Shooting Henry Hill

By Cyril Pearl -- Video Business, 8/18/2008

PASSION RIVER
Street: Sept. 23
Prebook: now
> Engaging look at former Goodfellas mobster and Witness Protection Program dropout Henry Hill.

With its cute title and humble aspirations, Shooting Henry Hill catches up with the famed Mafia turncoat who was immortalized in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 saga Goodfellas. Nearly 25 years after the events depicted in Goodfellas, Hill has long been expelled from the Witness Protection Program (due to the number of crimes he committed while in the program), and the filmmakers catch up with him in North Platte, Neb., where he is a cook in an Italian restaurant. It’s not too long before we learn that Hill is involved in various crimes, including drug-dealing and spousal abuse. A frazzled and occasionally incoherent Hill appears in interview segments throughout. Much has changed in the three years since this doc’s production—Hill has a new fiancée and no longer lives in Nebraska—but it’s still another wholly engrossing entry in the seemingly unending Hill saga. Extras include additional interviews where Hill discusses the art of shaving points in college basketball games and the possible whereabouts of the missing $6.5 million from the infamous Lufthansa Airline heist that was featured in Goodfellas.

Shelf Talk: This specialty item is best suited to fans of Mob-themed movies and books, specifically Goodfellas and Wiseguy, the Nicholas Pileggi book upon which the Martin Scorsese film is based. It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out what other titles you should place Henry Hill near or cross-promote with.

Documentary, color, NR (mature themes, language), 53 min., DVD $24.95
Extras: additional interviews
Director: Luke Heppner
First Run: DVD premiere