Jimmy's a GoodFella, but Is He a Good Fella?

There are a lot of maniacs in GoodFellas, but none are as cold-blooded and wise as Jimmy Conway. Often overshadowed by the movie's other iconic psychopaths, namely Joe Pesci's Tommy DeVito and Ray Liotta's Henry Hill, Jimmy's guy-behind-the-guy demeanour makes him my favourite on-screen killer. Although he is undoubtedly a "bad guy," I wonder if there isn't something admirable about this consummate criminal.

Played by Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's 1990 classic, he first appears as a local legend in the eyes of the young Henry Hill. Nicknamed Jimmy the Gent, he greases every pocket, mentors up-and-coming wise guys and keeps a cool head in a world full of short tempers. Early in the movie, after Henry first gets pinched for selling bootleg cigarettes, the cool mentor offers the kid some sage advice: "Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut." Advice like that was sure to keep Henry alive and upright rather than horizontal in a body bag.

The key for any good killer is to kill as little as possible. Having others do the killing keeps Jimmy's hands clean, and keeps him at arm's length from the crime. After all, you can't continue killing if you're locked up. I'm not even sure if he actually likes to kill—more than anything, he loves to rob. Making money fast is what he's all about, and if he has to kill to get the money, then that's the way it is.

But there's more to Jimmy than just being a killer and a robber; he's also a collector and he's damn good at that too. I always admire a guy who does his job well, especially a guy who wears as many hats as my favourite on-screen killer. It doesn't matter if you own a two-bit toupee shop, if you don't pay him what is owed, you are likely to end up with a cord around your neck and a telephone playing woodpecker on your forehead.

As is necessary in his line of work, Jimmy is as two-faced as they come. He will toast to your homecoming then kick you when you're down. He will have dinner with you then he'll watch a knife get jabbed into the back of your skull. I don't necessarily think that his two-faced nature is entirely evil. Anyone who works in a public-facing environment has the face they greet the customers with and the face they meet their colleagues with. If anything, this trait makes Jimmy more relatable. However, his two-faced antics are taken to the extreme in the Lufthansa heist sequence.

The central plot of GoodFellas is the Lufthansa heist, a robbery of over five million dollars, which was the largest committed in the United States at the time. Jimmy is the mastermind behind the operation and assembles a team of eight others to help him pull it off. When the heist goes as planned, everyone expects to get their cut. Jimmy, the robbery-loving, debt-collecting, two-faced wise guy, has other plans.

In his defence, it's not Jimmy's fault that most of his co-conspirators can't follow instructions. When you steal a big score, it's essential that you put the money away and spend as little as possible. Making big purchases will only draw unwanted attention. He tries to explain this to the Lufthansa guys, but do any of them listen? Of course not. Johnny Roastbeef buys a pink Cadillac. Frankie Carbone buys a mink coat. Even Henry, the guy Jimmy mentored, gives his family the best Christmas imaginable with an expensive tree and bling-bling jewellery.

Then there's Stacks Edwards (played by Samuel L. Jackson). Stacks had the simple job of getting rid of the getaway vehicle. Instead, he stops by at a friends house, gets high and, by the time he returns to the vehicle, the cops are on it. Even in the underworld, it's impossible to find reliable workers! So, Jimmy sends Tommy to pay Stacks a visit. Before Tommy and Stacks can enjoy a cup of coffee together, Tommy puts a silenced bullet in the back of Stacks' head. One less loose end and one less pay out for Jimmy to make.

The killing of Stacks is a lightbulb moment for Jimmy. He realizes that killing everyone is a great way to stop these hiccups. While smoking a cigarette and listening to Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love," he realizes that he doesn't have to split the profits with anybody if he kills them all.

Before we have time to digest our ziti, all the Lufthansa robbers show up stiffer than De Niro in The Irishman. Johnny Roastbeef and his wife get filled with lead in their new Cadillac. Not even a mink coat can keep Frankie Carbone warm after he's stuck to a meat hook in the back of a refrigerator truck. Morry Kessler, the annoying toupee-shop owner, is the one who takes the knife to the back of the skull. Meanwhile, Frenchy and Joe Buddha get disposed of in the most literal way—with their bodies discovered in the back of a garbage truck.

That leaves the original three: Jimmy, Henry and Tommy. Jimmy didn't mind paying out his protégé Henry, and Tommy—with his full Sicilian blood—was the other two's best connection to the mob. That meant Tommy was much more valuable alive than dead. So, with all the others knocked off, the time had come for the dust to settle. Things became relatively peaceful, at least for a while.

But drugs, kids. Say no to drugs! Drugs will mess up a good thing. Two years after the Lufthansa heist, Henry was doing more cocaine than he was selling. His wife, Karen (played by Lorraine Bracco), was no saint either. These two were living a rock-and-roll lifestyle, while Jimmy was lying low in his blue robe trying to keep things in order, even if he was Henry's partner in the drug trade.

The problem with doing cocaine on a work day is that you're bound to start focusing on the wrong things. While Henry is busy watching helicopters, cutting lines and making pasta sauce, he doesn't realize that the police are congregating outside of his front door. Despite the flashing lights, he's caught off guard when an officer puts a pistol to his temple and tells him to get out of the car. Karen, paranoid (I wonder why), flushes all the extra cocaine down the toilet.

When Henry gets let out on bail, he has no money and a lot of problems. Any good businessman will tell you that your partner's problems are your problems.

Possibly my favourite scene in the whole movie is when Karen goes to give Henry's case file to Jimmy. As they're saying goodbye, he asks Karen if she wants some free Dior dresses. He tells her that the dresses are kept just down the street. She walks down the sidewalk and he stays behind. He signals for her to keep walking. She reaches the entrance and sees two shadowy men waiting inside the poorly lit building. He wants her to go in. She decides to take off, hurrying to her car. Her tires screech, as she peels out.

Now, nothing is said and nothing is admitted, but the subtext of the scene is that Jimmy plotted to have Karen killed. I love this scene because it reveals how cold-blooded he is. Although it is left up to interpretation, I feel certain that Jimmy did plan to have Karen whacked. Throughout the movie, he showed that he had no remorse and felt nothing for anyone outside of business (except for maybe Tommy, whose death brings him to tears—although the tears may have been more for the loss of an opportunity than for the loss of a friend). Even though Karen didn't get pinched, I doubt he could rest easy knowing this drug-addicted wild card was sharing a bed with the one guy who could bring about his downfall.

Jimmy and the rest of the wise guys are arrested. In court, Henry does the unthinkable. He goes against the very advice that his mentor gave him at the start of the movie: He opens his mouth and he rats on his friends, putting the finger directly on Jimmy. With that final betrayal, the criminal life of Jimmy the Gent was over.

I've always loved gangster movies. It's a genre that gives us a lot of memorable killers. Tony Soprano is one of the best. The Godfather is my favourite movie but there isn't a clear killer—everyone kills a little. Tony Montana is iconic but he's more of a drug dealer than a murderer. A killer like Jimmy, with his street smarts and ruthless attitude, is as forgettable and as dangerous as they come. Despite Tommy committing the most murders in GoodFellas, there is no doubt who the most feared and cold-blooded character in the movie is. Jimmy is a reminder that you needn't pull the trigger to be a killer.

But is there anything to admire about him? Jimmy Conway is a murderous, two-faced, lying, backstabbing, remorseless man. A life of crime is the only place where he could thrive, and the world became a safer place after he was locked up. On paper, he's a horrible human being. In my heart, he was the best guy around.