Why Goodfellas Left Out Parts Of Karen Hill’s True Story
The 1990 film Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Ray Liotta, tells the story of Henry Hill and parts of the story of his wife, Karen Friedman Hill. However, there is an important aspect of Karen’s story that the movie leaves out. According to Henry Hill’s memoir Gangsters and Goodfellas, while he was in jail, Tommy DeSimone beat up and attempted to rape Karen, but she was having an affair with Paul Vario at the time. After learning what Tommy did, Paul allegedly had Tommy killed.
This affair was not included or mentioned in Goodfellas, but it was subtly referenced in the scene where Paulie and Jimmy confront Henry about him cheating on Karen. Paulie’s line, “I know how to talk to her, especially her,” was seen as a subtle reference to the real-life affair between him and Karen.
The reason why this aspect of Karen’s story was left out of Goodfellas could be because this is the story of Henry, not her. Including Karen’s affair with Paulie would not have really added to the plot and would have taken away the mystery surrounding Tommy’s death.
Goodfellas leaves out other key elements, including John Gotti’s part in the story and what happens after the film ends. In reality, Henry Hill was eventually kicked out of the witness protection program for telling too many people who he was. This could have been an interesting way to end the story, as it emphasizes Hill’s inability to leave the gangster life behind.
Overall, Goodfellas is a gripping account of the real-life activities of mob figures, but it makes some changes and leaves out some key details to make for a streamlined and effective story.