slicing garlic with a razor

 

Frank Vincent -- The Sopranos; Goodfellas

Speaking of Goodfellas -- a movie based on the true story of Henry Hill -- when I put his picture with Ray Liotta on yesterday's post here, I thought - I hope people don't get a negative impression, like I'm "glorifying" a Mafia person -- and Ray Liotta glorifying him by having a photo taken side by-side:  for clarification's sake, when the photo was taken with the two of them, Mr. Hill had already served his time -- had "paid his debt to society."

        I'm assuming when they have done that -- served their time -- and are let out, that they are allowed to go ahead and live a normal life.  Meet Ray Liotta and have his picture taken with him, if he gets the chance....

I didn't mean to glorify him, or crime, I just found the picture and thought, Well that's interesting -- there's the real guy.  That's what he looked like.

        (spoiler alert -- although you can know this and still enjoy the film) -- 

at the end of Goodfellas when Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) is in Witness Protection and lives somewhere in the Midwest, his voice-over narration tells us what he misses most is "The Life."  He says, "can't even get decent food here, last night I ordered spaghetti with Marinara sauce -- I got egg noodles and ketchup."

        I don't know why, but that struck me as really funny, even the first time I saw it which was on cable TV sometime in the '90s, and I wasn't that into it.

        I think I wasn't in the mood for a Mafia movie at that moment, but watched it anyway.  I realized, "Yes, this is good."

        At that time -- the '90s -- The Sopranos had not yet been created and put onto HBO.  So, the actors I recognized in Goodfellas the first time were -- Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Robert DeNiro, and sort of Paul Sorvino.

        Watching Goodfellas now, having been through all six seasons of The Sopranos, it's -- Hey!  Another actor from The Sopranos!

Michael Imperioli

Frank Vincent

Tony Sirico

Lorraine Bracco

Vinny Pastore

Joseph R. Gannascoli

A lot of overlap, actor-wise, between the Martin Scorsese feature film and the David Chase television series....

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