The Irishman and Goodfellas are two of Martin Scorsese’s biggest crime thrillers, and it is interesting that the most recent of the two has the perfect, and grim, callback to the other. Scorsese’s list of movies runs wide, and what is impressive is just how many of those are near-perfect releases. Well, it is true that he is one of the best directors of all time.
When watching movies of his like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, and many more, it is easy to see how Scorsese just has a hold of thrillers and/or how to bring the tension when it matters the most. While other famous directors that have helmed some of the best movies of all time have faltered in recent years, some being Scorsese’s peers, he remains putting out quality content.
In recent years, Scorsese has directed movies like Killers of the Flower Moon and The Irishman, two intense crime movies that come with a wide array of stars. Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Jesse Plemons, Brendan Fraser, and many other talented actors appeared in the films. Killers of the Flower Moon received 10 Oscar nominations, the same as The Irishman.
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As such, Scorsese keeps firing on all cylinders. The Netflix crime thriller movie, The Irishman, also comes as the perfect project to connect with the director’s previous work in themes, tone, cast, and more. It boasts many Scorsese collaborators, including Goodfellas actors like De Niro and Pesci, but its best callback to that movie comes in its opening scene.
The Irishman’s Opening Scene Explained
Netflix’s The Irishman opens with a dark sequence that is filled with palpable regret and melancholy. The crime thriller’s opening sequence features a slow tracking shot that moves through a nursing home, and the viewer sees how some of the elderly there are being visited by their families, interacting with other residents, or the staff. The camera eventually makes its way to De Niro’s older Frank Sheeran, who is sitting in a wheelchair next to an empty table by himself. After a beat, where he is thinking about his past, Frank starts talking directly to the camera, explaining how he used to “paint houses.”
That is just code for his work as a hitman for the mafia. Through The Irishman‘s opening sequence, Scorsese skillfully explains everything there is to know about who the character is and the life he has lived. The use of the slow tracking shot and the difference between Frank’s demeanor and how the other elderly residents are going about their day at the nursing home help cement that the kind of life he led, working for the mafia, is a solitary and dark path that leads to old age, isolation and regret. There is absolutely no glamour to it.
How The Irishman’s Opening Sequence Connects To Scorsese’s Goodfellas
The way The Irishman begins telling the story of De Niro’s Frank Sheeran goes directly against the opening sequence of Goodfellas. In that iconic crime thriller, Scorsese chose to start with a bang, as three mobsters repeatedly stab and shoot an injured man so that they can bury the corpse and be done with it. The brutal scene immediately jumps to an energetic song as Ray Liotta’s Henry Hill narrates, saying, “As far back as I could remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.”
Goodfellas starts with a brutal scene, but tackling the notion of the empowerment that comes from being a gangster as the narration looks back at Henry’s life, which is the direct opposite of what Scorsese would do years later in The Irishman. The Netflix crime thriller focuses on the loneliness of old age for a mafia member, while Goodfellas is all about the splendor that can come with gangsters in their prime. As such, The Irishman offers the darkest possible callback to Goodfellas.
