gonna have to do something about that.
Naw, I took care of him.
What did you bring?
Bread. [tosses a loaf of bread to Paulie]
Good. Fresh.
Vinny, I got your peppers and onions. Salami, prosciutto, ‘lotta cheese.
Come on, come on, what else?
Scotch. [holds up a bottle of Scotch]
Nice.
Some red wine. [gives the bottle of red wine to Paulie]
Ok, now we can eat.
I got some white too.
Give me the white too. Beautiful. Ok, boys, let’s eat!
You **** up.
You know but I'm all right know. I can be trusted now, Paulie. I'm clean. On my kids, I'm clean.
You looked me in the eye and you lied to me. You treated me like a ****in' jerk; like I was never nothing to you.
Paulie, after what you said, I couldn't come to you. You know, I--I was ashamed. I--I'm ashamed now. But I got nowhere else to go, Paulie. You're all I've got and I need really, really need you help. I really do.
Take this.[pulls a wad of cash out of his pocket and hands it to Henry] Now I gotta turn my back on you.
3,200 bucks. That's what he gave me. 3,200 bucks for a lifetime. Wasn't even enough to pay for the coffin.
You're a pisser, you're really funny. You're really funny.
What do you mean I'm funny?
It's funny, you know. It's a good story, it's funny, you're a funny guy. [laughs]
what do you mean, you mean the way I talk? What?
It's just, you know. You're just funny, it's funny, the way you tell the story and everything.
Tommy no, You got it all wrong.
Oh, oh, Anthony. He's a big boy, he knows what he said. What did ya say? Funny how?
Just--
What?
Just, ya know, you're funny.
You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it's me, I'm a little **** up maybe, but I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to ****in' amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?
Just., you know, how you tell the story, what?
No, no, I don't know, you said it. How do I know? You said I'm funny. How the **** am I funny, what the **** is so funny about me? Tell me, tell me what's funny!
Ya mother****er! I almost had him, I almost had him. Ya stuttering prick, ya. Frankie, was he shaking? I wonder about you sometimes, Henry. You may fold under questioning.
Congratulations, here's your graduation present [Puts money in Henry's pocket]
For what? I got pinched.
Hey, everybody gets pinched, but you did it right. You told 'em nothing and they got nothing.
I thought you'd be mad.
I'm not mad, I'm proud of ya. You took your first pinch like a man, and you learned the two most important things in life. You listenin'? Never rat on your friends, and ALWAYS keep your mouth shut. [Gives Henry an affectionate light slap on the cheek and leads him out of the courtroom. Outside, Paulie and many of the other gangsters are waiting for him.]
Hey, you broke yer cherry! [The other gangsters cheer and congratulate Henry]
Well we weren't married to 9 to 5 guys but the first time I realized how different was when Mickey had a hostess party. They had bad skin and wore too much makeup I mean, they didn't look very good. They looked beat up. And the stuff they wore was thrown together and cheap. A lot of pant suits and double-knits. And they talked about how rotten their kids were and about beating them with broom handles and leather belts, that the kids still didn't pay any attention. When Henry picked me up I was dizzy. [later in her bedroom] I don't know, I don't know if i could live like that. God forbid, what would happen if you had to go to prison?
Karen! [laughs]
Vicki said that Jeannie's husband-
You know why Jeannie's husband went to the can? Because of Jeannie! Because he wanted to get away from her that's why! Let me tell you something; nobody goes to jail unless they want to. Unless they make themselves get caught. They don't have things organized. I know what I'm doing, I got things organized with these guys. You know who goes to jail? **** stick-up men, that's who. You know why they get caught? Because they fall asleep in the get-away car, Karen. Come on, don't worry so much sweetie. Come here.
After a while, it got to be all normal. None of it seemed like crime. It was more like Henry was enterprising, and that he and the guys were making a few bucks hustling, while all the other guys were sitting on their asses, waiting for handouts. Our husbands weren't brain surgeons, they were blue-collar guys. The only way they could make extra money, real extra money, was to go out and cut a few corners.
We were all so very close. I mean, there were never any outsiders around. Absolutely never. And being together all the time made everything seem all the more normal.
What do you do?
I'm in construction.
Ah, I'm a union delegate.
You've got some nerve standing me up. Nobody does that to me. Who the hell do you think you are, Frankie Vallie or some kind of big shot?
I remember, her screaming on the street and I mean loud, but she looked good. She had these great eyes. Just like Liz Taylor's. At least that's what I thought.
Karen came to the house. She's very upset. This is no good; you gotta straighten this out.
We gotta have calm now, ya understand? We don't know what the hell she's gonna do. She's getting all hysterical, she gets very excited.
She's wild. And you, you gotta take it easy, you got children. I'm not saying go back to her this minute, but you got to go back. It's the only way. You got to keep up appearances.
I got the two of them come to my house every day commiserating, the two of them. I can't have it. I can't have it. I can't do it, Henry. I can't do it.
Nobody says you can't do what you want to do.
Do what you wanna do, we all know that. I mean, this is what it is. Ok? You know what it is. You have to do the right thing, you have to go home to the family. Understand? You gotta go home. Ok? Look at me. You gotta go home. Smarten up. All right?
All right. I'm gonna talk to Karen. I'll straighten this thing out. I know just what to say to her. I'm gonna tell her you're going back to her and everything's gonna be just the way it was when you were first married, it's gonna be romance, it's gonna be beautiful. I know how to talk to her, especially to her. In the meantime, Jimmy and Tommy are going to Tampa this weekend to pick up something for me. Instead you go with Jimmy.
Yeah, you come with me. We'll go down there. Ok?
Have a good time, take some time for yourself, relax, sit in the sun, take a couple of days off. Enjoy yourselves. And when you come back, you'll go back to Karen. Please. There's no other way. You're not gonna get a divorce. We're not animale.
She'll never divorce him. She'll kill him, but not divorce him. [they laugh]