10 Movies That Became Unintentional Sequels
7. My Blue Heaven Is A Sequel To Goodfellas
My Blue Heaven is what would happen if Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas had continued on and became a comedy picture.
Both of these movies were adapted from Nicholas Pileggi's Wiseguy novel, and both of them were also released in 1990; Scorsese's picture hitting cinemas one month after Herbert Ross' My Blue Heaven.
While Henry Hill by name doesn't feature in My Blue Heaven, Steve Martin's lead character is clearly the one and the same played by Ray Liotta in Goodfellas. For Martin, he plays Vinnie Antonelli, a one-time mobster who's forced to go into the Witness Protection Programme ahead of testifying in court against his gangster pals.
Ross' film carries on where Goodfellas ended, with Vinnie struggling to keep himself out of trouble as old habits threaten to rear their head. As alluded to, though, My Blue Heaven is a total slapstick comedy vehicle, with Martin joined by Rick Moranis and Joan Cusack as he yucks it up.
Goodfellas only ever refers to Henry's new identity as just an "average schnook" - the real Henry Hill actually took on the name of Alex Canclini - but Steve Martin's Vinnie Antonelli becomes Tod Wilkinson as he tries to adjust to a new life without his old friends and with his wife having decided to leave him.