Not to be confused with: Wise Guys (1986)

Plot comparison: Martin Scorsese’s hard-hitting adaptation of Nicholas Pileggi’s Mafia expose Wiseguy, versus Brian De Palma’s floppy comedy about hapless Mob footsoldiers.

If they switched directors: Give Goodfellas to De Palma, and it would get bloodier and more operatic, if such a thing is even possible. But a Scorsese gangster farce – think Mean Streets meets After Hours – is something we’d have liked to see.

Irksome to whom?: In theory, nobody. Scorsese and Pileggi spotted the title clash early and replaced it with a genuinely iconic monicker. But poor De Palma, whose film bombed, could have done with a sprinkling of the stardust that sharing a title with Scorsese’s classic might have brought.