Badfellas is a movie advertisement found in Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and mentioned in Grand Theft Auto Advance.
The Bad Fellas
In Grand Theft Auto Advance, if the player decides to kill the film actor Biff Rock in the mission Scorned Lover, the protagonist Mike will say "You shouldn't have cheated on Mary in Badfellas, Biff. Reap the reward!," stating that Biff Rock is an actor in the movie.
Badfellas is an obvious reference to the 1990 movie, Goodfellas which includes Ray Liotta, the voice of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City protagonist, Tommy Vercetti, as Henry Hill; Debi Mazar, who voices Maria, also appears in Goodfellas as Sandy; Frank Vincent, who voices Salvatore, appears in Goodfellas as the mobster "Billy Batts"; Samuel L. Jackson, who voices Frank Tenpenny, also appears in Goodfellas as Stacks Edwards.
BadfellasSeason 1Episode 17InformationAir dateApril 27, 2012Prod. code120Writer(s)Eric SchaarDavid J. BoothDirectorVictor GonzalezEpisode GuidePreviousNextGlue Dunnit: A Sticky SituationBeauty & the Beasts
This website and its content was created by EWG Action Fund. It is a parody of the 1990 Warner Bros. film, Goodfellas. The organizations, corporations and individuals portrayed on the site had no part in the production of this project. The statements contained herein reflect the opinions of EWG Action Fund and not necessarily the parties portrayed on the site unless otherwise cited.
Directed by Tony P. Pennino (whose Story of an Unknown Man is set for production this fall) the play runs at the Phil Bosakowski Theatre, 354 West 45th St. (between 8th and 9th) and will run until June 24. For tickets, call Smarttix at (212) 532-8887 or visit www.smarttix.com. For more info on the show, visit the Poor Fellas website at www.offbway.com/poorfellas.
Anybody who is at least halfway familiar with Scorsese films knows that they are nearly guaranteed to have quite a bit of cursing in them. To be specific, Goodfellas has 300 f-bombs, which is slightly less than another Scorsese classic, Casino.
Badfellas (published in the US under its original (French) title, Malavita -- another name for the Mafia, as well as the name of the family dog) has an entertaining premise: when American Mafia clan boss Giovanni Manzoni turned state's evidence and helped take down three east coast gang leaders he became the Mafia's most wanted, a stool pigeon they would do anything to catch. With a twenty million dollar bounty on his head, even the witness protection program was hard-pressed to offer adequate protection for him and his family -- so eventually they figured the only safe place to stow him away was in Europe. Not Italy -- his first and preferred choice -- but France. For several years the Blakes -- as the family is now called -- have lived in France, and the novel opens with them relocating to the quiet Normandy town of Cholong-sur-Avre. Giovanni is now Frederick -- Fred. He has a wife, Maggie, and they have two kids: now seventeen year-old Belle, and fourteen year-old Warren. Also a constant presence: the FBI, across the street, following them and their every move (or at least trying to). The Manzonis have been in Europe, as the Blakes, for a few years now, but old roots and habits die hard, and the little mafiosi in each of them still rears its head at times -- to violent/comic effect as they adjust to their new surroundings and school. Fred also takes this opportunity to try to start writing his memoirs -- despite the fact that, as his wife reminds him: "You can hardly even read ! You couldn't even write down the things you say !" -- and tells the locals he's working on a book about the Normandy landings (given his complete ignorance about these, maybe not the best cover-story). Of course, when the local film club shows Goodfellas -- a film Fred detests, for showing the Mafia as it really was (since: "Without the myth, all that was left was stupidity and cruelty") -- Fred can't help but regale the locals with his insider knowledge. Belle and Warren are also less than pleased with their current situation, and each have other ambitions. The need for secrecy -- the Blakes have to be careful to avoid even getting their pictures in a local paper -- and their false identities make it difficult, but they put their own plans into motion. Meanwhile, Maggie tries to stay on the good side of the FBI, and also gets involved in some local activities. Needless to say, everything comes to a head, and everyone has a role to play in it. The twenty million dollar bounty -- and that whole matter of restoring honor -- naturally means the Blakes are never completely safe. And, despite all their precautions, a few wrong and too familiar words and a round-the-world series of small actions and coincidences leads the Mob straight to them. Of course, the story culminates in the inevitable showdown. Benacquista does a pretty decent job of presenting the Blakes in this bucolic town with his understated presentation of the havoc they wreak (until the end, when everything of course gets rather out of hand). Each of the family members is fairly well-drawn, and their relationships -- with each other, with the locals, and with their FBI minders -- make for some interesting dynamics. The occasional digression -- the words that lead the Mob to the small town, and the long voyage those words go on, or the summoning and then use of Ben, Fred's nephew and the one family member who managed to avoid getting caught up in the post-trial fall-out -- are reasonably amusing, but feel a bit tangential. Obviously, also, a lot of this is far from realistic, but Benacquista shows a nice touch in not playing it just for loud laughs. Still, he never seems to get an entirely comfortable handle on the story as a whole, which feels a bit puffed and misshapen. The premise, and what Benacquista does with it, are enough to carry this decent comic thriller - and it's certainly also promising screen material (and with Robert De Niro as Fred presumably worth the ticket price just for the Goodfellas-watching scene alone). - M.A.Orthofer, 18 March 2013 2ff7e9595c
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