The latest Scorsese is out! Let’s not hope it is his final film, but if it is, it’s a great one and it contains all the elements of a typical Scorsese movie: criminal conspiracies, the founding myths of America, sin and morally corrupt men… they are all there.

If you know Scorsese’s oeuvre, you might have thought about his other movies during the viewing of ‘Flower Moon’. I certainly did. There was one reference in particular that caught my eye. Logically, since I have seen GoodFellas probably more than 30 times, so I couldn’t miss this reference.

At the end of GoodFellas, protagonist Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) decides to join the witness protection programme and testify against his former superiors James Conway (Robert De Niro) and Paul Cicero (Paul Sorvino). In the scene before the final scene, Hill is in court and he is asked by the prosecutor to point out Conway and Cicero for the jury. Hill does and the prosecutor says:

“Your honor, please let the record reflect that Mr. Hill has identified the defendant James Conway.”

In Killers of the Flower Moon, De Niro’s role is similar to James Conway, since his character – William Hale – is like Conway, leader of a major criminal conspiracy.

Towards the ending of ‘Flower Moon’, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Ernest Burkhart is testifying against Hale in the Osage murder trial. And when I saw De Niro sitting there in the courtroom, I knew it was coming. And yes, Burkhart is asked to point out Hale and surely the prosecutor says:

“Your honor, please let the record reflect that Mr. Burkhart has identified the defendant William Hale.”

Nice one, Marty!