Always interesting to see the same story told from 2 entirely different perspectives. In Goodfellas Henry Hill and co are depicted as 'moviestars with muscle' who have a great time of it but pay the price through brutality, both that which they are forced to dole out in the course of their profession and that which they suffer at the hands of one another, your friends aren't your friends and will gladly slit your throat if they think there's $5 in it for them. In 'The Big Heist' they're depicted as a bunch of deadbeats for whom Jimmy was the undoubted brains and were floundering without him. They're also a lot less violent than they're depicted to be in Goodfellas, we see little of Tommy's famous explosive temper or Jimmy's cold-heartedness, indeed they both seem to be extremely reluctant to get any blood on their hands, Tommy trying to protect Stacks and Jimmy not hating Morrie. Another shock is that Henry Hill seems to be bisexual which is certainly a detail which he didn't put in his autobiography.
Some great disco music and seventies attention to detail and Donald Sutherland is very good in the central role. His Irish accent is a bit dodgy but then he's playing an Irish-American character rather than an actual Irishman so it should be a mishmash. Interestingly the actor who portrays Tommy is a lot more like the real person than Joe Pesci who made the role his own, a strapping six footer rather than a diminutive fireplug.
In the end of course this is a simple morality tale, the Lufthansa heist should have been the highpoint of their criminal careers and set them up for life but instead it tears them apart. Jimmy dies in prison, betrayed by Henry and with his friends and even his son either imprisoned or dead. The authorities may never have got the money back but ultimately crime doesn't pay.
Some great disco music and seventies attention to detail and Donald Sutherland is very good in the central role. His Irish accent is a bit dodgy but then he's playing an Irish-American character rather than an actual Irishman so it should be a mishmash. Interestingly the actor who portrays Tommy is a lot more like the real person than Joe Pesci who made the role his own, a strapping six footer rather than a diminutive fireplug.
In the end of course this is a simple morality tale, the Lufthansa heist should have been the highpoint of their criminal careers and set them up for life but instead it tears them apart. Jimmy dies in prison, betrayed by Henry and with his friends and even his son either imprisoned or dead. The authorities may never have got the money back but ultimately crime doesn't pay.
