The Martin Scorsese Crime Drama Classic That Defined The Genre Turns 36 Today & It's Still Flawless

Published Sep 19, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT

Zoë Miskelly is an editor and second in command for Screen Rant's Movies team, having covered the entertainment industry for almost 10 years now. Zoë's love of superheroes and all things Marvel & DC started out in childhood, and has blossomed into a career getting to talk about some of the biggest and best movies and shows of all time, having previously focused on comics while working at WhatCulture.

It's been 36 years since the 1990 Martin Scorsese movie classic that came to define the crime drama genre and its future in a major way had its theatrical debut for the general public as of today, marking a major milestone for a film that's still seriously famous. While most movies find their fans in at least some capacity after their debut, few manage the tests of time in a way that allow them to be arguably just as well known years and decades after their release.

Movies that manage to net themselves this kind of legacy tend to be few and far between, with the installments that manage to do so needing to have something special about them that puts them above the overall quality or memorability of their peers, since every year has a wide range of solid film releases, but only one or two can go down in cinematic history.

Martin Scorsese's 1990 crime drama classic certainly falls into this latter category, and has a reputation and legacy that seems to suggest the movie will maintain this status for a very long time to come, especially since its records and overall reception seem more and more impressive the more time passes from the film's original release date.

Goodfellas Turns 36 Today

Having released theatrically all the way back on September 19, 1990, Goodfellas turns 36 today, meaning it's almost been four decades since the gangster movie debuted to a striking and long-lasting sense of acclaim.

Even all this time later, many crime drama movies still clearly draw from the film in the way they delve into the story of the mafia and those who are drawn into it, both on a narrative level and in terms of how such stories are depicted on-screen more broadly speaking, especially since director Martin Scorsese has remained one of the most famous and celebrated filmmakers within this subgenre of film.

As we near 40 years to the day that Goodfellas had its theatrical release, the legacy of the movie is only more and more clear, given the film's lastingly positive reviews, and the wide array of awards it managed to net - including five BAFTAs, and Joe Pesci winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor thanks to his role as Tommy DeVito.

Why Goodfellas Has Remained Such A Famous Movie

The majorly positive reception Goodfellas has maintained throughout the years has in no small way helped cement its fame, with the movie's current scores on Rotten Tomatoes reflecting this, as the film has a critic Tomatometer score of 93%, and an audience score of 97%.

This works well to show how Goodfellas has appealed to a broad audience over the years, since it works equally well for those who simply want a dramatic and action-packed story, and for those who want a more psychological look into the world of crime and the lives of those within it that has endless amounts of nuance to note on rewatches.

Similarly, it certainly doesn't hurt that Goodfellas has a range of very famous figures involved in its creation who are arguably at their best when it comes to the performances and cinematography of Goodfellas itself.

Goodfellas is often mentioned in conversations about what Martin Scorsese's best movie is - which is no small feat, given Martin Scorsese's filmography involves Taxi Driver, Cape Fear, and Killers of the Flower Moon - and is also considered one of lead actor Robert De Niro's best performances too, meaning it's a movie that remains famous for a wide range of reasons, and no doubt will continue to be so for years to come.

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  Henry Hill

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  James Conway

GoodFellas chronicles the life of Henry Hill, a young Brooklynite with half-Irish, half-Sicilian heritage, as he rises through the ranks of a Mafia family. As he navigates the criminal underworld, he is mentored by seasoned gangster Jimmy Conway amidst the backdrop of organized crime in New York.