Tommy DeVito- Goodfellas
Probably the most irredeemable character to ever grace screens, the clown prince of cruelty Tommy DeVito was magnetically portrayed by Joe Pesci (whose performance was so good that it forever doomed him to typecasting). What makes the callous and wayward Tommy so frightening is his air of dangerous unpredictability that dominates the whole film; Trigger-happy one moment, amusing and charismatic the next. But Pesci doesn’t play this as a one-note character and Tommy’s insane propensity for violence is coupled with a total devotion to his elderly mother, who gleefully prepares dinner for her son’s crew as the corpse of Billy Batts lies in the car boot in her driveway. The last frame of the film sees Tommy turn his gun on the camera and pull the trigger, warning us to withhold our judgements on the gangster’s evil actions, because we’d choose his glamorous lifestyle too, given half a chance (and a complete lack of empathy).
Psycho-babble: “Just don’t go busting my balls, Billy, okay?”
