Henry points out to his brother on the drive back that he's been seeing helicopters all morning long; he stops at the house to braise the meat for the night's ziti sauce.
As he heads out again with Karen to stash the unsold guns at her mother's house, the strains of "Jump into the Fire" ( "We can make each other happy") echo ominously in the background. As he drops the guns in her mom's trash cans for safekeeping, the Stones' "Monkey Man" jostles and jangles...
The strains of my fave, "What is Life," begin as Henry talks on a pay phone in a strip mall to his Pittsburgh connection about the helicopters, and the dealer agrees to buy Henry's guns. After retrieving the guns from Karen's mother's (1:30 pm), they head back to a motel to meet up with the Pittsburgh connection (3:30 pm). From the hotel, he calls girlfriend Sandy to see how's she's doing with the coke-cutting. He then calls Lois to make sure she makes her flight arrangements from an outside phone (she doesn't).
The rest follows quickly. Dinner is served; Lois insists on Henry driving her to Far Rockaway to retrieve her "lucky hat" ("I won't fly without it"). As Henry and Lois climb into his car, and are apprehended, at long last, by the narcs, a panicky drumbeat sounds and all the music comes to a sudden standstill.
The years of craven ambition, greed, murder, and mayhem--along with a serene, bourgeois lifestyle bought with ill gotten gains--goes instantly down the drain on the day the music dies. The promise of joy and hope that in part defines "What is Life" is spirited away by the song's underlying message of potential betrayal and despair.
Henry Hill's been busted.
And the rest, as they say, is cinematic (and, incidentally, real-life) history.
Article comments
1 - Victor Lana
Just a fantastic piece, Elvira. It reminds me why I loved that movie so much. Now that you make me think about ir, many movies I've thought were great fall into this category (ones that are specifically not musicals).
For example, I'll never forget seeing American Graffiti as a kid. The music coalesces with the action, illuminating and enhancing each scene as the story unfolds. By the time we get to Wolfman Jack sucking melting popsicles in that lonely radio shack, Lucas has us eating out of his hands. It is also here that we understand that an era has come to an end: one of the most bittersweet moments in films.
Thanks for a great post!
2 - El Bicho
Good write-up, but it's interesting that your favorite song didn't make the album. Check out the recently released Raging Bull soundtrack for more of Scorsese's brilliant music choices
3 - Elvira Black
Victor:
Many thanks! It's funny (I guess), but although I abhor musicals as a general rule of thumb, I love this kind of soundtrack-inspired movie--and movie-inspired soundtrack. Now, of course, it's a much more ubiquitous device than back in the early 70s when Lucas did American Graffiti. Nowadays it almost seems like an essential component of the very filmmaking formula itself--lol. All in a good day's postmodern offerings...
4 - Elvira Black
El Bicho:
My word, man, you're right! The user reviews for the soundtrack are rife with complaints about how many songs were left off. Copyright issues, I take it? A damn shame. Thanks also for the heads up on the Raging Bull soundtrack.
5 - brad
if you watch the movie again youll see that the best song that comes in is the one where jimmy(deniro) is at the bar smoking a cigarette with that cool look on his face