Scorsese has produced screen magic with Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, and Raging Bull, among many others. His cinematic canon is wide and deep and we believe this list demonstrates that.
So whether you’re doing research on him, or ready to sit down and watch one of these movies tonight, this list of the top Martin Scorsese films will be just what you need!
It should be noted that we’ve included the films in a rough ranking order. But with a filmmaker like Martin Scorsese, the work is so good that it’s really hard to form an exact order.
# Preview Product Price 1 The Departed $3.99 View on Amazon 2 Mean Streets $7.00 View on Amazon 3 Bringing Out the Dead View on Amazon 4 Boxcar Bertha View on Amazon 5 Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World $4.99 View on Amazon
So, without further ado, let’s jump right in and list the best Martin Scorsese films!
The Best Martin Scorsese Movies
Let’s start off with an absolute cinema classic, Taxi Driver.
Taxi Driver (1976)
Special Collector’s Edition is digitally remastered and includes a never-before-seen making-of documentary featuring interviews with the creators and stars of the film.
Robert De Niro stars with Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, and Albert Brooks in the all-too-real story of a psychotic New York cabby who is driven to violence in an attempt to rescue a teenage prostitute.
Winner of the prestigious Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival (1976) and nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Picture (1976), Taxi Driver stars Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s classic film of a psychotic New York cabbie driven to violence by loneliness and desperation. Co-starring Jodie Foster, Albert Brooks, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, and Cybill Shepherd.
Winner of the prestigious Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival (1976) and nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Picture (1976), Taxi Driver stars Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s classic film of a psychotic New York cabbie driven to violence by loneliness and desperation. Co-starring Jodie Foster, Albert Brooks, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, and Cybill Shepherd.
Taxi Driver is the definitive cinematic portrait of loneliness and alienation manifested as violence.
It is as if director Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Paul Schrader had tapped into precisely the same source of psychological inspiration (“I just knew I had to make this film,” Scorsese would later say), combined with a perfectly timed post-Watergate expression of personal, political, and societal anxiety.
Robert De Niro, as the tortured, ex-Marine cab driver Travis Bickle, made movie history with his chilling performance as one of the most memorably intense and vividly realized characters ever committed to film.
Bickle is a self-appointed vigilante who views his urban beat as an intolerable cesspool of blighted humanity.
He plays guardian angel for a young prostitute (Jodie Foster), but not without violently devastating consequences.
This masterpiece, which is not for all tastes, is sure to horrify some viewers, but few could deny the film’s lasting power and importance. –Jeff Shannon
Taxi Driver Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Robert DeNiro, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Julia Phillips (Producer) English (Playback Language) English (Subtitle) $12.99 View on Amazon Goodfellas (1990)
The life and times of Henry Hill, who grew up idolizing the wise guys in his neighborhood and eventually became one of them.
With his friends Jimmy Conway and Tommy De Vito, Henry lived the dream life of taking whatever he wanted and answering to no one – until everything caught up with him.
The UHD disc of Goodfellas is based on the same 4K scan of the original camera negative that was used to generate the 25th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray.
This new version is something of a landmark for Warner Brothers because Goodfellas is its first “deep catalog” release in what remains a fledgling format.
All of Warner’s previous 4K discs to date are 21st Century films completed on digital intermediates, but Goodfellas is entirely a product of the analog era, which constitutes the bulk of cinema history.
This makes it an informative preview (along with such Sony titles as Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II) of how older titles originated on film and completed photochemically may fare in the brave new world of 4K and High Dynamic Range.
Before turning to the UHD of Goodfellas, let me take a short detour to discuss calibration.
The gold standard of calibration has been set by the Imaging Science Foundation (or “ISF”), which was created in 1994 to establish standardization in electronic imaging.
Calibrators trained and certified by the ISF are routinely retained to adjust and confirm the accuracy of the displays used in post houses and DI suites, and they are also hired by home theater installers and enthusiasts to provide the same services for consumer equipment. ISF calibration requires several key components.
These include a colorimeter for measuring a display’s light output, color values, and wavelengths; and a signal generator to feed the display standardized test patterns that can be measured by the colorimeter.
Top-quality colorimeters are expensive devices that cost more than the average home theater, and their proper use depends on an intimate understanding of the underlying technology—which is why accurate calibration requires the hiring of a properly trained and equipped professional.
The challenge of 4K and HDR at the moment is that no signal generator currently on the market is capable of supplying the requisite test patterns.
Most importantly for present purposes, these test signals would include an HDR-graded PLUGE pattern, which is an essential tool for setting black levels.
In the absence of any standardization, calibration for 4K and HDR has remained a moving target, and this limitation affects the entire UHD chain, from creation to playback.
A small group of technicians has coordinated with industry representatives to develop a 4K/HDR test disc that can be used for ISF calibration.
Although the disc is not yet widely available, I am fortunate enough to work with one of its creators, Kevin Miller, who is both a charter member of the ISF and its officially designated Technical Consultant. Recently, Mr. Miller used this disc to re-calibrate my system for HDR color and black levels.
All of my UHD reviews written since that procedure bear the paragraph in italics below, specifying the calibration equipment and methodology. Even before the latest calibration, it was obvious that the 2160p, HEVC/H.265-encoded UHD of Goodfellas suffered from black-level issues.
Since the procedure, I have rewatched the disc several times. In comparison to the Blu-ray, the UHD reveals a slight (a very slight) increase in visible detail and grain, but the improvement continues to be overshadowed (literally) by improper black levels that cast a haze of over brightening across the entire frame.
The effect is most pronounced in scenes set in darkened interiors such as clubs and bars—and there are many such scenes in Goodfellas.
A good example is the bar scene (chapter 33) in which Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) narrates the planning for the Lufthansa heist, while the camera picks up each member of the crew being assembled by Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro).
The last to enter is “Stacks” Edwards (Samuel L. Jackson), and as he walks away from the camera into the back of the bar, the outline of his figure softens and the details fade.
The same phenomenon can be observed after the heist when Jimmy is celebrating at the same bar, but his jubilation turns to fury when he discovers that members of the crew have disobeyed his orders not to attract attention with luxury purchases.
In scenes such as these, the UHD’s image is routinely less distinct and detailed than the Blu-ray’s, because the blacks are too bright.
The UHD’s colors appear to have been slightly intensified compare to the Blu-ray, with reds and blues the chief beneficiary, but here again, the over brightening tends to undercut any improvements by dampening color intensity.
Is the UHD unwatchable? Not at all. As with many video phenomena, the eye quickly adjusts to the presentation, and the elevated black levels become routine.
But having watched Goodfellas repeatedly on both UHD and the 25th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray, I find the Blu-ray to be a better viewing experience. (And yes, my setup is also ISF-calibrated for 1080p.)
Like other studios, Warner touts HDR as a major enhancement, but the UHD presentation of Goodfellas demonstrates that the HDR sticker prominently affixed to every 4K title does not necessarily a superior image.
While the 4K image could no doubt be re-graded with accurate black levels, it is uncertain whether and how much the corrected image would offer any meaningful improvement over the Blu-ray.
Regardless, Goodfellas stands as a demonstration of why HDR is not automatically a benefit.
As UHD progresses, it may turn out that some—possibly many—older films should be left in SDR, without any attempt to “enhance” their blacks, contrast, or colors.
GoodFellas Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Nicholas Pileggi (Writer) - Irwin Winkler (Producer) (Playback Language) Audience Rating: R (Restricted) View on Amazon Casino (1995)
Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, and Joe Pesci star in director Martin Scorsese’s riveting look at how blind ambition, white-hot passion, and 24-karat greed toppled an empire.
Las Vegas, 1973, is the setting for this fact-based story about the Mob’s multimillion-dollar casino operation, where fortunes and lives were made and lost with a roll of the dice.
Former sports handicapper Sam Rothstein was recruited by the mob to manage the Tangiers Casino due to his financial genius and ruthless efficiency.
Sam soon turns the Tangiers into a cash cow for the mafia, but his infatuation with a beautiful hustler threatens to topple his Las Vegas empire.
The beautiful and impulsive Ginger McKenna caught the eye of Sam Rothstein while running a scam in his casino, and they are soon married.
But even her luxurious new life can’t save Ginger from her self-destructive impulses…or the influence of her former boyfriend.
Brutal mob enforcer Nicky Santoro followed his childhood friend Sam Rothstein to the Tangiers Casino. Despite their friendship, Nicky’s bloodthirsty and reckless tactics in Las Vegas threaten to destroy everything that Sam has built.
Casino Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Barbara De Fina (Producer) English (Playback Language) English (Subtitle) $13.99 View on Amazon After Hours (1985)
When an uptown New Yorker innocently meets a downtown girl, he’s uncontrollably drawn into a vortex of wild, malevolent, and paranoid adventures After Hours.
Paul Hackett’s (Griffin Dunne) terrible night happens in the SoHo area of downtown Manhattan when he goes to keep a date with Marcy (Rosanna Arquette).
Nothing in his humdrum life as a word processor has prepared him for his surreal encounters with Marcy; her far-out artist roommate Kiki (Linda Fiorentino); cocktail waitress Julie (Teri Garr).
Ice cream vendor Gail (Catherine O’Hara); June (Verna Bloom), who lives in the basement of a nightclub; and Mark (Robert Plunket) who is ripe for his first gay experience.
Now, Paul longs only for the safety of his upper-East Side apartment … but will he ever make it home?
This well-regarded cult film is a tense Kafka-esque tale concerning what happens to a likable computer guy who is in the wrong place at the wrong time in the city that never sleeps–New York.
This is a New York infested with bizarre characters vividly brought to life by a once-in-a-lifetime cast.
Griffin Dunne’s wonderfully controlled comic performance as Paul Hackett is the glue that holds this increasingly surreal film together.
Scorsese utilizes a full array of independent and underground film techniques, including special film speed manipulations, angles, and edits, deftly capturing the strange rhythms of an after-hours New York City.
Many will find the jokes clever, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny.
Some, however, will find the film an excruciating series of staged circumstances setting up a sadistically cruel dark nightmare of horrors.
And there are a few lines of dialogue so poorly written they remind you how unbelievable the thin story really is. But forgive the film these few lapses–overall it’s a wild, surreal ride.
The most offbeat character is the beehive-sporting, Monkee-obsessed neurotic played to perfection by Teri Garr.
And the moment when Griffin Dunne uses his last quarter to play Peggy Lee’s “Is That All There Is” and dances with Verna Bloom while an angry mob searches SoHo for him is an inspired bit of lunacy. –Christopher J. Jarmick
After Hours (1985) Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Rosanna Arquette, Verna Bloom, Tommy Chong (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Joseph Minion (Writer) - Amy Robinson (Producer) English (Playback Language) English (Subtitle) $4.99 View on Amazon Raging Bull (1980)
Robert De Niro teams with director Martin Scorsese in this “extraordinarily compelling” (Leonard Maltin) film that introduced unflinching realism to stunned audiences in 1980.
An “exceedingly violent as well as poetic” fight picture that maps “the landscape of the soul” (The New York Times), Raging Bull garnered eight Oscar nominations and won two, including Best Actor for De Niro.
De Niro gives the performance of his career as Jake La Motta, a boxer whose psychological complexities erupt into violence both in and out of the ring.
Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty are unforgettable as the brother who falls prey to Jake’s mounting paranoia and jealousy, and the fifteen-year-old girl who becomes his most prized trophy.
A “brilliantly photographed film of extraordinary power and rare distinction” (The Wall Street Journal), Raging Bull is filmmaking at its riveting best.
Raging Bull Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Jake LaMotta (Writer) - Robert Chartoff (Producer) English (Playback Language) English (Subtitle) $13.99 View on Amazon Mean Streets (1973)
Harvey Keitel plays Charlie, working his way up the ranks of a local mob. Amy Robinson is Teresa, the girlfriend his family deems unsuitable because of her epilepsy.
And in the star-making role that won Best Supporting Actor Awards from the New York and National Society of Film Critics, De Niro is Johnny Boy, a small-time gambler in big-time debt to loan sharks.
This is a story Martin Scorsese lived, a semi-biographical tale of the first-generation sons and daughters of New York’s Little Italy.
Four Italian-Americans from New York’s Lower East Side hangs around at a local bar. Charlie (Harvey Keitel), the most responsible of the group, tries to protect his girlfriend’s cousin Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro) from the local debt collectors, but his young charge seems determined to live fast and die young.
Heavily influenced by the French New Wave, ‘Mean Streets’ provided the first high-profile success for director Martin Scorsese and star Robert De Niro.
Mean Streets Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Amy Robinson (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Martin Scorsese (Writer) - Jonathan Taplin (Producer) English (Playback Language) English (Subtitle) $2.99 View on Amazon The King of Comedy (1983)
Aspiring comic Rupert Pupkin attempts to achieve success in show business by stalking his idol, a late-night talk-show host who craves his own privacy.
Academy Award Winner Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, and Sandra Bernhard give mesmerizing performances in this “chilling black comedy” (TV Guide’s Movie Guide) that explores the painfully high and often hilarious price of fame.
Desperate to be a star, struggling stand-up comedian Rupert Pupkin (De Niro) enlists the aid of his fanatical friend Masha (Bernhard) to kidnap talk show host Jerry Langford (Lewis). The ransom? A guest spot for Pupkin.
The results? Outrageous!
The King of Comedy stands as Scorsese’s prophetic masterpiece which confronts a celebrity culture that “looks more disturbingly current with each passing year” (Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide).
The King of Comedy Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Tony Randall (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Arnon Milchan (Producer) English (Playback Language) English (Subtitle) $9.99 View on Amazon The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
The Last Temptation of Christ, by Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull), is a towering achievement. Though it initially engendered enormous controversy, the film can now be viewed as the remarkable, profoundly personal work of faith that it is.
This fifteen-year labor of love, an adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis’s landmark novel that imagines an alternate fate for Jesus Christ, features outstanding performances by Willem Dafoe (Antichrist), Barbara Hershey (Hannah and Her Sisters), Harvey Keitel (Mean Streets), Harry Dean Stanton (Paris, Texas), and David Bowie (The Man Who Fell to Earth); bold cinematography by the great Michael Ballhaus (Broadcast News); and a transcendent score by Peter Gabriel.
Criterion’s release of Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ effectively presents both the film’s beauty and controversy.
Produced on an extremely tight budget, The Last Temptation of Christ has a very epic feel that is wonderfully captured on this DVD.
Though a few specks and scratches are apparent throughout the 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation, the overall visual quality is quite sharp and vibrant.
The newly mastered Dolby Digital 5.1 track is a phenomenal improvement, noticeably enhancing ambient sounds, dialogue, and Peter Gabriel’s moving soundtrack.
There are various added extras that really put the film’s content into perspective.
The stellar commentary track includes director Martin Scorsese, star Willem Dafoe, screenwriter Paul Schrader, and film critic Jay Cocks candidly discussing various aspects of the production, including the initial obstacles, extensive research, and notorious controversial elements.
This is a great DVD for fans and an informative one for those who wish to see past its notoriety. –Rob Bracco
The Last Temptation of Christ Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Paul Schrader (Writer) - Barbara De Fina (Producer) English (Playback Language) English (Subtitle) $14.99 View on Amazon The Departed (2006)
In The Departed, two just-graduated officers from the Massachusetts State Police Academy are following opposite sides of the law.
Billy Costigan is assigned to work undercover with the Irish mobster Frank Costello in an effort to get enough evidence to arrest him.
Costello’s protégé, Officer Colin Sullivan, is the mob’s informant on the force.
But when it becomes obvious there’s a traitor on both sides, each “rat” does his best to identify the other before being exposed himself.
Did you know?
The Departed is an American remake of the Hong Kong film Internal Affairs. Budgeted at $90 million, The Departed grossed nearly $290 million worldwide. This is the only remake of a foreign film to win an Oscar for Best Picture. One of the main reasons Jack Nicholson joined the production was because he wanted to play the role of a villain again. This is the first Scorsese film that Jack Nicholson has appeared in.
An ace police cadet, Costigan is assigned to infiltrate the Irish mob to collect evidence that will convict mob boss Costello.
The head of the Irish-American mob in south Boston, Costello plants Sullivan in the Massachusetts State Police as a mole.
Sullivan is introduced into the world of organized crime by Irish mob boss Frank Costello. Sullivan is groomed from the beginning to be an informant for the mob.
A loyal and hardworking detective, Dignam is one of the few who knows Costigan is a police informant. When it comes to Sullivan, Dignam thinks he smells a rat.
The Departed Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - William Monahan (Writer) - Brad Pitt (Producer) English (Playback Language) English (Subtitle) $3.99 View on Amazon The Wolf of Wall Street (2011)
Revered filmmaker Martin Scorsese directs the story of New York stockbroker Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio).
From the American dream to corporate greed, Belfort goes from penny stocks and righteousness to IPOs and a life of corruption in the late 80s.
Excess success and affluence in his early twenties as founder of the brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont warranted Belfort the title – “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
Sex. Money. Power. Drugs. Brace yourself for an outrageous true story from legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as a young stockbroker hungry for a life of non-stop thrills where corruption was king and more was never enough.
His rise to power earned him the title The Wolf of Wall Street. Together Scorsese and DiCaprio deliver a story of American excess.
The Wolf Of Wall Street Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Terence Winter (Writer) - Martin Scorsese (Producer) English (Playback Language) English (Subtitle) $12.99 View on Amazon The Irishman (2019)
Martin Scorsese’s cinematic mastery is on full display in this sweeping crime saga, which serves as an elegiac summation of his six-decade career.
Left behind by the world, a former hitman and union truck driver Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) looks back from a nursing home on his life’s journey through the ranks of organized crime.
From his involvement with Philadelphia mob boss Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) to his association with Teamsters union head Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) to the rift that forced him to choose between the two.
An intimate story of loyalty and betrayal writ large across the epic canvas of mid-twentieth-century American history, The Irishman (based on the real-life Sheeran’s confessions, as told to writer Charles Brandt for the book I Heard You Paint Houses).
It’s a uniquely reflective late-career triumph that balances its director’s virtuoso set pieces with a profoundly personal rumination on aging, mortality, and the decisions and regrets that shape a life.
Sale The Irishman (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) Audience Rating: R (Restricted) $39.95 −$15.51 $24.44 View on Amazon Shutter Island (2010)
In Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese’s spine-chilling thriller, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) navigates what appears to be a routine investigation that quickly turns sinister.
Featuring an all-star cast, including Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, Michelle Williams, and based on the best-selling novel by Dennis Lehane.
Shutter Island Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Laeta Kalogridis (Writer) - Laeta Kalogridis (Producer) English (Playback Language) English (Subtitle) $13.99 View on Amazon Hugo (2011)
Hugo is an orphan boy living in the walls of a train station in 1930s Paris. He learned to fix clocks and other gadgets from his father and uncle which he puts to use keeping the train station clocks running.
The only thing that he has left that connects him to his dead father is an automaton (mechanical man) that doesn’t work without a special key.
Hugo needs to find the key to unlock the secret he believes it contains.
On his adventures, he meets George Melies, a shopkeeper, who works in the train station, and his adventure-seeking god-daughter.
Hugo finds that they have a surprising connection to his father and the automaton, and he discovers it unlocks some memories the old man has buried inside regarding his past.
Hugo Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Sacha Baron Cohen, Christopher Lee, Richard Griffiths (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Martin Scorsese (Producer) English (Playback Language) English (Subtitle) $3.99 View on Amazon Who’s That Knocking at My Door (1967)
Martin Scorsese’s powerful drama tells the story of J.R. (Harvey Keitel), a typical Italian-American boy who has grown up in a comfortable middle-class urban environment.
But in that same environment, he encounters the decisive split between tradition and his Catholic faith, in addition to the realities of modern life.
Out of work but not in need of cash, J.R. carouses with his buddies in the bars and social clubs of Little Italy.
He draws a hard line between “the broads you bang” and the girls you go out with and marry–nice girls, such as his girlfriend (Zina Bethune).
But after she is raped, J.R. finds that he cannot “forgive” her for the crime, nor stop thinking of her as a “w****.”
Scorsese’s debut feature film, shot in gritty black and white, introduces some of the techniques that he would later apply to his classics MEAN STREETS, TAXI DRIVER, and GOODFELLAS.
These include freeze-frames, atypical editing, slow motion, and the use of music to give certain scenes a pulsating rhythm.
In making his big-screen debut, Keitel gives a soul-baring performance that is at once passionate and sensitive.
Part introspective drama, part docurealism, Scorsese’s film is a striking introduction to one of cinema’s most worshipped directors.
Martin Scorsese’s debut feature, Who’s That Knocking at My Door? contains many of the autobiographical elements that would inform Scorsese’s work as became a director of world-class importance.
This was Harvey Keitel’s debut as well, and he plays a young New Yorker named J.R. (the name also served as the film’s alternate title) as a tortured vehicle for Scorsese’s own inner conflict between rigid Catholic tradition and initial forays into liberating sexual experience.
Produced over a lengthy on-and-off schedule while Scorsese was a struggling New York University film student, and shot in the Little Italy neighborhoods where Scorsese was raised, the film (with a final budget of $75,000) is a boldly stylized, stream-of-consciousness experience.
Establishing Scorsese’s passion for well-chosen rock & roll soundtrack songs while plumbing the depths of J.R.’s soul, as he begins a tenuous relationship with an independent, sexually experienced young woman (Zina Bethune) who’s at odds with J.R.’s seething repression.
Incorporating fantasy sequences to further convey the young man’s turbulent thoughts and emotions, Who’s That Knocking at My Door earned favorable reviews, announcing the arrival of a bracing new talent and setting the stage, five years later, for the breakout triumph of Mean Streets. –Jeff Shannon
Who's That Knocking at My Door? Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Harvey Keitel, Zina Bethune, Philip Carlson (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Martin Scorsese (Writer) - Joseph Weill (Producer) English (Playback Language) English (Subtitle) $5.99 View on Amazon The Color of Money (1986)
Legendary actor Paul Newman (Message In a Bottle) and Academy Award(R)-nominee Tom Cruise (Best Actor, 1996, Jerry Maguire) ignite the screen in this powerful drama.
Brilliantly directed by Martin Scorsese (Gangs of New York), Newman re-creates one of his most memorable roles from The Hustler.
As Fast Eddie Felson, he still believes that “money won is twice as sweet as money earned.” To prove his point, he forms a profitable yet volatile partnership with Vince (Cruise), a young pool hustler with a sexy, tough-talking girlfriend (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, The Perfect Storm).
But when Vince’s flashy arrogance leads to more than a few lost matches, all bets are off between Eddie and him.
The Color of Money will electrify you with its suspenseful story, dazzling cinematography, and dynamic performances.
The Color of Money Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Mary Mastrantonio (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Irving Axelrad (Producer) English (Playback Language) English (Subtitle) $3.99 View on Amazon Boxcar Bertha (1972)
Martin Scorsese was just another college film school grad with a student feature under his belt when producer Roger Corman tapped him to direct AIP’s entry in the Bonnie and Clyde craze.
Barbara Hershey stars as the real-life Depression-era orphan of the title, a charming, cheeky young woman who tramped the Deep South with a union organizer (David Carradine), a dandified New York con man (Barry Primus), and a blues-playing mechanic (Bernie Casey), turning her motley band into train-robbing outlaws.
Scorsese was anxious to show his chops on a real Hollywood feature and does so admirably (if impersonally) with rough-and-ready style.
If the rebellious spirit and social message behind the sex and violence are more Corman than Scorsese, the film references (“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain,” Bertha tells a customer while working at a cathouse) and often inventive direction are pure Scorsese. –Sean Axmaker
Boxcar Bertha Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Barbara Hershey, David Carradine, Barry Primus (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Julie Corman (Producer) English (Playback Language) English (Subtitle) View on Amazon New York, New York (1977)
Acclaimed director Martin Scorsese teams with Academy AwardÂ(r) winners* Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro in this splashy, flashy musical spectacle celebrating the glorious days of the Big Band Era in the Big Apple!
Jimmy is a joint-jumpin saxophonist on his way to stardom. Francine is a wannabe starlet who dreams of singing in the spotlight.
When they meet, sparks fly and when he plays and she sings, they set New York on fire!
It’s the beginning of a stormy relationship, as the two struggle to balance their passions for music and each other under the pressures of big-time show biz.
The 30th-anniversary edition of New York, New York contains all the extras released in the single-disc 2005 version, plus a second disc chock full of special features.
The two-part “New York, New York Stories” offers almost an hour of interviews with director Martin Scorsese, cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs, and editor Tom Rolf, who give viewers a sense of the urgency that permeated the film’s shoot.
They don’t shy away from critiquing the film, highlighting some of the high and low points on the screen and behind the camera.
Fans of Robert De Niro may be disappointed that he doesn’t appear in the “New York Stories.”
But Liza Minnelli fans get their fill of the actress in the 22-minute “Liza on New York, New York.”
A garrulous performer, she is quite charming as she relays stories of her upbringing with vignettes about her work in New York, New York.
Though the film has received some criticism for its uneven plot and direction, the crisp cinematography has been applauded, and Kovacs explains how he achieved some of the climactic shots in an easygoing way that’s understandable to the layman.
As for the audio commentary, it’s chatty but doesn’t offer much insight. Scorsese talks about the musicals that inspired him to make New York, New York, and film critic Carrie Rickey gives her opinion as to why particular scenes are relevant to the picture. –Jae-Ha Kim
New York, New York [Blu-ray] Factory sealed DVD Liza Minnelli, Robert De Niro, Lionel Stander (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Earl Mac Rauch (Writer) - Gene Kirkwood (Producer) English, French, Spanish (Subtitles) English (Publication Language) $10.99 View on Amazon Cape Fear (1991)
Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese brings heart-pounding suspense to one of the most acclaimed thrillers of all time in Cape Fear.
Earning an Academy Award nomination for his brilliant performance, Robert De Niro stars as vicious psychopath Max Cady who emerges after being imprisoned for fourteen years with a single-minded mission – to seek revenge on his attorney Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte).
Realizing he is legally powerless to protect his beautiful wife Leigh (Jessica Lange) and his troubled teenage daughter Danielle (Juliette Lewis) against Max’s relentless psychological torment, Sam resorts to unorthodox measures, leading to an unforgettable, action-packed showdown on Cape Fear.
Cape Fear (1991) Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Wesley Strick (Writer) - Barbara De Fina (Producer) English (Playback Language) English (Subtitle) $13.99 View on Amazon Gangs of New York (2002)
Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a young Irish immigrant released from prison. He returns to the Five Points seeking revenge against his father’s killer, William Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis), a powerful anti-immigrant gang leader.
He knows that revenge can only be attained by infiltrating Cutting’s inner circle. Amsterdam’s journey becomes a fight for personal survival and to find a place for the Irish people in 1860’s New York.
Set in the gritty streets of mid-19th century Lower Manhattan, a young Irish immigrant (Leonardo DiCaprio) seeks revenge against a well-known crime boss and political kingmaker (Daniel Day-Lewis) who killed his father.
His personal vendetta soon becomes part of an erupting wave of epic gang warfare, as he and his fellow Irishmen fight to carve a place for themselves in their newly adopted homeland.
Nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director (Martin Scorsese), this provocative and powerful struggle between good and evil is not to be missed!
Gangs Of New York Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Jay Cocks (Writer) - Alberto Grimaldi, Harvey Weinstein (Producer) (Playback Language) View on Amazon Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
Bringing Out the Dead is a 1999 American supernatural drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Paul Schrader, based on the novel by Joe Connelly, and starring Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, John Goodman, Ving Rhames, and Tom Sizemore.
Bringing Out the Dead was released on October 22, 1999, in the United States and was also the final film to be released on LaserDisc.
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 72% based on 109 reviews, with an average rating of 6.70/10. The site’s consensus reads, “Stunning and compelling. Scorsese and Cage succeed at satisfying the audience.”
On Metacritic, the film has a score of 70% based on reviews from 34 critics. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade “C-” on a scale of A to F.
Roger Ebert gave it a perfect four-star rating, writing, “To look at Bringing Out the Dead—to look, indeed, at almost any Scorsese film—is to be reminded that film can touch us urgently and deeply.”
Bringing Out the Dead Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, John Goodman (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Joseph Connolly (Writer) - Barbara de Fina (Producer) English (Playback Language) English (Subtitle) $9.99 View on Amazon The Aviator (2004)
From Hollywood’s legendary Cocoanut Grove to the pioneering conquest of the wild blue yonder, Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator celebrates old-school filmmaking at its finest.
We say “old school” only because Scorsese’s love of golden-age Hollywood is evident in his approach to his subject–Howard Hughes in his prime (played by Leonardo DiCaprio in his)–and especially in his technical mastery of the medium reflecting his love for classical filmmaking of the studio era.
Even when he’s using state-of-the-art digital trickery for the film’s exciting flight scenes (including one of the most spectacular crashes ever filmed), Scorsese’s meticulous attention to art direction and costume design suggests an impassioned pursuit of craftsmanship from a bygone era; every frame seems to glow with gilded detail.
And while DiCaprio bears a little physical resemblance to Hughes during the film’s 20-year span (late 1920s to late ’40s), he efficiently captures the eccentric millionaire’s golden-boy essence, and his tragic descent into obsessive-compulsive seclusion.
Bolstered by Cate Blanchett’s uncannily accurate portrayal of Katharine Hepburn as Hughes’ most beloved lover, The Aviator is easily Scorsese’s most accessible film, inviting mainstream popularity without compromising Scorsese’s artistic reputation.
As compelling crowd-pleasers go, it’s a class act from start to finish. –Jeff Shannon
The Aviator Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Chris Brigham (Producer) English (Playback Language) English (Subtitle) $7.99 View on Amazon Kundun (1997)
Praised as one of the best films of the year, Kundun is a motion picture masterpiece directed by five-time Academy Award(R)-nominated director Martin Scorsese.
It’s the incredible true story of one of the world’s most fascinating leaders — Tibet’s Dali Lama and his daring struggle to rule a nation at one of the most challenging times in its history.
Powerfully told and set against a backdrop of world politics — the film’s release created an international uproar! Featuring a striking Oscar(R)-nominated score by renowned composer Philip Glass, this extraordinary motion picture has been greeted with both controversy and worldwide acclaim — experience it for yourself!
It would be a mistake to call Kundun a disappointment, or a film that director Martin Scorsese was not equipped to create.
Both statements may be true to some viewers, but they ignore the higher purpose of Scorsese’s artistic intention and take away from a film that is by any definition unique.
In chronicling the life of the 14th Dalai Lama, Kundun defies conventional narrative in favor of an episodic approach, presenting a sequential flow of events from the life of the young leader of Buddhist Tibet.
From the moment he is recognized as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama in 1937 to his exile from Tibet in the wake of China’s invasion, the Dalai Lama is seen as an enlightened spiritual figurehead.
This gives the film its tone of serenity and reverence but denies us the privilege of admiring the Dalai Lama as a fascinating human character.
There’s a sense of mild detachment between the film and its audience, but its visual richness offers ample compensation.
In close collaboration with cinematographer Roger Deakins, Scorsese filmed Kundun with great pageantry and ritual, and meticulous attention to details of costume, color, and the casting of actual Buddhist monks in the scenes at the Dalai Lama’s palace.
Certain images will linger in the memory for a long time, such as the Dalai Lama’s nightmarish vision of standing among hundreds of dead monks, their lives sacrificed in pacifist defiance of Chinese aggression. Is this a film you’ll want to watch repeatedly? Perhaps not.
But as a political drama and an elegant gesture of devotion, Kundun is a film of great value and inspirational beauty–one, after all, that perhaps only Scorsese could have made. –Jeff Shannon
Kundun Kundun (Widescreen) - DVD Brand New Tenzin Thuthob Tsarong, Gyurme Tethong, Tulku Jamyang Kunga Tenzin (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Melissa Mathison (Writer) - Barbara De Fina (Producer) Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned) $14.99 View on Amazon The Age of Innocence (1993)
Martin Scorsese’s lavish period piece, an achingly beautiful adaptation of the classic novel.
No filmmaker captures the grandeur and energy of New York like Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas).
With this sumptuous romance, he meticulously adapted the work of another great New York artist, Edith Wharton, bringing to life her tragic novel of the cloistered world of Gilded Age Manhattan.
The Age of Innocence tells the story of Newland Archer (My Beautiful Laundrette’s Daniel Day-Lewis), whose engagement to an innocent socialite (Heathers’ Winona Ryder) binds him to the codes and rituals of his upbringing.
But when her cousin (Dangerous Liaisons’ Michele Pfeiffer) arrives in town on a wave of scandal after separating from her husband, she ignites passions in Newland he never knew existed. Swelling with exquisite period detail, this film is an alternately heartbreaking and satirical look at the brutality of old-world America.
Martin Scorsese does not sound like the logical choice to direct an adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel about manners and morals in New York society in the 1870s.
But these are mean streets, too, and the psychological violence inflicted between characters is at least as damaging as the physical violence perpetrated by Scorsese’s usual gangsters.
At the center of the tale is Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis), a somewhat diffident young man engaged to marry the very respectable May Welland (Winona Ryder).
But Archer is distracted by May’s cousin, Countess Olenska (a radiant Michelle Pfeiffer), recently returned from Europe.
As a married woman seeking a divorce, the countess is an embarrassment to all of New York society.
But Archer is fascinated by her quick intelligence and worldly ways. Scorsese closely observes the tiny details of this world and this impossible situation; this is a movie in which the shift of someone’s eyes can be as significant as the firing of a gun.
The director’s sense of color has never been keener, and his work with the actors is subtle.
That’s Joanne Woodward narrating, telling us only as much as we need to know–which is one reason why the climax comes as such a surprise.–Robert Horton
The Age Of Innocence Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Daniel Day Lewis, Joanne Woodward, Michelle Pfeiffer (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Barbara De Fina (Producer) English (Playback Language) English (Subtitle) $12.99 View on Amazon Silence (2016)
Legendary director Martin Scorsese’s Silence tells the story of two Christian missionaries (Adam Driver and Oscar nominee Andrew Garfield) who travel to Japan in search of their missing mentor (Academy Award nominee Liam Neeson) at a time when Christianity was outlawed.
When they are captured and imprisoned, both men are plunged into an odyssey that will test their faith, challenge their sanity and, perhaps, risk their very lives.
Silence Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Tadanobu Asano (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Shusaku Endo (Writer) - Martin Scorsese (Producer) English (Playback Language) English (Subtitle) $4.99 View on Amazon Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)
Ellen Burstyn puts in an Oscar®-winning performance as Alice Hyatt, a recently widowed 35-year-old woman who leaves her small town in New Mexico with her precocious young son Tommy (Alfred Lutter), determined to make a new life as a singer.
When money problems force her to settle in Tucson, she takes a job in a diner and begins to fall for rancher David (Kris Kristofferson).
Co-starring Diane Ladd and Harvey Keitel and featuring a delightful cameo from Jodie Foster.
Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed fourth feature is one of the key films of the golden age of 1970s New Hollywood – a touching, funny, and poignant tribute to the independent spirit and dreams of ordinary Americans.
Special Features Partial audio commentary with director Martin Scorsese, and actors Ellen Burstyn, Kris Kristofferson, and Diane Ladd Second Chances… The Making of Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (20 mins) Original theatrical trailer (2 mins) Illustrated booklet featuring full credits and essays by Nicolas Pillai and Christina Newland
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand) Ellen McRae, Ellen Burstyn, Kris Kristofferson (Actors) Martin Scorsese (Director) - Robert Getchell (Writer) - David Susskind (Producer) English (Playback Language) English (Subtitle) $9.99 View on Amazon The Best Martin Scorsese Movies – Wrapping Up
So there you have it. The top Martin Scorsese films. As you can see, he’s been responsible for some classics of cinema history and it’s clear to see why he’s considered one of the all-time greats.
Now you have a complete guide and list of the best Martin Scorsese movies ever made. What are you going to watch next?
If you’re sitting down to watch one of these tonight, we envy you. You’re in for a real treat!
We hope this list of the best Martin Scorsese movies has been helpful. Did we miss your favorite? Let us know in the comments section.
The post Best Martin Scorsese Movies: 25 Scorsese Films You Just Can’t Miss appeared first on Filmmaking Lifestyle.
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