MovieChat Forums > Goodfellas (1990) Discussion > He never knew how close he was to gettin...

He never knew how close he was to getting killed...


I never understood this line, since Maury does end up getting killed that night. If its to misdirect the audience. it makes no sense since that would be breaking the third wall which this movie doesn't do.

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Jimmy lied to Henry

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I think it was poorly constructed by Scorsese to have him killed only seconds after having Morrie spared, supposedly. This part always bugged me.

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it's to misdirect Henry

Jimmy could see that Henry wasn't up to the task of outright whacking Morrie, so he told Henry to forget about it

In reality, Jimmy just arranged to have Tommy do the deed instead; just made things easier that way

I don't think it was poorly constructed so much as a deliberate misdirection of the audience by Scorcese and of Henry by Jimmy

The point was to show how ruthless Jimmy really was and how stupid Morrie really was. It also served to confirm the extent to which murder had become just routine business for these guys. Henry didn't want to kill Morrie and may have believed Jimmy didn't either. Nonetheless, when Belle (Morrie's wife) came over to their house that night, Henry IMMEDIATELY knew what had happened.

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It still doesn't make sense since Henry is narrating in past tense. He knew he gets killed so the line makes no sense.

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I get it, now. But I think it's legitimately past tense because he's describing his own state of mind at that moment:

"It was like a load off my mind. Poor bastard never knew how close he'd come to getting killed. Even if I told him he would've never believed me."

Henry was just relating his thoughts at the card table, not what happened afterwards. It makes sense in that regard, but I still agree that it's purposely deceptive on Scorcese's part.

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There is a picture hanging directly behind Henry in this scene. Check it out. Foreshadowing at its finest.

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The photo of Luis Firpo knocking Jack Dempsey out of the ring?

What's it foreshadowing?

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LiquidOcelot whines:

I never understood this line, since Maury does end up getting killed that night. If its to misdirect the audience. it makes no sense since that would be breaking the third wall which this movie doesn't do.

You don't understand a lot if your posts are any indication. You're a complete failure. Even at trolling.

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Lol pathetic sock puppet account, I must've reamed you on another board.

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When Jimmy whispered to Henry "forget about tonight" he really meant it. They were all sitting around laughing, and Jimmy was in such good spirits that night. It wasn't until afterwards when Maury started breaking his balls again about the money. Maury would have lived had he finally kept his mouth shut

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I don't think he did break his balls again that night unless you're referring to something that happened off camera which would be conjecture.

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I think that's inconclusive at best. In the scene when they go to the car and he gets whacked, it must have been decided before that point because Tommy wasn't even given any sort of OK to do it during that scene. Either it's decided off camera some time during that evening or Jimmy always planned to take Maury out, and he's just trying to not involve Henry. It's probably the latter and Scorsese is reemphasising the two faced nature of the mob life.

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It's obvious something was decided off camera before they all showed up at the club. We don't get to see what happens from the time everyone is laughing to when they exit the place. In the meantime Jimmy could've told Tommy to leave it alone unless Maury brought it up again, then boom Maury does just that and Jimmy's entire demeanor changes. He seemed to be in awe like " I don't believe it, is the guy fucking kidding me "

The scene can be somewhat confusing, but that is always how I interpreted it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elrIcMX3yNI

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Which wall is the third one?

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