scorsese

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT
SCORSESE
1
2
CONTENTS
SCORSESE
3
Find out more about Martin Scorsese ..................................................................... 4
Family ......................................................................................................................... 6
Who’s That Knocking at My Door? (1969)................................................................... 6
Italianamerican (1974) ................................................................................................ 6
GoodFellas (1990) ...................................................................................................... 6
Brothers ..................................................................................................................... 7
Mean Streets (1973) ................................................................................................... 7
Raging Bull (1980) ...................................................................................................... 8
GoodFellas (1990) ...................................................................................................... 8
Men and Women ........................................................................................................ 9
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974) .................................................................... 9
Taxi Driver (1976) ..................................................................................................... 10
The Age of Innocence (1993).................................................................................... 10
Casino (1995) ........................................................................................................... 10
The Aviator (2004) .................................................................................................... 10
Lonely Heroes.......................................................................................................... 11
Taxi Driver (1976) ..................................................................................................... 11
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)........................................................................ 11
Kundun (1997) .......................................................................................................... 12
Shutter Island (2010) ................................................................................................ 12
New York .................................................................................................................. 13
Taxi Driver (1976) ..................................................................................................... 13
The Age of Innocence (1993).................................................................................... 13
Gangs of New York (2002) ....................................................................................... 14
Cinephile .................................................................................................................. 15
Scorsese and Film Preservation ............................................................................... 15
Cape Fear (1991) ..................................................................................................... 16
1
Kundun (1997) .......................................................................................................... 16
Hugo (2011).............................................................................................................. 16
Cinematography ...................................................................................................... 17
Scorsese’s Vision ..................................................................................................... 17
Ranking Scorsese..................................................................................................... 18
The Age of Innocence (1993).................................................................................... 18
Casino (1995) ........................................................................................................... 18
Gangs of New York (2002) ....................................................................................... 19
The Famous Shots ................................................................................................... 19
Editing ...................................................................................................................... 20
Storyboards .............................................................................................................. 20
Collaboration ............................................................................................................ 20
Music ........................................................................................................................ 22
Martin Scorsese Filmography ................................................................................ 24
Cover Image © Brigitte Lacombe
2
SCORSESE
After Mean Streets was released, I
wrote a review saying that Scorsese
had a chance to become the
American Fellini in ten years or so.
The next time we met after the review
appeared, Marty looked serious and
concerned: “Do you really think it's
going to take ten years?"
Roger Ebert1
Martin Scorsese is considered to be one of the most important directors of our time. His
expressive and dynamic films explore characters who fight for their physical and spiritual
survival within richly drawn communities or ‘gangs’ to which they will never fully belong,
whether on the streets of New York – where Scorsese himself grew up – or in the highest
echelons of society.
Martin Scorsese has developed his own distinctive cinematic handwriting through his
passionate study of European auteur cinema and the classic Hollywood repertoire.
Scorsese’s work spans his early experimental works, through documentaries and music films
to television drama. Through his commitment to film restoration, he continues to create a
bridge between the past and future of the moving image.
Much has been written about Scorsese, while Scorsese himself is renowned for the passion
with which he talks about films and the history of cinema. The narrative complexity of his
films and the power of the worlds and characters he creates have inspired a body of
passionate and provocative critique. To mark the first major exhibition focusing on
Scorsese’s work and his creative contribution to institution of cinema, this resource offers
links or information about a range of engaging, thought-provoking and informative
commentary, reviews and clips. The emphasis is on online material that can be easily
accessed by teachers, students and Scorsese enthusiasts.
1
“Interview with Martin Scorsese”, Roger Ebert Interviews, 7 March 1976.
3
Find out more about Martin Scorsese
I’m often asked by younger
filmmakers, why do I need to look at
old movies -- And the response I find
that I have to give them is that I still
consider myself a student. The more
pictures I’ve made in the past twenty
years the more I realize I really don’t
know. And I’m always looking for
something or someone that I could
learn from. I tell them, I tell the
younger filmmakers and the young
students that I do it like painters used
to do, or painters do: study the old
masters, enrich your palette, expand
your canvas. There’s always so much
more to learn.
Martin Scorsese2
2

Find out about the key elements of Scorsese’s work and career in this brief
biography: David Skinner, “Martin Scorsese Biography”, National Endowment for the
Humanities, Humanities.

The four-part series Martin-Scorsese – A Personal Journey through American Movies
(British Film Institute, 1995) offers a fascinating insight into Hollywood cinema and
Scorsese’s passionate and emotional connection to this tradition which he describes
as life-changing.

Scorsese is incapable of giving a bad interview. He loves talking about film and
cinema in general, as well as about his own work. This 2013 interview with Jim Leach
is one of many, but gives a great overview of Scorsese’s life, career and creative
ideas: “The Art of Martin Scorsese”, Humanities, July/August 2013, Volume 34,
Number 4.

Published papers from the 2014 symposium, Martin Scorsese: He is Cinema, “trace
the arc of his career, from his NYU shorts through his early independent features to
his long stretch of ups and downs working within Hollywood”. Reverse Shot, Museum
of the Moving Image.
Part 3, Scorsese: A Personal Journey through American Movies.
4

For an insight into the way that Scorsese processes and thinks about the films that
have influenced him, watch his response to Vertigo.

In an interview with journalist, Mick Brown, after the release of Shutter Island,
Scorsese spoke of his debt to the B movies of the 1950s: “There’s no way you could
aspire to come close to what those films did. They came out of a certain time and
place. There’s no way we can recapture that. But we can make references. We
shouldn’t be afraid to make a homage; but it had to be serious, not ironic.” “Martin
Scorsese interview for Shutter Island”, The Telegraph, 7 March 2010.

In Scorsese on Scorsese, edited by Ian Christie and David Thompson (Faber and
Faber, London, 2003), Scorsese offers insights into his creative process. You can get
a taste of this book and an introduction to Scorsese’s childhood here.
Casino Courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing
LCC
5
Family
To me, place is not just important, it’s
a necessity.
Martin Scorsese3
Martin Scorsese grew up in the 1950s in Little Italy, New York, in a small tenement
apartment with his parents and older brother. His grandparents, who had emigrated from
Sicily, lived nearby, as did his aunts, uncles and cousins. The Catholic Church and the local
mafia were the other key influences in this tightly knit community.
However, family provides more than just protective shelter in Scorsese’s films. Above all, it is
a regulating power, which limits the freedom of its members and triggers conflict. Scorsese’s
characters do not escape this pressure when they become involved in organized crime: rules
that are equally strict have to be observed within its family-like structure.
Who’s That Knocking at My Door? (1969)
Scorsese’s first feature, an extended student film, Who’s That Knocking at My Door?
(1967/69) was set in the neighbourhood, and featured his mother Catherine Scorsese, in the
first of her many cameo appearances as a typical Italian Mama.

To find out more about this early film, read Adrian Danks, “Who’s that knocking at my
door?”, Senses of Cinema, Issue 54, April 2010.
Italianamerican (1974)
In 1974, Scorsese interviewed his parents, Catherine and Charles Scorsese about their
experience as Italian immigrants in New York for the documentary film Italianamerican.
Seeing Scorsese engage with his parents about their experience and his cultural heritage in
this film is illuminating.
GoodFellas (1990)
Scorsese’s depiction of the brutality and banality of organised crime represents the gang as
a surrogate family, defined simultaneously by loyalty and betrayal.
3

“Nothing could be more Kafkaesque than the central tenet of mob life, which runs as
follows: This man is your lifelong friend, but he may want to kill you for money; you
have to understand that; that is ‘this thing of ours.’” Martin Amis, Premiere, October
1997, reprinted by Glen Kenny, “Martin Amis on GoodFellas”, Some Came Running,
10 June 2015.

Vincent Canby, “A Cold-eyed Look at the Mob’s Inner Workings”, The New York
Times, 19 September 1990.

Robert Castle, “Average Nobodies: The Dark Knights of GoodFellas”, Bright Lights
Film Journal, 1 April 2001.
“The Art of Martin Scorsese”, Humanities, National Endowment for the Humanities, July/August 2013, Vol 34, No. 4.
6
Brothers
Underneath the polished photography
and jukebox palette of GoodFellas,
lies a penetrating critique of the
extremes of estrangement,
chauvinism, cruelty, criminality,
erotomania, and regression that
certain communities, cultures, and
countries will allow their men as they
ceaselessly chase after their own
selfish desires.
Matthew Eng4
Scorsese’s older brother Frank recalls: “My brother was a sickly boy. Marty had a tough
childhood. But I used to keep him close. Take him to movies. He was six years younger, so
I’d look out for him.” Brothers are the focus of many Scorsese films – whether blood relations
or in a figurative sense: two men, bound together by a shared history, who are torn apart by
one constantly testing the other’s loyalty. It is a question of guilt and atonement, of protection
and duty.
Robert De Niro as Johnny Boy in Mean Streets (1973) runs riot, repeatedly abusing the trust
of his friend Charlie (Harvey Keitel), who can’t break free from the relationship. The brothers
Jake La Motta (Robert De Niro) and Joey (Joe Pesci) share a similar dynamic in Raging Bull
(1980). Jake is aggressive and jealous, but his brother and manager Joey nevertheless
supports him over many years. In GoodFellas (1990) and Casino (1995), the dynamic
between the actors is reversed, as Pesci plays the thorn in De Niro’s side. In The Last
Temptation of Christ (1988), Harvey Keitel personifies Judas, who challenges and betrays
Jesus, (Willem Dafoe) goading him on to self-discovery.
Mean Streets (1973)
4

“Great films leave their mark not only on their audiences, but on films that follow. In
countless ways, right down to the detail of modern TV crime shows, Mean Streets is
one of the source points of modern movies.” Roger Ebert, Mean Streets, 31
December 2003.

“De Niro’s Johnny Boy is the only one of the group of grifters and scummy racketeers
who is his own man; he is the true hero, while Charlie, through whose mind we see
the action, is the director’s worst vision of himself.” Pauline Kael, “Everyday Inferno”,
The New Yorker, 8 October 1973.

“I'll get into a cab sometimes here in New York, and they'll know who I am and the
film they'll bring up is Mean Streets . . . 'Aaah, you'll never do better than that, kid,
that was the best one . . .'” Martin Scorsese to Sheila Johnston, “The word on the
“How GoodFellas became Scorsese’s most Misunderstood Masterpiece”, Tribeca, 15 September 2015.
7
streets: Mean Streets was the making of Martin Scorsese”, The Independent, 12
February 1993.
Raging Bull (1980)

“Jake LaMotta, at least as he appears in the film, is someone who has allowed me to
see more clearly.” Martin Scorsese, in Glenn Kenny, “‘With Love and Resolution’: An
Appreciation”, “The Art of Martin Scorsese”, Humanities, vol. 30, no. 2, March/April
2013.

Raging Bull “is a tragedy that mourns rather than celebrates the loss of masculinity.”
Marc Raymond, “Martin Scorsese”, Senses of Cinema, Issue 20, May 2002.
GoodFellas (1990)

“From De Niro’s snarl to DiCaprio’s sinewy wildness, no director has explored
masculinity as acutely as Scorsese”, Tom Shone, “Mythical, Merciless Butchness:
Martin Scorsese’s Men”, The New Statesman, 16 October 2014.

“GoodFellas” are lowlifes. To guys, they’re hilarious, they’re heroes.” Kyle Smith
channels the patriarchal perspective of GoodFellas (and misreads the film) in his
critique. “Women are not capable of understanding GoodFellas”, The New York Post,
10 June 2010.
8
Men and Women
…for a director so identified with the
worlds of men, he can be a
surprisingly tender explorer of the
aspirations of women, as in Alice
Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Boxcar
Bertha and The Age of Innocence. The
feminist consciousness of these films
is unmarred by any passiveaggressive resistance to female
yearnings for independence.
Christos Tsiolkas5
Following the critical success of Mean Streets (1973), the script for Alice Doesn’t Live Here
Anymore (1974) was offered to Scorsese, who saw it as a welcome opportunity to show his
skill directing a lead actress. Ellen Burstyn was awarded an Oscar for her role as a single
mother, who must build a new life for herself after the death of her husband. While Alice is
the only one of his films driven by a female lead, Scorsese, who is revered as an actors’
director, has provided many actresses with career-defining roles: Jodie foster in Taxi Driver,
Lorraine Bracco in GoodFellas, Michelle Pfeiffer in The Age of Innocence and Sharon Stone
in Casino.
While the friendships between men in Scorsese’s work are often characterised by clear rites
and hierarchies, relationships between men and women are troubled, and rarely end well.
Scorsese stages men who want to be able to show tenderness, but who lack the necessary
gestures and vocabulary.
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)
5

“Alice began as Ellen Burstyn’s personal project with her acquisition of Robert
Getchell’s book. After viewing Scorsese’s Mean Streets, she was confident that he
could work her way.” Russell E. Davis, “Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore: Under the
Comic Frosting”, Jump Cut, no. 7, 1975, pp. 3-4.

“... I wanted it to end happily—I guess for my own good because I hope that people
get together sometime.” Martin Scorsese to F. Anthony Macklin, quoted in Karyn Kay
and Gerald Peary, “Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore: Waitressing for Warner’s”,
Jump Cut, no. 7, 1975, pp. 5-7.

“Alice’ has been put together in so obvious an attempt to answer the criticisms
levelled at the womanless or woman-hating films of today, that I can only wish I could
Christos Tsiolkas, “What Martin Scorsese Taught me About being a Man”, The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 May 2016.
9
like it more than I do.” Molly Haskell, The Village Voice, 6 Jan, 1975, Part 1 and Part
2
Taxi Driver (1976)

In an interview with Roger Ebert after the release of Taxi Driver, Scorsese described
it as a much more feminist film than Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore: “Because it
takes macho to its logical conclusion. The better man is the man who can kill you.
This one shows that kind of thinking, shows the kinds of problems some men have,
bouncing back and forth between the goddesses and whores. The whole movie is
based, visually, on one shot where the guy is being turned down on the telephone by
the girl, and the camera actually pans away from him. It's too painful to see that
rejection.” Martin Scorsese to Roger Ebert in “Interview with Martin Scorsese”, Roger
Ebert Interviews, 7 March 1976.
The Age of Innocence (1993)

“There is conflict in this film. But it is expressed over tea. It's a wonderful, impossible love
story to do with the constrictions of society - a longing that comes in a direct line from
Who's That Knocking and, sort of, Travis's obsession with Betsy in Taxi Driver.” Martin
Scorsese to Sheila Johnston, “The word on the streets: Mean Streets was the making of
Martin Scorsese”, The Independent, 12 February 1993.
Casino (1995)

“Sharon Stone's performance as Ginger McKenna can be seen as a site of feminine
extravagance, decorative glamour and vintage glitter”. Rebecca Feasey, “Stardom
and Distinction: Sharon Stone and the Problem of Legitimacy”, Bath Spa University,
UK, May 2004.

“…Ginger never gets a voiceover. We are never cued into her motives…. Ginger’s
female hustler code remains immediate and unknown.” Natasha Vargas-Cooper,
“Canon Fodder: Martin Scorsese's Casino”, GQ, 10 November 2011.
The Aviator (2004)

“With Leo I’ve been very lucky. He’s not afraid to go and touch those places that are
vulnerable as a man. That’s one of the key things: accepting vulnerability in men. De
Niro has it. Keitel. Daniel Day Lewis, definitely.” Martin Scorsese to Jeremy Berger,
“What Martin Scorsese Worries About”, askmen.
10
Lonely Heroes
I didn’t know that the characters we
created in our films were existential
heroes; I never studied philosophy.
But I always believed in their
emotions.
Martin Scorsese6
Many of Martin Scorsese’s characters are in conflict with themselves and society. Scorsese’s
most uncompromising and controversial take on this figure is his depiction of Jesus Christ in
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), based on the eponymous novel by Nikos Kazantzakis.
Scorsese, who had initially planned on becoming a priest, had dreamed of making this film
since the 1970s.
In a broader sense, the notions of sin, atonement and forgiveness are pivotal components of
his films. The majority of his lead characters are on some level riddled with guilt or self-doubt,
and in search of redemption.
In Kundun, however, Scorsese explores a different kind of emblematic religious figure,
following the life of the Dalai Lama from his early childhood to his forced exile during the
Chinese invasion of Tibet. His most recent feature Silence tells the story of the persecution of
Jesuit priests in seventeenth century Japan.
Taxi Driver (1976)

“What is striking about Taxi Driver is its assumption that loneliness and violence go
hand in hand . . . Travis’s violence is in one sense purely an expression of individual
madness, in another, it is a conceivable expression of the national identity.” Lawrence
Friedman (The Cinema of Martin Scorsese, 1997) quoted by Matthew J. Iannucci in
“Postmodern Antihero: Capitalism and Heroism in Taxi Driver”, Bright Lights, 31
January, 2005.
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
6

In her review of The Last Temptation of Christ, Janet Maslin points out the centrality
of “faith and sacrifice, guilt and redemption, sin and atonement” to Scorsese’s
filmmaking. “’Last Temptation’, Scorsese's View of Jesus' Sacrifice”, The New York
Times, 12 August 1988.

“Pointedly employing the full arsenal of film grammar and drawing from the whole
expanse of film history, Scorsese restores Christianity’s diffuse, often unrecognizable
remnants to their origin.” Eric Hynes, “The Last Temptation of Christ” Museum of the
Moving Image, 7 Oct, 2014.
Caron, Andre, “The Last Temptation of Travis Bickle”, Offscreen, Volume 1, Issue 6/September 1997.
11
Kundun (1997)

“What previous Scorsese protagonist has even had the option to follow the path to
spiritual enlightenment?” Gavin Smith, “Martin Scorsese Interviewed”, Film Comment,
January/February 1998.
Shutter Island (2010)

“Shutter Island feels like a psychological thriller without having to think like one.”
Joseph Jon Lanthier, “Outstanding Defense Mechanisms: The Phrenology of Martin
Scorsese’s Shutter Island”, Bright Lights Film Journal, April 30 2010.
12
New York
All my life, I never really felt
comfortable anywhere in New York,
except maybe in an apartment
somewhere.
Martin Scorsese7
Scorsese rarely turns the camera towards the city for its own sake – to spectacular images of
the skyline, for example – instead, he dives headlong into streets, bars, hallways and
apartments, riffing on the city’s surging energy and the restless, ambitious people who are
drawn to it. Scorsese’s most famous New York film, Taxi Driver (1976), explores - through
the eyes of Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) - the area around Times Square in Midtown
Manhattan, which was overrun by drugs and prostitution at that time.
In later films, such as The Age of Innocence (1993) and Gangs of New York (2002),
Scorsese turned to the city’s history in the 19th century, recreating historical New York with
extensive sets or at authentic-looking locations outside Manhattan. Alongside Woody Allen,
Scorsese has become one of the most important chroniclers of New York.
Taxi Driver (1976)
Featuring an alienated character observing the city through the windows of his taxi, Taxi
Driver draws viewers into its protagonist’s vision of a decaying and decadent New York.

“Bickle becomes, in Scorsese's film, the personification of New York - sometimes
romantic, sometimes brutally violent.” Henry Jenkins, “Tales of Manhattan: Mapping
the Urban Imagination through Hollywood Film”, MIT Center for Civic Media.

“The city on the page has grit and documentary detail, not to mention a splash of lefty
New York theater, heir to the legacies of Kazan and Brando, but a process of
innovation and improvisation during production gives the city of Taxi Driver a life of its
own…” Jaime N. Christley, “Taxi Driver at 40”, Movie Mezzanine, 8 February 2016.

“Confrontational, reflective and (as unfortunately transpired) grimly prophetic, Taxi
Driver’s vision of social corrosion, moral corruption and personal trauma remains as
much of a gut-punch now as it was on release.” Neil Mitchell, “Taxi Driver 40th
anniversary: five films that influenced Scorsese’s masterpiece”, BFI, 8 February 2016.
The Age of Innocence (1993)

7
“I regard Scorsese’s adaptation as masterful not just because he reveals his nostalgic
side by recreating a seemingly perfect simulacra of 1870s New York, or an unusually
romantic side by obsessively revisioning an unattainable woman, but because, like
Wharton, he can simultaneously tear holes in the fabric of the wonderful story as
soon as he weaves it.” Karli Lukas, “Creative Visions: (De)Constructing ‘The
“Gangs of New York: Are we Ever Going to Make this Picture?” Alex Williams, The Guardian, 3 January 2003.
13
Beautiful’ in Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence”, Senses of Cinema, Issue 25, March
2003.
Gangs of New York (2002)

“No movie has ever depicted American poverty and squalor in this way: Immigrants
huddle on shelves in a rooming house, starving children die in the streets, there is no
law except the rule of the mighty, and each immigrant or racial tribe battles the
others.”, Roger Ebert, “‘Gangs’ all here for Scorsese”, Roger Ebert Interviews, 15
December 2002.
SCORSESE, ACMI 2016
14
Cinephile
Our American artistic heritage has to
be preserved and shared by all of us.
Just as we’ve learned to take pride in
our poets and writers, in jazz and the
blues, we need to take pride in our
cinema, our great American art form.
Martin Scorsese8
Scorsese’s father often took him to the movies, where the big Hollywood classics fascinated
and enthralled him, starting a lifelong obsession with watching, making and talking about
cinema. He has an immense knowledge of cinema, which frequently flows into his films in the
form of references, homages and collaborations.
When Scorsese became aware of the rapid deterioration of colour film prints at the end of the
1970s, he and his colleagues jointly addressed an appeal to the Eastman Kodak to develop
colourfast and durable stock. In 1990, together with famous colleagues, including Steven
Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and Stanley Kubrick, he established The Film Foundation
which is dedicated to the preservation of international film heritage. Through his deep
commitment to film heritage and his continuous output of artistic work, Martin Scorsese has
built a unique bridge between the past and the future of international film.
Scorsese and Film Preservation

For an insight into Scorsese’s passion for film as well as a journey through the history
of cinema, view the lecture he delivered for the National Endowment for the
Humanities: Martin Scorsese, “Persistence of Vision: Reading the Language of
Cinema”, 2013 Jefferson Lecture, National Endowment for the Humanities.9

Visit the Film Foundation website to find out more about Scorsese’s commitment to
film preservation.

Scorsese has become a passionate advocate for the masterpieces of Polish cinema
and curated a program of restored Polish films that has been screened around the
world, including at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Martin Scorsese, “My
Passion for the Humour and Panic of Polish Cinema”, The Guardian, 17 April 2015.

“With all of that effort and all of that love that was put into something—in most
cases—and it means something to people, if the idea was just to show it only for a
little while and then maybe show it cut up on TV, and then that’s it, what are we
talking about in our culture? Film preservation.” Scorsese interviewed by Kent Jones,
“NYFF: Martin Scorsese on Film Preservation”, Film Comment, 27 October 2015.
8
Film Foundation
The Jefferson lecture is described as the highest honour awarded by the US federal government for “distinguished intellectual
achievement in the humanities”.
9
15
Cape Fear (1991)
Robert P Kolker focuses on Scorsese’s fascination with the films of Hitchcock to highlight
Scorsese’s active contribution to an ongoing filmmaking tradition: “Algebraic Figures:
Recalculating the Hitchcock Formula”, Play it Again, Sam: Retakes on Remakes, Andrew
Horton and Stuart Y. McDougal (eds), University of California Press, Berkley, 1998,
Kundun (1997)
The interview Roger Ebert did with Scorsese to mark the release of Kundun in 1998,
provides great insight into Scorsese’s passion for cinema. Ebert reflects that “perhaps the
reason he is the greatest director is because he has spent the most time learning from those
who went before him.” “Scorsese learns from those who went before him”, Roger Ebert
Interviews, 11 January 1998.
Hugo (2011)
For many Scorsese fans, Hugo was a surprise: a family film made in stereoscopic 3 D.
However, this film was very much a labour of love, drawing on Scorsese’s fascination with
the history of cinema and respect for the genius of Georges Méliès.
“The way Méliès did it, he was inventing it as he went along. And we found ourselves in a
similar situation with the 3-D. Because every time you put the camera in place, it was the
added element of depth." “Martin Scorsese on Hugo: A Very Personal Film”, Sunday
Morning, CBS News.
“Méliès is obsessed with burying the past and maintaining the secret, and that is born of
another obsession: the obsession of cinema and the shame of being cast away and
forgotten.” Martin Scorsese talking to Christy Grosz, “Scorsese Talks Preservation”, Variety,
1 January 2012.
“In many ways, he [Scorsese] was Hugo himself, a little boy enchanted by the wizardry of
filmmaking and optical effects. Jack Picone, “The Best Cinematography: Hugo And Martin
Scorsese’s 3D Wonderland”, New York Film Academy, 10 December 2014.
16
Cinematography
These special effects are hard! Some
take 89 days to render—89 days to
render! And what if you don't like it
when it comes back? I tell them at a
certain point, you've gotta tell me,
you've got to say: This is the point of
no return, Marty; you've got to make
up your mind right now about this
facet of the shot! So, you know, that's
when you've got to make up your
mind.
Martin Scorsese (on Hugo and 3D)10
Martin Scorsese composes every detail of his films. The emotional rhythm of each scene is
determined by the interplay of actor, camera, editing and sound. Despite the violence often
on display, Scorsese’s films are characterized by a special lightness and immediacy. This is
due both to the director’s production style and to the virtuoso work of his directors of
photography, such as Michael Ballhaus, Robert Richardson, and Michael Chapman.
Whether in bravura gestures like the uninterrupted two and a half-minute sequence in
GoodFellas (1990), in which the camera follows Henry (Ray Liotta) and Karen (Lorraine
Bracco) through the Copacabana nightclub, or his exquisite use of 3D in the fantasy film
Hugo (2011), Scorsese searches for the appropriate coverage of every scene. Frequent
changes of speed, dynamic relationships between the movements of the camera and the
actors, and fluid tracking shots underscore and refine the dramatic point being made at each
moment.
Scorsese’s Vision
10

“He carries all these films in his head. He shows me whole films for just one shot,
telling me, 'Remember this image, that's the feel I want.'" Production designer Dante
Ferreti in Rick Tetzeli, “Martin Scorsese on Vision in Hollywood”, Fastcompany, 21
November 2011.

“The term ‘director’ is kind of odd and even wrong in a way, but in one sense it’s on
target: you’re directing the audience’s eye, their attention, from one moment to the
next, through all kinds of means.”. Martin Scorsese, “Conversation with Martin
Scorsese and Kent Jones”, American Masters, PBS, 27 September 2010.

“The series of storyboards here for an imagined widescreen Roman epic called The
Eternal City— drawn by 11-year-old Scorsese—show us that his vision always
exceeded the cramped Little Italy streets of his youth.” Josh Jones, “11-Year-Old
Interview with Rick Tetzeli, “Martin Scorsese on Vision in Hollywood”, 21 November 2011, Fast Company,
17
Martin Scorsese Draws Storyboards for His Imagined Roman Epic Film, The Eternal
City”, Open Culture, 30 July 2014.

“Martin Scorsese is passionate about visual literacy. The filmmaker’s fondness for the
subject harks back to childhood, having grown up in a poor home with little access to
books or other printed materials.” Luke Buckmaster, “Scorsese and the Four Key
Elements of Visual Literacy”, ACMI Channel, 18 April 2016.

Scorsese “is unafraid to use unusual cinematic techniques to thrust us boldly into the
characters’ minds and emotions. In this effort he joins some great cinematic
traditions. No surprise there: He has an immediate sense that film history hovers over
every choice a director makes.” David Bordwell, “Scorsese ‘pressionist”, Observations
on Film Art, bordwellblog, 21 April 2010.

“You know, we can't keep thinking in a limited way about what cinema is. We still
don't know what cinema is.” Martin Scorsese to Scott Feinberg, “Martin Scorsese
Defends 'The Wolf of Wall Street': 'The Devil Comes With a Smile'”, The Hollywood
Reporter, 31 December 2013.
Ranking Scorsese

ScreenCrush invited over 100 key people in the film industry to nominate their
favourite Martin Scorsese film (or films): “The ranking may not present the films
according to how many Oscars they won or what their Rotten Tomatoes scores would
be, but they certainly represent the influence on a generation of artists and
entertainers inspired by Scorsese's genius.” ScreenCrush Staff, “Ranking Martin
Scorsese's Movies from Best to Worst”, ScreenCrush, 20 December 2013. .
The Age of Innocence (1993)

“…Scorsese is, like his predecessors, a filmmaker fascinated not just by stories, but the
challenge of how best to illustrate or reconstruct them by delving into experiential
experiments of process, form and genre.” Karli Lukas, “Creative Visions: (De)Constructing
“The Beautiful” in Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence”, Senses of Cinema, March 2003,
Issue 25.

So they both know he has lied, but neither actually says it. And I found it fascinating to
film that with a light touch. I asked myself how to place a hand in terms of camera
placement, the size of the actors in the frame, the correct camera movement, the
emotional level of performance. It was so funny; it was like painting miniatures. It was
really fun." Scorsese to Roger Ebert, “The ‘Innocence’ of Martin Scorsese”, Roger Ebert
Interviews, 19 March 1993.
Casino (1995)

“Of all the bravura visual effects in Martin Scorsese's dazzlingly stylish Casino, it's a
glimpse of ordinary people that delivers the greatest jolt. Strategically timed to offset
three hours' worth of vintage Las Vegas glitter, it's a reminder that Mr. Scorsese has
given this film's setting the surreal and breathtaking intensity of a money-mad mirage.
The real world looks shockingly impoverished by comparison.” Janet Maslin, “A
Money Mad Mirage from Scorsese”, The New York Times, 22 January 1995
18
Gangs of New York (2002)

“With the techno-fetishistic trend for fast pacing and flashy visuals dominating and
dehumanising much American filmmaking, Scorsese emerged as the only cinematic
intelligence engaging with this style who could fully master it and use it to bring the
viewer close up – extreme close up – to his complex, troubling characters…”
Maximilian Le Cain, “Orphans of the Storm: Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York”,
Senses of Cinema, March 2003, Issue 25.
The Famous Shots
Quick links to clips containing some of Scorsese’s most celebrated shots.
Mean streets: Charlie partying
Mean Streets: Johnny’s entrance
Taxi Driver: overhead shot after shootout
Raging Bull: the continuous shot that accompanies Jake as he heads towards the ring and
the fight for the title
GoodFellas: the Copacabana shot
GoodFellas: dolly zoom
The Age of Innocence: the opera glasses scene
Casino: overhead of Ginger throwing chips in the air
Hugo: Opening shot
The Wolf of Wall Street: Quaaludes master shot
To mark the opening of SCORSESE at ACMI, Bruce Isaacs dissects five great scenes from
Scorsese’s oeuvre:
Episode 1 Who’s that Knocking at my Door? The Conversation, 25 May 2016
Episode 2 Mean Streets The Conversation, 26 May 2016
Episode 3 Taxi Driver The Conversation, 27 May 2016
Episode 4 Raging Bull The Conversation, 28 May 2016
Episode 5 GoodFellas The Conversation, 29 May 2016
19
Editing
…for me, and for a lot of editors and
directors, the more interesting editing
is not so visible. It’s the decisions
that go into building a character, a
performance, for example, or how you
rearrange scenes in a movie, if it’s not
working properly, so that you can get
a better dramatic build.
Thelma Schoonmaker
Martin Scorsese plans the visual construction of a film in storyboards, shot by shot, before
production begins. While these plans are a guide that may change on set, for Scorsese, the
visual elements are as much a part of the writing process as the words in the script. The
editing suite is where filmmakers get the opportunity to ‘write’ the film a second time, by
changing the structure of the narrative, shaping performances and enhancing various plot
points.
Scorsese met the film editor Thelma Schoonmaker during his film studies at New York
University. She edited his first feature-length film Who’s That Knocking at My Door (1969).
They next worked together in 1980 with Raging Bull, for which Schoonmaker won the first of
her three Oscars, and she has edited all of his subsequent features.
Together, Schoonmaker and Scorsese have broken new ground in the pacing of action, but
always in the service of the story. Schoonmaker’s great strength is her ability to play free and
loose with the traditions and rules of filmic continuity, while remaining utterly faithful to
narrative coherence and the emotion of the moment.
Storyboards

In 2015, Scorsese tantalised audiences with three frames from the storyboard built for
The Silence. It was used in the design for the poster for the 39th Sao Paulo
International Film Festival.

“Some directors, like Ridley Scott, spend time crafting detailed storyboards, while
others, like the thoroughly improvisational Werner Herzog, don’t use them at all.
Scorsese falls somewhere in between, sketching out storyboard panels that feel more
like brief notes to himself and his closest collaborators.” Colin Marshall, “Revisit
Martin Scorsese’s Hand-Drawn Storyboards for Taxi Driver”, Open Culture.
Collaboration

“Such eloquent inter-cutting speaks volumes of Scorsese’s long term collaborator,
editor Thelma Schoonmaker. Working on every Scorsese film since Raging Bull (for
which she won an Oscar), her contribution gives the director’s arsenal of steady-cam
work, tracking shots and framing its proper deployment. The combination of their
skills creates films that exhilarate on every level: visually, intellectually, emotionally,
20
even aurally (it wasn’t Tarantino who trailblazed rock music scores).” Eugene, “Martin
Scorsese”, New York Film Academy Student Resources.

“The collaboration between a film director and editor is akin to a good marriage. It’s a
relationship based on trust, respect, and loyalty.” Joanna Di Mattia, “Scorsese &
Schoonmaker: Symbiotic Filmmaking”, ACMI Channel.

Thelma Schoonmaker offers fascinating insights into her craft and her collaboration
with Scorsese. “Hugo editor Thelma Schoonmaker”, DP/30: The Oral History of
Hollywood.

"We literally have the film there and struggle with it, create it, enjoy it, get confused,
get tired, get happy, get upset and move on." Martin Scorsese in Susan King, “Martin
Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker: Match Made in an Editing Room”, Los Angeles
Times, 3 May 2014

“…throughout our history of improvisational cutting, we have decided to go with the
performance, or in this case particularly with the humor of a line, as opposed to trying
to make sure a coffee cup is in the right place.” Thelma Schoonmaker interviewed
byNick Pinkerton, Film Comment, 31 March 2014.

Zachary Wigon, “8 Lessons Thelma Schoonmaker Taught us at TFF 2014”, Tribeca,
April 19 2014.
SCORSESE ACMI 2016
21
Music
I can’t imagine my life, or anyone
else’s, without music. It’s like a light
in the darkness that never goes out.
Martin Scorsese11
Music plays an important role in Martin Scorsese’s life and work, and he has a fine ear for
using music to enhance the energy of particular scenes without being overtly literal or
sentimental. He often directs the action to match the beat of particular pieces, or chooses
songs whose lyrics or cultural connotations introduce an element of irony.
The soundtrack for Mean Streets (1973) is peppered with the music that emanated from the
apartments, streets and bars in Little Italy at night. For Taxi Driver (1976), however,
Scorsese decided not to use any pop music at all, as the central character, Travis Bickle,
didn’t listen to music. Scorsese worked with legendary American film composer, Bernard
Herrmann, who created an iconic jazz theme that shifts between the melancholy and the
sinister. For Shutter Island (2010), Scorsese exclusively used music composed in the 1950s
– the period in which the film is set. The avant-garde sounds of composers like Krzysztof
Penderecki and György Ligeti underscore the psychological fragility of the main character.
In 1978 Scorsese directed the concert film The Last Waltz (1978), the final gig of The Band,
and in 2008 he filmed The Rolling Stones live in New York for Shine a Light. His
documentaries on Bob Dylan and George Harrison not only recount the careers of these
musicians, but also deliver subtly differentiated portraits of the times.
Scorsese, Music and the Movies
11

“Pop music had been used effectively in soundtracks before, but there was something
about the way Scorsese associated the music you'd hear on the streets with the
toughness of street life that felt unique.” David Fear, “Martin Scorsese's Music: An A
to Z Guide to the Director's Soundtracks”, Rolling Stone, 8 January 2014.

“Music and movies are umbilically entwined in the films of Martin Scorsese.” Adrian
Danks, “It Felt Like a Kiss – Movies, Popular Music and Martin Scorsese”, The
Conversation, 20 May 2016.

“Scorsese brought a whole new approach to scoring films with popular music
with Mean Streets, using songs to establish tone ("Be My Baby," which opens the
film, offers a nostalgic innocence that contrasts with Charlie's world of guilt and
violence), suggest character (Charlie enters the strip club to the song "Jumpin' Jack
Flash"), describe the culture, pace the editing and, in general, create an aural
personality and energy. It's a culture where doo-wop and rock are as present as
opera arias.” Sean Axmaker, “Mean Streets”, TCM Film Article, Turner Classic
Movies, no date.
“Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues”, Mike Springer, Open Culture, 4 January 2013.
22

“Scorsese has a gift for marrying music, and especially rock, with film.” James A.
Cosby, “Martin Scorsese's Best Marriage of Film and Music Is Showcased in
GoodFellas”, popmatters, 5 November 2013.

“Marty is a genius for putting music to film, and that’s why you’re saying it feels
scored, because he weaves the music into the film in such an expert way. David
Ehrlich, “Legendary Editor Thelma Schoonmaker Reveals the Process of Cutting the
Wolf of Wall Street”, MTV News, 23 December 2013.

"The main thing about Marty's use of music is he's fearless, creatively fearless,"
Randall Poster, “Scorsese's Music Man on 'Wolf of Wall Street' Soundtrack Album:
'Marty is Fearless'” The Hollywood Reporter, 25 December 2013.

“One staggering aspect of the concert footage is that the viewer feels as privy to the
onstage emotions as any musician there.” Chris Hoddenfield, “'The Last Waltz': A
Concert Becomes a Legend”, Rolling Stone, 1 June 1978.

“My films would be unthinkable without them.” (Martin Scorsese on The Rolling
Stones), “A History of Martin Scorsese’s Love Affair with the Rolling Stones”, Dan
Reilly, Vulture, 12 February 2016.
SCORSESE ACMI 2016
23
Martin Scorsese Filmography
Films
Documentaries
1969 Who’s that Knocking at My Door?
1970 Street Scenes
1972 Boxcar Bertha
1974 Italianamerican
1973 Mean Streets
1978 The Last Waltz
1974 Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
1978 American Boy: A Profile of Steven
1976 Taxi Driver
Prince
1977 New York, New York
1995 A Personal Journey with Martin
1980 Raging Bull
Scorsese Through American Movies
1983 The King of Comedy
1999 My Voyage to Italy
1985 After Hours
2003 The Blues
1986 The Color of Money
2005 No Direction Home: Bob Dylan
1988 The Last Temptation of Christ
2008 Shine a Light
1989 New York Stories “Life Lessons”
2010 Public Speaking
1990 GoodFellas
2011 George Harrison: Living in the Material
1991 Cape Fear
World
1993 The Age of Innocence
2014 The 50 Year Argument
1995 Casino
1997 Kundun
Television
1999 Bringing Out the Dead
1986 Amazing Stories Episode “Mirror,
2002 Gangs of New York
Mirror”
2004 The Aviator
2010-2014 Boardwalk Empire
2006 The Departed
2016 Vinyl
2010 Shutter Island
2011 Hugo
2013 The Wolf of Wall Street
2016 Silence
24