20 Things You Didn't Know About Goodfellas
3. The Copa Tracking Shot Wasn't Planned
The long tracking shot through the Copacobana nightclub is one of the film's most memorable sequences, but it was never a planned part of the movie.
The filmmakers couldn't get permission to go in the short way, so they were forced to go in around the back. Martin Scorsese decided to go ahead and film the sequence in one unbroken shot.
Scorsese said this scene symbolizes that Henry's entire life was ahead of him. "It's his seduction of her (Karen), and it's also the lifestyle seducing him."
According to Illeana Douglas, Scorsese was inspired by the long Steadicam shot in another classic gangster film, Brian De Palma's The Untouchables.
The sequence was also shot eight times before they finally got it right.