Goodfellas is widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, particularly in the gangster genre. Additionally, Goodfellas was named the year's best film by various critics' groups. The film won five awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, including Best Film and Best Director. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, with Pesci winning for Best Supporting Actor. Goodfellas received widespread acclaim upon release: the critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes calls it 'arguably the high point of Martin Scorsese's career'. The film was made on a budget of $25 million and grossed $47 million. Goodfellas premiered at the 47th Venice International Film Festival on September 9, 1990, where Scorsese was awarded with Silver Lion for Best Director, and was released in the United States on September 19, 1990, by Warner Bros. The director made transcripts of these sessions, took the lines he liked most and put them into a revised script, which the cast worked from during principal photography. According to Pesci, improvisation and ad-libbing came out of rehearsals wherein Scorsese gave the actors freedom to do whatever they wanted. To prepare for their roles in the film, De Niro, Pesci and Liotta often spoke with Pileggi, who shared research material left over from writing the book. Scorsese initially titled the film Wise Guy and postponed making it he and Pileggi later changed the title to Goodfellas. Starring Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco and Paul Sorvino, the film narrates the rise and fall of mob associate Henry Hill and his friends and family from 1955 to 1980. It is a film adaptation of the 1985 nonfiction book Wiseguy by Pileggi. Goodfellas (stylized GoodFellas) is a 1990 American biographical crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler.

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