TSPDT - Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese

Survey of Filmmakers: Top 25 Directors (2005 poll by The Film Journal)

Ranked 2nd on The Guardian's 2004 List of the World's 40 Best Directors

►501 Movie Directors: A Comprehensive Guide to the Greatest Filmmakers

See Also

Robert Aldrich

John Cassavetes

Francis Ford Coppola

Jonathan Demme

Brian De Palma

Elia Kazan

Barry Levinson

Anatole Litvak

Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger

Roberto Rossellini

Robert Rossen

Paul Schrader

Director / Actor / Producer / Screenwriter

1942 -

Born November 17, Queens, New York, USA

Key Production Country: USA

Key Genres: Drama, Crime, Period Film, Urban Drama, Gangster Film, Crime Drama, Psychological Drama, Documentary

Key Collaborators: Thelma Schoonmaker (Editor), Robert De Niro (Leading Player), Barbara De Fina (Producer), Michael Ballhaus (Cinematographer), Harvey Keitel (Leading Player), Dante Ferretti (Production Designer), Paul Schrader (Screenwriter), Howard Shore (Composer), Boris Leven (Production Designer), Leonardo DiCaprio (Leading Player)

Highly Recommended: Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), New York, New York (1977), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), GoodFellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), The Age of Innocence (1993), Casino (1995), Kundun (1997)

Recommended: Who's That Knocking at My Door? (1968), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), The Last Waltz (1978), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), My Voyage to Italy (1999), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006)

Links: [ IMDB ] [ All-Movie Guide ] [ Senses of Cinema: Great Directors ] [ Film Reference ] [ Martin-Scorsese.Net ] [ Scorsese and His Films ] [ DGA Conversation with Steven Spielberg ] [ Lifetime Achievement Award ] [ BBC Interview ] [ BBC Audio Interviews (1992-1998 ] [ FilmForce Interview (2004) ] [ American Masters ] [ Close-Up Film Article (2006) ] [ Scotland on Sunday Article (2006) ] [ Independent Article (2006) ] [ DIRECTV: The Scorsese Selection ] [ Ask Men Article (2008) ]

Books: [ Scorsese on Scorsese ] [ The Scorsese Connection ] [ Martin Scorsese: A Journey ] [ A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies ] [ Martin Scorsese: Interviews (Interviews with Filmmakers Series) ] [ Martin Scorsese (Pocket Essentials) ] [ The Cinema of Martin Scorsese ] [ Martin Scorsese ]

DVD's: [ Amazon ]

1,000 Greatest Films: Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), New York, New York (1977), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), GoodFellas (1990), The Age of Innocence (1993), Casino (1995)

21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films: Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006)


	"Scorsese is an enthusiast. It comes through in the way he talks (hardly stopping to draw breath) and in the way he makes his movies - passionately, with one wary eye on the past...In purely filmic terms, Scorsese's real talent lies in his capacity to mould dialogue, movement and sound into one fluid, cinematic whole, and he achieves this effect most consistently with GoodFellas (1990)." - Mario Reading (The Movie Companion, 2006)

	"Based in New York, he pursues his own path (with Hollywood money), continuously turning out films that are utterly personal and often deeply autobiographical...Bold, inventive, versatile, and uncompromising, Scorsese is one of the most intelligent and provocative filmmakers working in cinema today." - (The MacMillan International Film Encyclopedia, 1994)

	"Scorsese, arguably the most cinematically eloquent American director of modern times, is best characterised as an expressionist and cinephile...His exhilaratingly long, complex camera movements, his often staccato editing, and his carefully controlled use of colour, props, decor and music are all designed not only to take us inside the minds of his often paranoid, volatile or disturbed protagonists, but to pay tribute, in passing, to movies he loves." - Geoff Andrew (The Director's Vision, 1999)

	"New York City and New Yorkers have been characterized by Scorsese better than by any other director of his generation. In his young career, he has shown concern for violence in society and the seamier side of life." - William R. Meyer (The Film Buff's Catalog, 1978)

	"What does it take to be a filmmaker in Hollywood? Even today I still wonder what it takes to be a professional or even an artist in Hollywood. How do you survive the constant tug of war between personal expression and commercial imperatives? What is the price you pay to work in Hollywood? Do you end up with a split personality? Do you make one movie for them, one for yourself?" - Martin Scorsese (A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies, 1997)

	"Every year or so, I try to do something; it keeps me refreshed as to what's going on in front of the lens, and I understand what the actor is going through." - Martin Scorsese