Watch: 50 Timeless Movie Moms

Who could forget the opening scene of Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece ‘Goodfellas‘? There’s the "in medias res" dynamic (the titular trio are
riding in a car with a supposed dead body in the trunk), the shocking
violence (the screen even dips to color in red during a gun shooting)
and then there’s Henry Hill’s (Ray Liotta) iconic voiceover line ("As
far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster"). What’s
most interesting about this scene is that when we circle around and
revisit it later in the film, it is juxtaposed against the tenderness of
the domestic scene that precedes it: the trio, in an effort to finish
the burial of Billy Batts’ corpse, makes a rendezvous to Tommy’s (Joe
Pesci) mother’s house to pick up a shovel. They’re surprised when
Tommy’s mother (played by Scorsese’s own mother Catherine) is awake and
forces them all to stop what they’re doing and eat a home cooked meal.
The scene is memorable for its warmth, its generosity and the
authenticity of having grown men respectfully obeying the authority and
presence of a home’s matriarch. For a film about gangsters doing
terrible things, this scene has the knowing power to anchor these
characters as real and ultimately vulnerable. That’s one of the many
strengths that mothers have: the uncanny ability to humble us. And
throughout the history of cinema, mothers have had an everlasting impact
on the screen characters we love. ‘Goodfellas’ is another prime example
of this. Even tough guys have moms too.

And here is a list of the moms appearing in this video essay, in order:

Nelson Carvajal is an independent digital filmmaker, writer and
content creator based out of Chicago, Illinois. His digital short films
usually contain appropriated content and have screened at such venues as
the London Underground Film Festival. Carvajal runs a blog called FREE CINEMA NOW which
boasts the tagline: "Liberating Independent Film And Video From A
Prehistoric Value System." You can follow Nelson on Twitter here.