GOODFELLAS’ COPACABANA SHOT

There have been celebrated tracking shots before GoodFellas (Rope, Touch Of Evil) and there have been celebrated tracking shots since (Children Of Men, Birdman). But there’s never been a tracking shot so celebrated as the one that sweeps on-the-rise mobster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) and his starry-eyed date Karen Friedman (Lorraine Bracco) into New York’s famous Copacabana nightclub via a nondescript back entrance, a labyrinth of corridors and a vast, bustling kitchen.

“Henry’s whole life [is] ahead of him, doors [are] opening to him,” said director Martin Scorsese of the muchdiscussed, frequently copied ‘oner’, which lasts three minutes and five seconds and is set to The Crystals’ swooning ’60s pop classic ‘Then He Kissed Me’. “It’s his seduction of Karen and it’s also the lifestyle seducing him.”

Therein lies the key – yes, ‘The Copa Shot’ is a miracle of technique, with Steadicam operator Larry McConkey juggling close shots, wide shots and even pans within the tight frame, while always on the move. But it’s also a miracle of visual storytelling, eschewing cuts, voiceover and dialogue (beyond a

series of greetings, each accompanied by a tip) and yet still conveying just how thrilling this world is to Henry… and to Karen, who gasps, “What do you do?”

“I’m in construction,” is Henry’s reply. He’s telling porkies, but what we’ve just watched certainly took some building – the shot’s architecture is so intricate we don’t notice that Henry and Karen in fact trace a circle within the kitchen, entering and exiting via the same door. We don’t notice it because our heads, like Karen’s, are spinning, the extras have been replaced and the set redressed, all in the blink of an eye.

Talking of speed, it’s almost incomprehensible to think that DoP

Michael Ballhaus blocked, lit and shot this scene in half a day, requiring just eight takes to create movie history. But then again, everything about GoodFellas is fast and furious, with Scorsese saying his plan for the film was, “To begin like a gunshot and have it get faster from there, almost like a two-and-a-half-hour trailer. It’s the only way to capture the exhilaration of the lifestyle and get a sense of why people are attracted to it.”

‘The Copa Shot’ is the epitome of this credo – arguably the most dazzling scene in a film full of dazzling scenes. It involves no cocaine, no swearing, no violence, only a camera bobbing and weaving as it takes us from a parked car in the street to a dining table being whisked through the nightclub and rapidly set up for Henry and Karen right in front of the stage. Someone on the next table immediately sends over a bottle of champagne. You’ll want to do the same. JG