The Workaday Gangster

Workaday Gangster, The (2004)

*** (out of 4)

A good, ten-minute documentary that can be found on the Special Edition release of Martin Scorsese's GOODFELLAS. Henry Hill, the real wise guy that the film and book were based on, talks about what it was like getting up each day not knowing if it was going to be your last. Hill shares plenty of memories about the real life events and talks about how accurate Scorsese got them in the actual film. Also on hand is executive producer Barbara DeNFina who questions whether or not the lives of a wise guy was actually better than the so called "suckers", as they'd call them, who actually went to a normal job each day. Nicholas Pileggi, Paul Sorvino and Frank Vincent also share their opinions on the lifestyle and what it must be like living that way. Scorsese appears in an archival interview and tells a rather funny story that seems so true. THE WORKADAY GANGSTER is a fairly good featurette that is nice because you get to hear from the real guy that was behind the story. It's certainly nothing ground-breaking and there's no question that it could have been longer but for what it is the thing is worth watching.

This is one of the four documentaries found on the second DVD of the 2-Disc release of Goodfellas. It consists of interviews with actors, Scorsese, Pileggi, Hill and the executive producer, well-selected and nicely used film clips, and a couple of still photographs, with all faces not belonging to Henry being blurred out, not dissimilar to the removing of certain names in the commentary track he is one half of(the other person being one of the feds, the one who also appears in the movie). The people talk about what it's like to be a gangster, their life-style, their way of thinking and their "workday", much of it relating to how it's put up on the screen in the title. There are certainly interesting things said, and the eight minutes pass about as fast as they can without the viewer feeling cheated. This is well-paced and the editing is good. It comes with subtitles. There is some use of strong language, but considering the subject, it could have been considerably worse. This holds bloody and brutal violence, and disturbing content. I recommend this to anyone who wants to know more about organized crime. 6/10