Goodfellas is often considered the best film Martin Scorsese ever made and one of the best gangster films of all time. There's a good reason for that. It's hard to find something worth criticizing in it. Everything is great, from the acting to the storytelling to the dialogue.
All cast members gave outstanding performances but the one that stood out the most was Joe Pesci who played the hot-headed gangster Tommy DeVito. Pesci's performance earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Here ate the best Tommy DeVito quotes in the movie.
"So What? He Got Shot In The Foot. What Is It? A Big Deal?"
Yeah, Tommy! Getting shot anywhere is a big deal. Goodfellas and The Sopranos shared 27 actors and one of the actors who appeared in both productions was Michael Imperioli. In the Scorsese film, he played a teenager named Spider who served the mob members while they played cards.
Tommy wasn't fond of Spider so he kept on harassing him and making fun of him. On one occasion, he even pulled out a gun and shot him in the foot before insisting it was an accident. When Jimmy (Robert De Niro) called him out for it, Tommy downplayed the whole incident.
"Mom! I Settle Down With A Nice Girl Every Night, Then I'm Free The Next Morning."
When Tommy, Jimmy, and Henry are having dinner with Tommy's mom (played by Martin Scorsese's mother), she says what every caring mother says to their grown and single son—"You need to get a nice girl and settle down." But trust Tommy to have his own idea of what settling down means.
Tommy tells his mom that he actually settles down every night with a nice girl. Then in the morning, they part ways and he hooks up with another the next night. That's not really gentlemanly behavior but who said gangsters were gentlemen?
"You're Hanging Around My Neck Like A Vulture, Like Impending Danger. What Do You Want?"
Due to Tommy's unpredictability and high temper, waiters were scared to give him the bill. During one of the nights out, a waiter gives the bill to the restaurant owner named Sonny so that he can hand it over to Tommy. Well, Tommy doesn't like the way that Sonny is leaning over him so he gets angry.
Apparently. Tommy's bill is $7000. He promises to pay it even though there's a chance that he might not do it because everyone fears him and he can get away with it. And in a surprise move, he smashes a glass to Sonny's head for thinking he'd never pay.
"Hey, Henry! Here's A Wing!"
While Henry, Jimmy, and Tommy dig out the body of Billy Batts from the shallow grave they had buried it, Henry appears to be disgusted by the sight and smell. He even takes a few minutes to throw. Jimmy and Tommy then begin making fun of him.
Tommy digs out Billy's decomposed leg and shows it to Henry. He then jokes that there is a wing too, thus making it seem like he is talking about chicken. To top that, he says that they should hurry up so they can go eat sausages at his mother's house.
"F***n Rat Anyway. His Family's All Rats. He'd Have Grown Up To Be A Rat."
Spider soon became fed up with Tommy's constant harassment and decided to stand up for himself. The next time Tommy made fun of him, he told him to "go f***k himself." It was a courageous thing to do but it was also a terrible idea.
Jimmy asked Tommy if he was just going to let Spider talk to him like that. So Tommy went ahead and shot him a couple of times. Jimmy then revealed that he was kidding but Tommy showed no remorse, saying the boy was probably going to be a rat anyway when he became older.
"You Were Always Late... You'll Be Late For Your Own Funeral."
Before he was a major star, Samuel L Jackson had a cameo role in Goodfellas. He played a man named Stacks who was part of the team that carried out the Lufthansa Heist. After the heist, Stacks was tasked with ditching the truck that had been used but he went partying instead.
In the morning, Tommy went over to his apartment and found him still sleeping. He had no idea what time it was and had even forgotten the task he was given. He asked Tommy for a few minutes to get dressed but Tommy shot him on the head before dishing out the quote above.
"No, What, Henry? Who The F***k Asked You Anything? I Didn't Even Ask You Anything, At Least Hear What I Have To Say."
Tommy had fallen in love with a Jewish girl but she had refused to meet him alone because she didn't trust Italians. She wanted her friend to accompany her. So, Tommy needed Henry to come along with him so that he'd keep the other girl occupied.
However, even before Tommy made the request, Henry had already said no. He knew what Tommy was about to ask and he didn't feel like doing it. He made up a couple of excuses but Tommy pressured him and he eventually agreed to it.
"Hey, Spider, That Bandage On Your Foot Is Bigger Than Your Head."
Before Tommy killed Spider, he had kept on mocking the teenager. But in as much as it was easy to pity Spider, it was easy to be impressed by Tommy's jokes too.
After Tommy had shot Spider on the foot, the lad showed up with a huge bandage. Tommy still found this funny and went to comment on how it was bigger than Spider's head. Spider didn't take the joke too kindly so he talked back at Tommy. That didn't go well.
"We Hit The Deer And His Paw... What Do You Call It? The Paw? It Got Stuck In The Grill"
During the dinner scene with Tommy's mom, he lies to her that they hit a deer on their way there so he'd like to borrow a knife so that he can hack it off. He mistakenly says "paw" before Jimmy corrects him by saying that deers have hoofs, not paws.
But what makes Tommy's statement even better is that it's not a dear he is talking about. It's a man who is at the trunk of the car and they need to kill them. And they do just that. Killing a man with your mother's knife is a whole new level of evil.
"What Do You Mean I’m Funny? I'm Funny How? I Mean, Funny Like I Am A Clown?"
This scene alone was probably enough to convince the Academy that Joe Pesci deserved an Oscar. The scene is packed with tension and one would have been mistaken to think that Tommy was about to shoot Henry any minute.
In the scene, the mobsters are having drinks at a night club when Tommy makes a joke, and Henry reacts by telling him that he is really funny. Instead of accepting the compliment, Tommy's face turns cold and he adopts a harsh tone towards a scared Henry. It is later revealed that Tommy was just playing with him. According to Scorsese, Pesci came up with the words himself.