Movie Quote of the Day (‘GoodFellas,’ on How the Mob Murders One of Its Own)

“If you’re part of a crew, nobody ever tells you that they’re going to kill you, doesn’t happen that way. There weren’t any arguments or curses like in the movies. See, your murderers come with smiles, they come as your friends, the people who’ve cared for you all of your life. And they always seem to come at a time that you’re at your weakest and most in need of their help.”—Longtime mobster-turned-informer Henry Hill (played by Ray Liotta), in GoodFellas, screenplay by Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorsese, directed by Martin Scorsese (1990)

The image accompanying this post shows Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito, thinking he was going to a celebration for himself. Oh, well!

Movie Quote of the Day (‘My Cousin Vinny,’ As 2 New Yawkers Try to Fit Into a Sleepy Southern Town)

[Inexperienced trial lawyer Vinny Gambini, with longtime fiancée Mona Lisa Vito annoyed by her ticking biological clock, has come to a conservative Southern town to defend a cousin and his friend from a murder charge.]

Mona Lisa Vito [played by Marisa Tomei]: [Vinny looks at her funny, taking in her black miniskirt and black leather jacket.] “What?”

Vinny Gambini [played by Joe Pesci]: “Nothing. You stick out like a sore thumb around here.”

Mona Lisa: “Me? What about you?”

Vinny: “I fit in better than you. At least I'm wearing cowboy boots.”

Mona Lisa: “Oh yeah, you blend.”— My Cousin Vinny (1992), screenplay by Dale Launer, directed by Jonathan Lynn

Thirty years ago today, My Cousin Vinny premiered. It wasn’t the most critically acclaimed movie, with one reviewer, Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman, describing it as “pure no-brain bunk.”

Just goes to show: Don’t believe the so-called “experts.”

The above dialogue demonstrates what a well-constructed “fish-out-of-water” comedy this is. But the interplay between Pesci and Tomei (winner of an unexpected Best Supporting Actress Oscar) shows why so many of us laugh helplessly every time we see it.

Rolling Stone’s Andy Greene offers an eye-opening oral history of the film—which, incidentally, premiered 30 years ago today. Among its revelations: one studio exec urged screenwriter Dale Launer to delete Mona Lisa Vito from his script; others strongly disputed casting Tomei in her career-making role; and yet another wanted to cast then-hot Andrew Dice Clay as Vinny.

Again: don’t believe the “experts”—at least, the ones who deal with movies.