Goodfellas Named Top Film

As reported by the Scotsman, Total Film Magazine has named Goodfellas as its top film . Some excerpts from the article:

Total Film magazine, which compiled the list, said: "Goodfellas has it all - story, dialogue, performances, technique. It is slick, arguably the slickest film ever made. But it is also considered, layered and freighted with meaning."

The Godfather: Part II, another film that has topped countless movie polls, is fifth.

The Scotsman's film critic, Alistair Harkness, hailed Goodfellas as a "perfect combination of material, director and story". He said: "It is so visceral and exciting. It's a modern classic and that's why people love it so much. It tends to be at the top of most people's lists of modern movies anyway, so I'm not surprised.

However, he picked Fight Club as his personal favourite in a list that is destined to reopen a thousand bar-room debates. "It summed up a moment in time, that pre-millennium era, in a similar way as The Graduate did in the Sixties," he said.

Nicola Hay, the programmer of the Edinburgh Film Guild, the UK's oldest film society, said she was disappointed in the overall selection. "While no-one can begrudge Scorsese the accolades his career so richly deserves, looking at this list, it is disappointing to note the overabundance of modern American product and the dearth of British film and world cinema," she said. "As to whether Goodfellas is the best film ever made, I personally don't think so. Some of the others in the top ten definitely aren't that fantastic, such as The Empire Strikes Back and The Lord of the Rings trilogy."

Goodfellas stars Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of the terrifying character Tommy DeVito.

The story revolves around a real-life gangster, Henry Hill, who "ratted out" his Mafia buddies in 1980 and has lurked in the federal witness protection programme ever since. Despite this, Hill has appeared on US television and radio shows and even written the best-selling Wiseguy Cookbook, featuring his favourite Italian recipes.