Two Dog Night: The Surprising Inspiration Behind the Famous Painting in ‘Goodfellas’

It’s among the most prominent appearances of an original painting in a movie, up there with the evil Vigo canvas in Ghostbusters II and the portrait of Ben Stiller literally grabbing a bull by the horns in Dodgeball. A true Goodfellas fan can’t see two dogs facing different directions without thinking of the iconic oil painting from the morbidly comic dinner scene.

The moment tends to linger in one’s memory: Fresh from almost beating another gangster to death, Tommy (Joe Pesci), Jimmy (Robert De Niro), and Henry (Ray Liotta) arrive at Tommy’s mother’s house at 3 a.m., simply because there’s a body in the trunk and they need a shovel. But she hasn’t seen her son in ages and, of course, insists on making them a giant meal.

It’s here where Tommy’s mother, played by Martin Scorsese’s actual mother, Catherine, shows the trio her new painting. It’s of an older man with wavy white hair, sitting on a boat with his two dogs and looking as bemused about the 3 a.m. dinner party as the gangsters.

Tommy offers an artistic critique that’s better than anything you’ll read on those little placards in art galleries: “I like this one. One dog goes one way, and the other dog goes the other way,” he remarks. “And this guy’s saying, ‘Whaddaya want from me?’”

Bone to Pick

Mothers played a big role during and behind the scenes in Goodfellas. The piece was actually painted by the momma of Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese and authored Wise Guys, the movie’s source material. Susan Pileggi’s inspiration came from a 1978 issue of National Geographic that featured a photo of John Weaving and his two dogs, Twiggy and Brocky. Long before being immortalized in Goodfellas, Weaving became famous in his own right on the River Shannon in Ireland.

Weaving was a former banker who resided on a 60-foot houseboat. Once retired, he spent his time protecting the Shannon from improper bridge construction and advocating for better barge safety, gaining a reputation among locals as a sort of guardian of the Shannon. It’s why a bust of his lion-like face can be found on the harbor and why National Geographic dedicated a 28-page spread to him, all punctuated by a serene photo with his two dogs, taken by photographer Adam Woolfitt.

Perhaps what distinguishes the portrait most from other movie paintings is that it’s actually quite good. More than just a one-off joke in a scene like most film art, we’re left to wonder about this one. Who is this peaceful-looking man with biblical white hair? Why are the dogs facing two different directions? Are they mad at each other or were they posed that way? Questions abound.

Regardless, its appearance in the scene is a comically tranquil contrast to the chaos and tension that preceded it. Here’s a man living an idyllic life in the painting, while outside the house, Billy Batts (Frank Vincent) is doing the exact opposite inside a trunk. “Looks like somebody we know,” Jimmy jokes in the film, as the audience uncomfortably laughs and Batts begs to differ.

Along with Brocky and Twiggy, John Weaving seemed to achieve a more comfortable retirement than any of the gangsters in the film. Even the painting of his likeness did: It’s currently hanging above Pileggi’s desk. The author has even willed it to his stepson, Max Bernstein, the son of famed journalist Carl Bernstein and Sleepless in Seattle director Nora Ephron, who was married to Pileggi for 25 years until her death in 2012. Ironically, it’s exactly the kind of thing you’d discuss at the dinner table.

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