“Goodfellas” actor Ray Liotta passed away this week @ the age of 67. I was a bit surprised. I’d never seen Ray Liotta in a bad film role, so his passing just caught me by surprise. Wise guys are scarce these days, or at least when left to their own devices? When someone of this acting ability passes away it does warrant recognition. Ray Liotta had been on my radar screen ever since I saw him in this film over and over, at least 35 times? This movie, “Goodfellas” is one of the few I have ever rated as high as a 4.8-4.9 out of 5.0? The film was based on a powerful novel written under the title of “Wise Guys”, and includes several actual events involving the New York mob. The largest theft in history occurred in the 1970’s, the $5 million dollar grand theft of a Lufthansa flight out of Germany which landed @ JFK Airport in New York creates the back drop for arguably one of the best films ever made.
Since this film debuted in 1990 I have seen Ray Liotta appear in a few films, and never was I disappointed, always liking his contributions. Even when the script didn’t rank that of “Goodfellas” caliber, in movie titles such as “Powder Blue” for example, Ray was still quite flawless. Some actors/actresses have that ability where they become more than life-like on screen, very convincing/believable in their character roles. This best describes the work of Ray Liotta. Watch this exchange from two great actors below, Liotta and Pesci – Joe Pesci won his very first academy award for his work as “Tommy DeVito” in “Goodfellas”; of course in order to get the full effect of this brief footage you would want to see the background which led up to any of these scenes… Ray Liotta, until next time Sir, Toast!
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