Edward Hayes Movies
- 2005
Director Paul Yule follows-up his 1990 documentary about photographer O. Winston Link with this look into the scandal that erupted in the wake of the famed steam-engine shutterbug's death in 2001. After marrying a woman named Conchita who was twenty-years his junior in 1983, Link allowed to take his bride as not only his lifelong companion, but his agent as well. The reputation of the photographer, as well as the price of his work, rising steadily soon thereafter, the union between Conchita and Link came to an explosive conclusion when Conchita allegedly had an extramarital affair and was subsequently imprisoned for embezzling a fortune in her husband's profits. Prompted to revisit the strange case when, after the photographer's death, a number of his long-thought-lost prints slowly began to resurface, Yule interviews Conchita, Link's son and brother, and lawyers representing both parties to explore whether the woman was a manipulative thief looking to take advantage of an ailing old man, or the harbinger of Link's success who was tragically framed by an abusive and embittered artist. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Martin Scorsese explores the life of organized crime with his gritty, kinetic adaptation of Nicolas Pileggi's best-selling Wiseguy, the true-life account of mobster and FBI informant Henry Hill. Set to a true-to-period rock soundtrack, the story details the rise and fall of Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian New York kid who grows up idolizing the "wise guys" in his impoverished Brooklyn neighborhood. He begins hanging around the mobsters, running errands and doing odd jobs until he gains the notice of local chieftain Paulie Cicero (Paul Sorvino), who takes him in as a surrogate son. As he reaches his teens, Hill (Ray Liotta) is inducted into the world of petty crime, where he distinguishes himself as a "stand-up guy" by choosing jail time over ratting on his accomplices. From that moment on, he is a part of the family. Along with his psychotic partner Tommy (Joe Pesci), he rises through the ranks to become Paulie's lieutenant; however, he quickly learns that, like his mentor Jimmy (Robert DeNiro), his ethnicity prevents him from ever becoming a "made guy," an actual member of the crime family. Soon he finds himself the target of both the feds and the mobsters, who feel that he has become a threat to their security with his reckless dealings. Goodfellas was rewarded with six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture; Pesci would walk away with Best Supporting Actor for his work. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, (more)
