Goodfellas (1990) · 81 quotes
3rd most-quoted character in Goodfellas (1990): in 15 of its 81 quotes
Most scenes with: Henry Hill (5)
It was like he had two families. The first time I was introduced to all of them at once, it was crazy. Paulie and his brothers had lots of sons and nephews. And almost all of them were named Peter or Paul. It was unbelievable. There must have been two dozen Peters and Pauls at the wedding. Plus, they were all married to girls named Marie. And they named all their daughters Marie. By the time I finished meeting everybody, I thought I was drunk.
Karen Hill I couldn't stand him. I thought he was really obnoxious. He kept fidgeting around. Before it was even time to go home he was pushing me into the car and then pulling me out. It was ridiculous. But Diane and Tommy made us promise to meet them again on Friday night. We agreed. Of course when Friday night came around, Henry stood me up. We were a trio instead of a double date that night.
Karen Hill One night, Bobby Vinton sent us champagne. There was nothing like it. I didn't think there was anything strange in any of this. You know, a twenty-one-year-old kid with such connections. He was an exciting guy. He was really nice. He introduced me to everybody. Everybody wanted to be nice to him. And he knew how to handle it.
Karen Hill I know there are women, like my best friends, who would have gotten out of there the minute their boyfriend gave them a gun to hide. But I didn't. I got to admit the truth. It turned me on.
Karen Hill Well, we weren't married to nine-to-five guys, but the first time I realized how different was when Mickey had a hostess party. They had bad skin and wore too much make-up. 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. But that the kids still didn't pay any attention. After a while, it got to be all normal. None of it seemed like crimes. It was more like Henry was enterprising and that he and the guys were making a few bucks hustling, while the other guys were sitting on their asses waiting for hand-outs. 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.
Karen Hill There was always a little harrassment. They always wanted to talk to Henry about this or that. They'd come in with their subpoenas and warrants and make me sign. But mostly they were just looking for a handout, a few bucks to keep things quiet, no matter what they found.
Karen Hill We always did everything together and we always were in the same crowd. Anniversaries, christenings. We only went to each other's houses. The women played cards, and when the kids were born, Mickey and Jimmy were always the first at the hospital. And when we went to the Islands or Vegas to vacation, we always went together. No outsiders, ever. It got to be normal. It got to where I was even proud that I had the kind of husband who was willing to go out and risk his neck just to get us the little extras.
Karen Hill Something's going on! I look in your face and I know that you're lying! Get out of my life! You're a lousy bastard! Go to your ready-made whores! That's all you're good for! Get out of my life! I can't stand you!
Karen Hill This is Karen Hill, I want to talk to you. Hello? Don't hang up on me. I want to talk to you. You keep away from my husband, you understand me? Hello? Answer me! I'm going to tell everybody that walks in this building that in 2R, Rossi, you're nothing but a whore! [gets on phone] Is this the superintendent?... Yes, sir, I would like you to know that you have a whore living in 2R. Rossi, Janice Rossi. He's my husband. Get your own god damn man!
Karen Hill But still I couldn't hurt him. How could I hurt him? I couldn't even bring myself to leave him. The truth was that no matter how bad I felt I was still very attracted to him. Why should I give him to someone else? Why should she win?
Karen 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 What do you do?
I'm in construction.
Karen They don't feel like you're in construction.
Ah, I'm a union delegate.
Karen 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]
Karen 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.
Karen 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.
Karen 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.
Guard Mrs. Hill, this way. Sign this book, please.
Henry Hill
Janice Rossi
Visitor's center
What are you talking about?
Karen I saw her name in the register.
Jesus Christ.
Karen You want her to visit you? Let her stay up all night, crying and writing letters to the parole board.
What am I doing here? Where am I? I'm in jail. I can't stop people from coming to see me.
Karen Good. Let her sneak this stuff in for you every week. [Karen dangles a bag of illegal drugs in front him] Let her fight these bastards every week!
Look what you're doing! Stop it!
Karen I'm sorry. Let her sneak this shit in for you.
Will you stop it, Karen? Will you stop it?
Karen Let her do it! Let her do it!
STOP IT!!!
Karen Nobody is helping me. I am all alone. Belle and Morrie are broke. I asked your friend Remo for the money that he owes you, you know what he told me? He told me to take my kids down to the police station and get on welfare.
Karen, It's going to be okay.
Karen Yeah? Even Paulie, since he got out, I never seen him. I never see anybody anymore.
It's only you and me. That's what happens when you go away. I told you that we're on our own. Forget everybody else. Forget Paulie. As long as he's on parole, he doesn't want anybody doing anything.
Karen I can't do it.
Yes, you can. Karen, Listen to me. All I need is for you to bring me this stuff. I got a guy in here from Pittsburgh who's gonna help me move it. Believe me, in a month we're gonna be fine. We won't need anybody.
Karen I'm afraid. I'm afraid if Paulie finds out...
What did I just say, Don't worry about him. He is not helping us out. Is he putting any food on the table? We've gotta help each other. We've just gotta-- Listen, We've gotta be really really careful while we do it.
Karen I don't want to hear a word about her anymore, Henry.
Never.
Henry's Children: Daddy! Oh, we missed you! Are you out here to stay? Did you see our pictures? I did the one with the house and the rainbow.
Karen, get packed, we're moving out of here.
Karen With what?
Don't worry with what. You just start looking for a new house, ok? I gotta go to Pittsburgh in the morning. Those guys out there they owe me 15 grand. We'll be all right, I got things lined up.
Karen Pittsburgh? You have to go see your parole officer tomorrow.
Karen, don't worry about it, everything's gonna be fine. Who wants to go to Uncle Paulie's?
I do not want any more of that shit.
What shit? What are you talking about?
Just stay away from the garbage, you know what I mean.
What-- Paulie..
I'm not talking about what you did inside, you did what you had to do. I'm talking about now. From now. Here and now.
Paulie why would I want to get into that?
Don't make a jerk outta me, just don't do it. Just don't do it. Now I wanna talk to you about Jimmy, you gotta watch out for him. He's a good earner but he's wild, takes too many chances.
I know Jimmy. You think I'd take chances like Jimmy?
And Tommy, he's a good kid too but he's crazy, he's a cowboy, he's got too much to prove. You gotta watch out for kids like this.
Yeah, I know what they are. I only use them for certain things.
Listen, I ain't gonna get **** like Gribbs, ya understand? The ****in' guy is 70 years old and he's gonna die in prison. I don't need that. So I’m warning everybody. Everybody. Could be my son, could be anybody. Gribbs got twenty years just for saying hello to some **** who was going behind his back selling junk. I don't need that. Ain't happening to me. You understand?
Uh-huh.
You know that you're only out early 'cause I got you a job, right? I don't need this heat, understand that? You see anybody **** around with this shit you're gonna tell me, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, of course.
It took me about a week of sneaking around before I could unload the Pittsburgh stuff, but when I did, it was a real score. I started using Sandy's place to mix the stuff and even with Sandy snorting more than she mixed, I could see that this was a really big business. I made $12,000 in my second week, I had a down payment on my house and things were really rolling. All I had to do every once-in-a-while was tell Sandy that I loved her. But it was perfect, I'm telling you. As long as I kept getting the stuff from Pittsburgh, I knew Paulie would never find out. Within a couple of weeks it got to be so big I needed some help. So I got Jimmy and Tommy to come in with me.
