Martin Scorsese's place in Hollywood history as one of its greatest auteurs is assured. Coming out of the New Hollywood movement, Scorsese staked his claim as a bold and visionary filmmaker whose encyclopedic knowledge of film history and meticulous attention to detail has resulted in some of the greatest American films ever made. Throughout his career he's been able to deftly maneuver the changing tides of Hollywood and has mastered many genres, continuing to deliver thought-provoking and deliriously entertaining films while many of his contemporaries struggled to remain relevant.
Scorsese's career is filled with absolute masterpieces, overlooked classics, and underrated gems. Ask any cinephile to name their favorite Scorsese film and there's a chance the answer will always be different. Ranking the director's essential filmic accomplishments is therefore an arbitrary and completely subjective process, but there's never a bad time to revisit his immaculate filmography. These are the ten most essential Martin Scorsese films ever made.
10
'Killers of the Flower Moon' (2023)
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, and Robert De Niro
Image via Apple TV+
It may be bold to consider Scorsese's most recent film one of his most essential, but tomorrow is never promised and every filmmaker's most recent film may be their last, so deference must be shown. If it were to be the director's last, he would go out on a stunning revisionist western. Scorsese has long shown his admiration for the western genre, with nods to it throughout his filmography. The director leaves his own personal mark on the genre by turning its conventions upside down. Based on David Grann's novel of the same, it shines a light on the Osage murders that plagued an entire county and people for two decades.
Scorsese has occasionally been taken to task for the reduced role of women in his films, which isn't exactly a fair criticism given the male-dominated nature of many of his films' plots and the fact that they also feature a great number of memorable female characters. That list includes Lily Gladstone's heartwrenching performance as Mollie Burkhart. Despite the film's focus on the horrific white men who perpetrated the killings, Gladstone is its beating heart, and may be the most altruistic character to ever feature in a Scorsese film. Like many of Scorsese's crime films, Killers of the Floweris sprawling and emotionally infuriating as it plunges into the violent history of America.
9
'Italianamerican' (1974)
Starring: Catherine and Charles Scorsese
Image via Criterion
There are several films by Scorsese that could be considered to feature autobiographical elements from the director's real life, but the filmmaker has never directed anything explicitly telling his own story. The closest he has ever come is the forty-nine-minute documentary Italianamerican. Filmed in the 70s, the short doc is essentially one long dinner conversation between Scorsese and his parents, as they detail their own upbringing and experiences as the children of Italian immigrants in New York City. It's easily Scorsese's most romantic and charming film ever made.
Not only does the film offer the briefest of glimpses into Scorsese's own home life, but it also gives the stage over to his mother Catherine, a woman who is completely genuine and hilarious. Scorsese would give his mother several small roles in his films, most memorably as the mother to Joe Pesci's character in Goodfellas, where she steals a scene from Pesci, Robert De Niro, and Ray Liotta. Watching Italianamerican, one can draw a line to Scorsese as a filmmaker from his mother's innate ability to tell captivating stories.
Italianamerican
Release Date
April 16, 1980
Runtime
49 Minutes
8
'Mean Streets' (1973)
Starring: Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, and Amy Robinson
Image via Warner Bros.
While Scorsese had made two films prior, the independent Who's That Knocking at My Door? and the Roger Corman B-movieBoxcar Bertha, Mean Streets was his true breakthrough as a filmmaker. Taking inspiration from the kinds of individuals and events that Scorsese grew up around in Little Italy, it's the director's first feature-length foray into the crime genre that would come to define his career. Following small-time hoods as they try to navigate the titular mean streets, it's an unvarnished look at lives of crime that features many of the distinguishing visual features that Scorsese would continue to develop in his later contributions to the genre.
Starring frequent collaborator Harvey Keitel in the lead role, the film was also Scorsese's first time working with Robert De Niro, whose performance as Johnny Boy became a calling card for the young actor, even though he initially wasn't sold on the movie. It's a live-wire crime film that made a massive promise for the future of Scorsese's career, one that he has continually delivered on since.
Mean Streets
Release Date
October 14, 1973
Runtime
112 Minutes
7
'The Irishman' (2019)
Starring: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci
Image Via Netflix
From Scorsese's first foray into the gangster genre to his, seemingly, final word on it. The Irishman builds on Scorsese's career of filmed organized crime and tracks it all the way to its inevitable conclusion. Based on Charles Brandt's novel I Heard You Paint Houses, and using that title on screen as well, the film follows the life of infamous mob enforcer Frank Sheehan, his rise through the criminal ranks, and subsequent friendship with union leader Jimmy Hoffa. Across the film's epic runtime, it details the tragic reality of organized crime, with each new criminal character introduced with onscreen text detailing the time and nature of their death. It's a stark reminder of how every one of these characters is living on borrowed timein the best mafia movie of the 21st century.
The film famously used digital technology to de-age its central cast members to allow them to play their characters across multiple decades. The effect isn't always convincing, but just as shot continuity has never been an obstacle to Scorsese, the distraction of the CGI eventually fades into the background just as De Niro, as Sheehan, begins to fade into his true age. Scorsese's first collaboration with Al Pacino, who plays Hoffa, also does not disappoint, with the veteran actor exuding the rage, charm and obstinance of the larger-than-life figure. The sequence of events leading up to his death scene is perfection in filmmaking and a punctuation mark on Scorsese's long relationship with these kinds of characters.
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie, and Jonah Hill
Image via Paramount Pictures
Scorsese's career in the 21st century has been mostly dominated by his working relationship with Leonardo DiCaprio, with both talents bringing out the best in each other. Their best, and most memorable, collaboration came in the form of the black comedy The Wolf of Wall Street. Trading the blue collar of his previous movie criminals for a white one, Scorsese charts a modern-day Caligulathrough the true crimes of Wall Street scum Jordan Belfort.
The power of the film has been somewhat muted by misguided film bros who have mistakenly placed Belfort's character as an inspirational figure, as well as the continued terrible behavior of his real-life inspiration. Even taking all that into account, the film remains a sicko classic, that depicts the excessive behavior of some of America's most greedy individuals in explicit detail. DiCaprio gives his funniest performance ever alongside an unhinged Jonah Hill, and a star-making turn from Margot Robbie. One of Scorsese's greatest strengths has been his ability to craft engaging and entertaining narratives around despicable characters. The Wolf of Wall Street exercises that muscle to its maximum capacity.
Release Date
December 25, 2013
Runtime
180 Minutes
5
'The Last Temptation of Christ' (1988)
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, and Barbara Hershey
Image via Universal Pictures
If there is one other aspect of Scorsese's life that has been a constant in his career, it's his Catholic faith. While faith has figured in minor ways in several of his films, he has only directly addressed religion in three. Silence details the struggles of Catholic missionaries in 17th century Japan and is one of his most underrated films, while Kundun, which focuses on a twenty-year period in the life of the Dalai Lama, is the most un-Scorsese film of his career. His most powerful, and controversial, faith-based film is The Last Temptation of Christ.
Scorsese spent most of the 80s trying to adapt Nikos Kazantzakis' novel, which is infamous among religious groups for humanizing Jesus Christ and depicting his struggles with temptation. When he eventually did complete the film, it was unsurprisingly met with outrage from some Christian organizations. Regardless of the film's fidelity to the Gospels, it is a genuine and challenging viewing experience that tackles Christ and faith in a manner that often transcends its religious confines to tell an existential story of temptation, violence, and redemption.
Release Date
August 12, 1988
Runtime
164 Minutes
4
'The King of Comedy' (1982)
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, and Sandra Bernhard
Image via 20th Century Studios
The changing cinematic landscape of the 80s caused many of the New Hollywood filmmakers to reassess their careers in order to stay relevant in the era of blockbusters and studio control. Scorsese responded to this shift by expanding his focus and taking on different projects. The Color of Money was a commercial prospect, being a legacy sequel to The Hustler, and After Hours was an original yuppie-nightmare black comedy. His best from this period of re-evaluation is The King of Comedy, a comic showbiz satire featuring one of his most deranged protagonists.
Robert De Niro plays Rupert Pupkin, an aspiring stand-up comedian who becomes obsessed with a successful comic and talk show host played by Jerry Lewis. Aspects of the plot may sound familiar, as they were later recycled into Todd Phillips' Joker, which is much less successful in its approach to depicting its character's obsessions. Stick with Scorsese's original black comedy cult classic for its pitch perfect performances, and to see the director prove his skill in staging more overtly comedic situations. The discomfort at watching De Niro boldly flail through his attempts to break into the industry only grows as the film goes on, and climaxes in an abduction that is as equally hysterical as it is disconcerting.
The King of Comedy
Release Date
December 18, 1982
Runtime
109 Minutes
3
'Taxi Driver' (1976)
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, and Cybill Shepherd
Image via Columbia Pictures
Rupert Pupkin may be awkward, but he's downright sociable in comparison to Scorsese and De Niro's prior loner protagonist. Travis Bickle is an anti-social anti-hero whose urban isolation is only exacerbated by his profession as a late night taxi driver. Scorsese's films have often explored the darkest corners of America, and there are few corners darker than those on the streets of New York City in the 70s. The film is not only a perfect time capsule of its setting, but also has grown in relevance as the character of Bickle has been worryingly reflected in many individuals that have garnered recent news attention.
Paul Schrader's script, which was influenced by controversial western The Searchers, offers no easy interpretations and Scorsese matches that in his visuals, which give the film a lucid dream-like quality. De Niro fully disappears into his role as a ticking time bomb set loose on the streets, and he's matched by the then teenage Jodie Foster as an underage sex worker and Harvey Keitel as her scummy pimp. The final shootout still manages to shock in the modern era, even when its level of violence has long been eclipsed by numerous horror and action films. Taxi Driveris a dark American masterpiece.
Release Date
February 9, 1976
Runtime
114 Minutes
2
'Raging Bull' (1980)
Starring: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Cathy Moriarty
Image via United Artists
Scorsese's biopic of boxer Jake LaMotta is the darkest sports movie ever made, and is the only film in the director's career thatholds the import of having saved his life. After struggling with substance abuse, and being hospitalized for it, and the failure of his previous film New York, New York, Scorsese took the project on at the urging of De Niro. He poured every ounce of his talent and creativity into the film, crafting Raging Bullinto an unqualified masterpiece that revitalized his career.
Unvarnished doesn't come close to describing the gritty approach Scorsese takes to the real-life LaMotta, who's own life was littered with abuse and violence. De Niro's physical transformation to depict LaMotta at both his peak boxing weight and as the bloated nightclub performer he would become has become Hollywood legend, but the weight gain was far more than celebrity vanity in the search for Oscar glory. De Niro embodies LaMotta like a caged animal constantly fighting to escape his confines. Scorsese uses gorgeous black and white cinematography to depict LaMotta's rise and fall, with the boxing sequences especially standing out. Instead of trying to approach realism, Scorsese uses more expressionist tactics to fully convey the utter savagery of the sport. Raging Bull is a bruising experience that isn't easily shaken off.
Release Date
December 19, 1980
Runtime
129 minutes
1
'Goodfellas' (1990)
Starring: Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, and Robert De Niro
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures
Goodfellasis an essential film. It's an essential gangster movie, an essential American classic, and absolutely essential to Scorsese's career. With an electric style of editing and sound design that continually builds in momentum, matched by cinematography that pulls the audience into its world of organized crime, Goodfellas redefined what a gangster movie could be, and established an energy in Scorsese's filmmaking that would continue through the next decade of his career. While The Godfather is an immaculate portrait of an American crime family, Goodfellas' depiction of the work-a-day gangster truly encapsulates why a life of crime can appeal to anyone.
Based on the life of gangster Henry Hill, as related in Nicholas Pileggi's true crime novel Wiseguy, Ray Liotta gives an intense performance as a man who wants nothing more than to be a criminal. Pesci has never been more mesmerizing as Henry's violent best friend, and De Niro seethes with calm menace as the elder mentor. Lorraine Bracco rounds out the main cast, as Hill's long-suffering wife, and burns up the screen with a character consumed by her marriage to the mob. The ending, where a broken Hill turns witness on his former associates, is a hard comedown from the toxic thrills that fill every frame before then. Scorsese is in total command of his craft, and Goodfellas is his masterclass in filmmaking.
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