In the latter film, Pesci is shown breaking a glass in Vincent’s face and repeatedly slamming a car door on his upper body. They were co-stars in the 1976 film The Death Collector, which brought them to Scorsese’s attention when he was casting Raging Bull (1980). Vincent and Pesci had been close friends since the late 1960s. “Go home and get your fucking shinebox!” he tells the volatile Tommy (Joe Pesci), a former shoeshine boy, enraging him and sealing his own fate. The unfortunate Batts was played by Frank Vincent, who has died aged 80.Ī flashback later in the picture, which shows what Batts did to warrant such an unhappy end, gave Vincent the catchphrase that followed him around for the rest of his days. Armed with knife and gun, and bathed in an infernal red from the vehicle’s rear lights, the hoods finish what they started. Inside is Billy Batts, the man they thought they had killed, wrapped in blood-soaked tablecloths and pleading for his life. Three mobsters are driving at night when they hear a persistent thudding. Martin Scorsese’s 1990 gangster drama Goodfellas opens with a bang.
