De Palma allowed Salamon to follow him and his crew from pre-production up through the release of the movie.
De Palma originally conceived of a high-energy montage that would showcase the excitement of life in Manhattan during the greed-is-good ’80s.
And they were both shot by the same cameraman: Larry McConkey, one of the most respected Steadicam operators in the business.
Yet the Goodfellas Copa sequence has become one of the most famous shots in Hollywood history while the Bonfire shot remains basically unknown to everyone except hardcore cinematography nerds and De Palma fans.