--- description: The movie, released 25 years ago, was "the fastest, sharpest 2 1/2-hr. ride in recent film history" title: Read TIME's Original Review of 'Goodfellas' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84171549b4ba87c2/69886334e20a876e93a8d2e2/goodfellas.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Goodfellas_ Was Released 25 Years Ago—Read TIME's Original Review  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 21, 2015 12:00 PM CUT  Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Paul Sorvino, and Joe Pesci publicity portrait for the film 'Goodfellas', 1990. Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Paul Sorvino, and Joe Pesci publicity portrait for the film 'Goodfellas', 1990.Warner Bros / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 21, 2015 12:00 PM CUT When the now-classic _Goodfellas_ was released nationwide 25 years ago on Sept. 21, 1990, it wasn’t the only mob movie on the block. As Richard Corliss noted in a review of the lot for TIME, _Goodfellas_ shared the multiplexes with such movies as _Miller’s Crossing_ to _The Godfather Part III._ The reason, he suggested, had less to do with any cultural factor than it did with a few particular Hollywood preferences: --- > “” --- And of those powerful artists, Martin Scorsese got top billing. Though Corliss dinged him for his reliance on exposition in a movie in which “characters don’t grow or learn, they just get found out,” _Goodfellas_ still ranked as “the fastest, sharpest 2 1/2-hr. ride in recent film history.” **_Read the full review, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Married to the Mob](http://time.com/vault/issue/1990-09-24/page/95/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4030997/goodfellas-25-years/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4030997/goodfellas-25-years/"},"headline":"Goodfellas Was Released 25 Years Ago—Read TIME's Original Review","datePublished":"2015-09-21T12:00:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:52:08.408Z","description":"'The fastest, sharpest 2 1/2-hr. ride in recent film history'","url":"https://time.com/4030997/goodfellas-25-years/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84171549b4ba87c2/69886334e20a876e93a8d2e2/goodfellas.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84171549b4ba87c2/69886334e20a876e93a8d2e2/goodfellas.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ray Liotta And Robert De Niro In 'Goodfellas'","caption":"Ray Liotta And Robert De Niro In 'Goodfellas'","creditText":"Warner Bros / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4030997/goodfellas-25-years/","name":"Goodfellas Was Released 25 Years Ago—Read TIME's Original Review"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"100 Years of Blockbusters in 5 Minutes","description":"Time has taken the highest grossing film each year for the past century and crammed them into 5 and a half minutes. No Intermission.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/tfrXo5zL/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-02-12T15:57:58.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tfrXo5zL.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4030997/goodfellas-25-years/","duration":"PT5M21S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4030997/goodfellas-25-years/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```