Joe Pesci
Casino
(1995)
Nicholas Pileggi (book), Nicholas Pileggi (screenplay), Martin Scorsese (screenplay)
Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 9 nominations.
This Martin Scorsese film depicts the Janus-like quality of Las Vegas--it has a glittering, glamorous face, as well as a brutal, cruel one. Ace Rothstein and Nicky Santoro, mobsters who move to Las Vegas to make their mark, live and work in this paradoxical world. Seen through their eyes, each as a foil to the other, the details of mob involvement in the casinos of the 1970's and '80's are revealed. Ace is the smooth operator of the Tangiers casino, while Nicky is his boyhood friend and tough strongman, robbing and shaking down the locals. However, they each have a tragic flaw--Ace falls in love with a hustler, Ginger, and Nicky falls into an ever-deepening spiral of drugs and violence.
Goodfellas
(1990)
Nicholas Pileggi (book), Nicholas Pileggi (screenplay), Martin Scorsese (screenplay)
Won 1 Oscar. Another 37 wins & 31 nominations.
Henry Hill is a small time gangster, who takes part in a robbery with Jimmy Conway and Tommy De Vito, two other gangsters who have set their sights a bit higher. His two partners kill off everyone else involved in the robbery, and slowly start to climb up through the hierarchy of the Mob. Henry, however, is badly affected by his partners' success, but will he stoop low enough to bring about the downfall of Jimmy and Tommy?
Once Upon a Time in America
(1984)
Harry Grey (novel), Leonardo Benvenuti (screenplay), Piero De Bernardi (screenplay), Enrico Medioli (screenplay), Franco Arcalli (screenplay), Franco Ferrini (screenplay), Sergio Leone (screenplay), Stuart Kaminsky (additional dialogue)
Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 11 wins & 7 nominations.
A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
Raging Bull
(1980)
Jake LaMotta (based on the book by), Joseph Carter (with), Peter Savage (with), Paul Schrader (screenplay), Mardik Martin (screenplay)
Won 2 Oscars. Another 23 wins & 24 nominations.
An emotionally self-destructive boxer's journey through life, as the violence and temper that leads him to the top in the ring, destroys his life outside it.