Chapter 1 of 28 · 2'18"
The film opens on Henry Hill's voiceover: "being a gangster was better than being president of the United States." On the surface it's a kid admiring the men on his block; underneath, it's the whole movie's promise — that the neighborhood's real power belongs to the ones who break the rules.
❝ Monologue · 10 lines Henry Watches the Gangsters
Paulie Doesn't Move for Anybody
Henry Hill narrates his childhood in Brooklyn, remembering how he looked up to the men around the cabstand before he even had a job. They parked wherever they liked, ran card games all night, and answered to no one. Henry says he knew he belonged with them, and that it made him the luckiest kid in the world.
The opening is a sales pitch Henry is making to himself. He lists what power looks like on his block: "They double parked in front of a hydrant, nobody ever gave them a ticket," and "In the summer, when they played cards all night, nobody ever called the cops." To a boy from a working-poor family, that isn't crime; it's freedom and status. He says it plainly: "To me, it meant being somebody in a neighborhood full of nobodies." The father approves of the job because he thinks American kids are spoiled and lazy, and the mother is thrilled the Ciceros come from her part of Sicily. Both parents nudge him toward the men without seeing what they are. Henry's line "I was the luckiest kid in the world" is the voice of a child who has already decided the rules don't apply to him.
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
“being a gangster was better than being president of the United States.”
A child states his ambition flatly and flips the American dream on its head.
Informal
“To me, it meant being somebody in a neighborhood full of nobodies.”
The pairing of somebody and nobodies sums up a whole neighborhood's ambition.
Neutral
“but it was only because Paulie didn't have to move for anybody.”
His slowness is not weakness but proof that no one can make him hurry.
Neutral
“I was the luckiest kid in the world.”
A kid sums up belonging as pure luck, and the whole neighborhood becomes his world.
Informal
To me... being a gangster was better than being president of the United States. Even before I first wandered into the cabstand for an after school job... I knew I wanted to be a part of them. It was there that I knew I belonged. To me, it meant being somebody in a neighborhood full of nobodies. They weren't like anybody else. They did whatever they wanted. They double parked in front of a hydrant, nobody ever gave them a ticket. In the summer, when they played cards all night... nobody ever called the cops.
GoodFellas: your progress
Chapter 1 of 28 · about 91 min to go
Up next · 02take a beatingThe scene: Young Henry Gets Beaten and RecruitedThey have money, respect and total freedom: they park where they like, run card games, and nobody calls the cops. To Henry, that looks like being somebody in a neighborhood full of nobodies.
It means standing out and having status in a place where most people have none. Henry wants to be noticed and feared rather than ordinary.
His father thinks American kids are spoiled and lazy and likes that Henry is working; his mother is happy the Ciceros come from her part of Sicily. Neither sees what the men really do.
Paulie is the boss of the neighborhood and Tuddy's brother. He runs the local rackets, moves slowly, and never has to hurry for anyone, a sign of how much power he holds.
It is the film's ironic opening. In Henry's neighborhood, the gangsters have more visible power and freedom than any elected leader, and that is what he grew up admiring.
