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Fast Company

Martin Scorseses Film School: The 85 Films You Need To See To Know Anything About Film

By: Rick Tetzeli With 11 nominations and five wins for Hugo at the 2012 Oscars, Martin Scorsese remains one of the most influential directors in Hollywood. But what influenced him? Heres an A -Z list of the films that mattered to Scorsese. 169 Comments inShare

Fast Companys in-depth profile of Martin Scorsese for the How To Live A Creative Life issue had a compelling by-product: this list of 85 films that the director said most influenced him. When we published this list early this year it generated quite a conversation online. Check out the films here and add your comments below, or just hit Netflix and get watching. Photo by Art Streiber. Interviewing Martin Scorsese is like taking a master class in film. Fast Companys four-hour interview with the director for the December-January cover story was ostensibly about his career, and how he had been able to stay so creative through years of battling studios. But the Hugo director punctuated everything he said with references to movies: 85 of them, in fact, all listed below. Some of the movies he discussed (note: the descriptions for these are below in quotes, denoting his own words). Others he just mentioned (noted below with short plot descriptions and no quotes). But the cumulative total reflects a life lived entirely within the confines of movie making, from his days as a young asthmatic child watching a tiny screen in Queens, New York to today, when Scorsese is as productive as hes ever been in his career--and more revered than ever by the industry that once regarded him as a troublesome outsider. Hugo leads the Academy Award nominations with 11 nods, including Best Picture and Best Director. Several Oscar pundits believe hell nab his secon d Directing win. If so, he owes a lot to movies like the ones below.

Ace in the Hole: "This Billy Wilder film was so tough and brutal in its cynicism that it died a sudden death at the box office, and they re-released it under the title Big Carnival, which didnt help. Chuck Tatum is a reporter whos very modern --hell do anything to get the story, to make up the story! He risks not only his reputation, but also the life of this guy whos trapped in the mine." 1951 All That Heaven Allows: In this Douglas Sirk melodrama, Rock Hudson plays a gardener who falls in love with a society widow played by Jane Wyman. Scandale! 1955 America, America: Drawn directly from director Elia Kazans family history, this film offers a passionate, intense view of the challenges faced by Greek immigrants at the end of the 19th century. 1963

An American in Paris: This Vincente Minnelli film, with Gene Kelly, picked up the idea of stopping within a film for a dance from The Red Shoes. 1951 Apocalypse Now: This Francis Ford Coppola masterpiece is from a period when directors like Brian DePalma, John Milius, Paul Schrader, Scorsese and others had great freedom-freedom that they then lost. 1979 Arsenic and Old Lace: Scorsese is a big fan of many Frank Capra movies, and this Cary Grant vehicle is one of several that hes enjoyed with his family at his office screening room. 1944 The Bad and the Beautiful: Vincente Minnelli directed this film about a cynical Hollywood mogul trying to make a comeback. It stars Kirk Douglas, Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon, and Dick Powell. 1952 The Band Wagon: Its my favorite of the Vincente Minnelli musicals. I love the storyl ine that combines Faust and a musical comedy, and the disaster that results. Tony Hunter, the lead character played by Fred Astaire, is a former vaudeville dancer whose time has passed, and whos trying to make it on Broadway, which is a very different medium of course. By the time the movie was made, the popularity of the Astaire/Rogers films had waned, raising the question of what are you going to do with Fred Astaire in Technicolor? So, really, Tony Hunter is Fred Astaire--his whole reputation is on the line, and so was Fred Astaires. 1953 Born on the Fourth of July: Produced by Universal Pictures under Tom Pollock and Casey Silver, this Tom Cruise movie (directed by Oliver Stone) was an example of how that studio wanted to make special pictures, says Scorsese. 1989

Cape Fear: As he once explained to Steven Spielberg over dinner in Tribeca, one of Scorseses fears about directing a remake of this film was that, The original was so good. I mean, youve got Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen, its terrific! 1962

Cat People: Simone Simon plays a woman who fears that she might turn into a panther and kill. It sounds corny, but the psychological thrills that directors Jacques Tourneur got out of his measly $150,000 budget make this a fascinating movie, with amazing lighting. 1942 Caught: There are certain styles I had trouble with at first, like some of Max Ophuls films. It took me till I was into my thirties to get The Earrings of Madame de, for example. But I didnt have trouble with this one, which I saw in a theater and which is kind of based on Howard Hughes [protagonist of The Aviator]. 1949 Citizen Kane: Orson Welles was a force of nature, who just came in and wiped the slate clean. And Citizen Kane is the greatest risk-taking of all time in film. I dont think anything had even seen anything quite like it. The photography was also unlike anything wed seen. The odd coldness of the filmmaker towards the character reflects his own egomania and power, and yet a powerful empathy for all of them--its very interesting. It still holds up, and its still shocking. It takes storytelling and throws it up in the air. 1941 The Conversation: Gene Hackman stars in this thrilled directed by Scorseses friend, Francis Ford Coppola. Its a classic example of studio risk-taking in the early 1970s. 1974

Dial M for Murder: When discussing the creation of Hugo, Scorsese referred to this Hitchcock film as an example of other directors who have tangled with 3-D over the years. In its original release most theaters only showed it in 2-D; now the 3-D version pops up in theaters from time to time.1954

Do The Right Thing: Spike Lees film was the kind of risky production that drew Scorsese to Universal Pictures when it was run by Casey Silver and Tom Pollack. Then Pollock left, says Scorsese, and it all changed. 1989 Duel in the Sun: Scorsese went to see this movie, which some critics called Lust in the Dust, when he was 4 years old. Jennifer Jones falls hard for a villain ous Gregory Peck in this lush King Vidor picture. A poster of the movie hangs in Scorseses offices. 1946 The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse: Rex Ingram made this movie, in which Rudolph Valentino dances the tango. Ingram stopped making films when sound came in. Michael Powells father worked for Ingram; living in that milieu gave Michael the cultural knowledge that informed his own movies like The Red Shoes. 1921

Europa 51: After making The Flowers of St. Francis, Rossellini asked, what would a modern-day saint be like? I think they based it on Simone Weil, and Ingrid Bergman played the part. It really takes everything were dealing with today, whether its revolutions in other countries or people trying to change their lifestyles, and its all there in that film. The character tries everything, because she has a tragedy in her family that really changes her, so she tries politics and even working in a factory, and in the end it has a very moving resolution. [Also known as The Greatest Love] 1952 Faces: [Director John] Cassavetes went to Hollywood to shoot films like A Child is Waiting and Too Late Blues, and after Too Late Blues he became disenchanted. Those of us in the New York scene, we kept asking, 'Whats Cassavetes doing? Whats he up to?' And he was shooting this film in his house in L.A. with his wife Gena Rowlands and his friends. And when Faces showed at the New York Film Festival, it absolutely trumped everything that was shown at the time. Cassavetes is the person who ultimately exemplifies independence in film. 1968 The Fall of the Roman Empire: One of the last sandal epics, this sweeping Anthony Mann picture boasted a stellar cast of Sophia Loren, Anthony Boyd, James Mason, Alec Guinness, Christopher Plummer, and Anthony Quayle. And it failed miserably at the box office. 1964 The Flowers of St. Francis: This Rossellini movie and Europa 51 are two of the best films about the part of being human that yearns for something beyond the material. Rossellini used real monks for this movie. Its very simple and beautiful. 1950

Force of Evil: Another picture that defined the American gangster image, this noir stars John Garfield as the evil older brother whose younger sibling wont join his numbers -running conglomerate. 1948

Forty Guns: Barbara Stanwyck stars in this Sam Fuller Western. She plays a bad-ass cattle rancher with a soft spot for a local lawman. 1957 Germany Year Zero: Roberto Rossellini always felt he had an obligation to inform. He was the first one to do a story about compassion for the enemy, in this film--its always been hard to find, but now theres a Criterion edition. Its a very disturbing picture. He was the first one to go there after the war, to say we all have to live together. And he felt cinema was the tool that could do this, that could inform people. 1948 Gilda: I saw this when I was 10 or 11, I had some sort of funny reaction to her, I tell you! Me and my friends didnt know what to do about Rita Hayworth, and we didnt really understand what George McCready was doing to her. Can you imagine? Gilda at age 11. But thats what we did. We went to the movies. 1946

The Godfather: Gordon Willis did the same dark filming trick on The Godfather as he had done on Klute. And now audiences accepted it, and went along with it, and every director of photography and now every director of photography of the past 40 years owes him the greatest debt, for changing the style completely--until now, of course, with the advent of digital. 1972 Gun Crazy: A romantic example of film noir, this one features a gun-toting husband and a sharpshooting wife. 1950 Health: This Altman movie came out at the same time as King of Comedy. They were both flops, and we were both out. The age of the director was over. E.T. was a very big worldwide hit around then, and that changed the whole business of film finance. 1980 Heavens Gate: Scorsese was with United Artists in the '70s, with producers he describes as understanding and supportive. Heavens Gate, one of the ambitious films UA backed at the time, was a critical and box office bomb, although its reputation has improved over the years. 1980 House of Wax: This was the first 3-D movie produced by a major American studio. It starred Vincent Price as a wax sculptor whose sourcing was, shall we say, unusual. 1953 How Green Was My Valley: I appreciate the visual poetry of [director John] Fords film, like in the famous scene where Maureen OHara is married and the wind blows the veil on her head. Its absolute poetry. No words. Its all there in the image. 1941

The Hustler: Scorsese liked the Paul Newman character (Eddie Felson) in this movie so much that when Newman came calling about a possible update of the movie, he agreed to direct The Color of Money. He says the movies box office success helped rehabilitate his career after a tough slog. 1961 I Walk Alone: One of several movies that Scorsese says clearly defined the American gangster ideal, this one stars Burt Lancaster and the smoldering Lizabeth Scott. 1948 The Infernal Cakewalk: One of the many George Melies movies that have been restored and can now be seen on DVD. Melies, a French director of silent films, is at the center of the plot of Hugo. 1903 It Happened One Night: I didnt think much of this Frank Capra film, until I saw it recently on the big screen. And I discovered it was a masterpiece! The body language of Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable, the way they related--its really quite remarkable. 1934

Jason and the Argonauts: As part of his film education of his daughter, Scorsese screened a bunch of Ray Harryhausen classics, including this one. 1963 Journey to Italy: After Rossellini married Ingrid Bergman he wiped the slate clean and left Neo-Realism behind. Instead he made these intimate stories that had a great deal to do with a certain intellectual mysticism, a sense of cultural power. In Viaggio [Viaggio in Italia is the Italian title], for example, the English couple played by George Sanders and Ingrid Bergman are traveling in Naples on vacation while marriage is falling apart, but the land around them--the people the museums, and especially their visit to Pompeii, these thousands of years of culture around them--work on them like a modern miracle. The film is basically two people in a car, and that became the entire New Wave. Kids may not have seen this film, but its basically in all the independent film of today. 1954 Julius Caesar: This is another example of Orson Welles risk-taking, with Caesars crew as out-and-out gangsters. 1953 Kansas City: This is one of the great jazz movies ever. If you could hang on with Altman, you were going to go on one of the great rides of your lives. 1996 Kiss Me Deadly: A great example of the noir genre that so inspired Scorsese. This one stars Ralph Meeker as detective Mike Hammer. 1955

Klute: There are movies that change the whole way in which films are made, like Klute, where Gordon Williss photography on the film is so textured, and, they said, too dark. At first this was alarming to people, because theyre used to a certain way things are done within the studio system. And the studio is selling a product, so they were wary of people thinking that its too dark. 1971 La Terra Trema: This Lucchino Visconti film is one of the founding films of Neo-Realism. 1948 The Lady from Shanghai: The story goes that Welles had to make a film and he was in this railway station, and there were some paperbacks there and he was talking to Harry Cohn of Columbia and he said look, Ive got the greatest film its called Lady from Shanghai, which was this paperback he saw there. And then he made up this story, taking elements of Moby Dick, where he talks about the sharks, and the whole mirror sequence in that picture is unsurpassed. I dont know if Lady is a noir, but its awkward, and its brilliant. 1947 The Leopard: Visconti and Rossellini and deSica were the founders of Neo-Realism. Visconti went a different way from Rossellini. He made this movie, which is one of the greatest films ever made. 1963 Macbeth: This was the first Welles movie I saw, on television. He shot it in 27 days. The look of it, the Celtic barbarism, the Druid priest, this was all very different from other Macbeth productions Id seen. The use of superimpositions, the effigies at the beginning of the film--it was more like cinema than theatre. Anything Welles did, given his background in radio, was a big risk. Macbeth is an audacious film, set in Haiti of all places. 1948

The Magic Box: There were a number of people who felt that they had invented moving pictures. Robert Donat plays William Friese-Greene, one of those people, whos obsessed from childhood with movement and color. Donat was a great actor. And this is a beautifully done film. 1951

M*A*S*H: I saw it at a press screening. That was the first football game I ever understood. Altman developed this style that came out of his life and making television movies, it was so unique--and his movies seemed to come out every two weeks. 1972 A Matter of Life and Death: This is another beautiful film by Powell and Pressburger, but it was made after World War II, so people said, You cant use the word Death in the title! So it got changed to Stairway to Heaven, thats what it was called in America. Now its A Matter of Life and Death again. 1946 McCabe & Mrs. Miller: This is an absolute masterpiece. Altman could shoot quickly and get the very best actors. 1971 The Messiah: Rossellinis last film in this third period, the last film he made before he died, is this beautiful TV film on Jesus. He had planned on making more such films, like one on Karl Marx. He thought TV was the way to reach young people, to educate them. But then of course TV changed. 1975 Midnight Cowboy: One of the great movies released by UA in its glory days, starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight. 1969 Mishima: Scorsese describes this Paul Schrader film about the great Japanese author as a masterpiece. 1985

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town: In this Frank Capra movie, one of several that Scorsese has screened for his family, Gary Cooper plays a small-town boy who inherits a fortune--and a bevy of big-city sharpies that he cant quite contend with. 1936

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: Jimmy Stewart stars in this Capra movie, one of the alltime greats, which features a dramatic filibuster. 1939 Nashville: Altman had a point of view that was uniquely American and an artistic vision to go with it. All his early work pointed to this movie. 1975 Night and the City: Its the essential British noir film. Harry Fabien, played by Richard Widmark, is a two-bit hustler running through the London underworld at night, and he always oversteps, particularly with the gangster played by Herbert Lom. From the very beginning you know Fabiens going to fail, because hes up against a power he doesnt understand. 1950 One, Two, Three: A classic Billy Wilder comedy, starring James Cagney as a Coca-Cola exec in West Berlin. The dialogue crackles. 1961 Othello: "It took (Orson Welles) years to finish this. There were tons of quick cuts, and theres a wonderful sequence where two people are attacked in a Turkish bath, and it works beautifully. Theyre wearing towels, and one is dispatched under the boards. It has a strange North African whiteness. It turns out that he was ready to do the sequence, and the costumes didnt show up. So he said, lets put it in a Turkish bath. He had the actors there! He had to shoot it! 1952 Paisa: This is my all-time favorite of the Rossellini films. 1946

Peeping Tom: Michael Powell himself gambled everything on Peeping Tom and lost in such a way that his career was really ended. The film was so shocking to some British critics and the audience because he had some sympathy, sort of, for the serial killer. And the killer had the audacity to photograph the killing of the women with a motion picture camera, which of course tied in the motion picture camera as an object of voyeurism, implicating all of us watching horror films. He was reviled. One critic said this should be flushed down the toilet. He only got one or two more movies done. He really disappeared. And now in England there are cameras watching everyone all over the street. 1960 Pickup on South Street: Richard Widmark picks up the wrong purse in this classic noir, unwittingly setting off a series of events that come to a violent climax. 1953 The Player: In the years before this movie, the age of the director who had a free hand came to an end. And yet Altman kept experimenting with different kinds of actors, different approaches to narrative, different equipment, until finally he hit it with this movie, which took him off onto a whole other level. 1992 The Power and the Glory: Directed by William K. Howard and written by Preston Sturges, it had a structure that Mankiewicz and Welles used for Citizen Kane. 1933 Stagecoach: Welles drew from everywhere. The ceilings and the interiors in John Fords classic Western inspired him for Citizen Kane. 1939

Raw Deal: NOT the Arnold Schwarzenegger pic. This ones a noir directed by Anthony Mann, starring Dennis OKeefe and Claire Trevor. 1948 The Red Shoes: Theres something so rich and powerful about the story, and the use of the color, that it deeply affected me when I was 9 or 10 years old. The archness of the approach, and how serious the ballet dancers were When they say, The spotlight toujours on moi, they mean it! The ballet sequence is almost like the first rock video. Its almost as if youre seeing what the dancer sees and hears and feels as shes moving. Its like in Raging Bull, where we never went outside the ring for the fighting sequences. 1948 The Rise of Louis XIV: In the third part of his career, Rossellini decided to make an encyclopedia, a series of didactic films. This is the first film in that series, and its an artistic masterpiece. He shot it in 16mm for TV, and called it anti-dramatic. Yet, I screen it once every couple of years, and when you look at frames of it on the big screen there are shots that just look like paintings. Rossellini couldnt get away from it, he had an artists eye. Theres nothing like the last 10 minutes of that film to show the accumulation and the display of power. Its not done through the sword or the speech, its done through the theatre he created around him with his clothes, his food, the way he eats. Its extraordinary. 1966 The Roaring Twenties: James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart star in this homage to the gangsters of the 1920s. It was one of the many great films made in 1939 (like Gone with the Wind, The Women, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Stagecoach and many many more). 1939 Rocco and his Brothers: This Visconti film was also a major influence on filmmakers. 1960

Rome, Open City: I saw Italian movies as a 5-year-old, on a 16-inch TV my father bought. We were living in Queens. There were only three stations. One station showed Italian films on Friday night for the Italian-American community, subtitled, and the family would gather to see the films. My grandparents were there--they were the ones who moved over in 1910. So it became a ritual. [Director Roberto] Rossellini had an intellectual approach. 1945 Secrets of the Soul: This was a silent movie whose flashback structure was unlike anything else. Secrets of the Soul looked almost experimental. 1912 Senso: An extraordinary film by Visconti, another Neo-Realist masterpiece. Shadows: I saw Shadows at the 8th Street Playhouse [in Manhattan], and when I saw such a direct communication with the human experience, of conflict and love, it was almost as if there was no camera there at all. And I love camera positions! But this was like you were living with the people. 1959 Shock Corridor: A wild Sam Fuller movie about a journalist who enters an insane asylum to try to break a story. 1963

Some Came Running: This Vincent Minnelli melodrama is definitely not a musical. Its a tough story about an alcoholic Army vet returning home. It stars Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Shirley MacLaine. 1958 Stromboli: This too was a very important film of Rossellinis second period. Very beautiful. [During the shooting of Stromboli, the star, Ingrid Bergman, who was married to an American dentist, got pregnant with Rossellinis child. She divorced the dentist, and became persona non grata in America]. 1950 Sullivans Travels: Billy Wilder told me, youre only as good as your last picture. Sullivan, played by Joel McRae, is in the studio system, under that kind of pressure. He makes comedies, but one day he decides he really wants to make Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou? He puts it all on the line to learn about the poor. The resolution of the movie is very moving. 1941 Sweet Smell of Success: Like Ace in the Hole, this classic noir is about an unethical journalist who will stop at nothing to get his way. Burt Lancaster plays the journalist. 1957 Tales of Hoffman: This was a great risk for Powell and Pressburger. In fact, they lost it on that. He had in mind a composed film like a piece of music, and played the music back on set during the shooting, so the actors moved in a certain way. 1951

The Third Man: Carroll Reed made one of those films where everything came together. It made me see, with Kane, that there was another way of interpreting stories, and another approach to the visual frame of the classical filmsall those low shots, and the cuts. 1949 T-Men: Another Anthony Mann noir with great cinematography, this ones about Department of Treasury men breaking up a counterfeiting ring. 1947 Touch of Evil: Welles radio career with the Mercury Theater made him a master of the soundtrack. Just listen to this movie--you can close your eyes and imagine everything that is happening." (Young people should listen to the radio soundtrack of War of the Worlds, which was so effective that people got in their cars and started to drive away, because they really believed that Martians were attacking.) The Trial: This is another film that gave us a new way of looking at films. Youre very aware of the camera, like when Anthony Perkins came running down this corridor of wooden slats and light cutting the image, blades and shafts of light, talk about paranoia! 1962 Two Weeks in Another Town: The Vincente Minnelli movie stars Cyd Charisse, Kirk Douglas, and Edward G. Robinson. Its a classic 1960s melodrama. 1962 Correction: Raw Deal was amended to reflect its release date of 1948. Orson Welles directed the stage version of Julius Caesar; Joseph Mankiewicz directed the film. inShare

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John Ned Yesterday 10:54 PM

In all fairness to Scorcese , these were films that came up in the context of an interview. This was not "the greatest blah blah blah" of all time list. Certainly all sorts of glaring omissions, but a lot of great stuff here

Flag Respond John Ned Yesterday 10:50 PM

In all fairness to Scorcese , these were films that came up in the context of an interview. This was not "the greatest blah blah blah

Flag Respond j s Yesterday 05:35 PM

Hate to say it, but where are the movies of women directors? Where is Jane Campion's work, Lina Wertmuller,Gillian Armstrong,etc?? I dont think Scorcese would have forgotten them - is this a complete list? I agree re alot of what is named here.

Flag Respond Toy283 Yesterday 01:06 PM

I would have figured to see at least one Akira Kurosawa epic in there.

Flag Respond David Cairns Yesterday 06:34 AM

This isn't a list compiled by Scorsese, it misrepresents itself. It's a list made up after various conversations. I don't think Scorsese would have made the mistake of thinking that Orson Welles filmed Julius Caesar. That's also why there are practically no silents, and the only foreign films are Italian.

Flag Respond

Stuart Bogue 03/27/2013 02:04 PM

"A list from A to Z of the films that mattered to Martin Scorcese".....so how can anyone find fault with his list,as it is his list,. Seems hard for there to be a better version of his list than one that he himself composed.....based on his own experiences,his own reactions....Martin Scorsese it says at the top....he made some pretty good movies....here is his list....

Flag Respond Dave Cook 03/23/2013 09:40 AM

The director of The Third Man spelled his first name Carol, not Carroll. Thanks for the list!

Flag Respond XincontriAdulti.It 02/20/2013 07:26 AM

Great Article. Thank you.

Flag Respond Lauri Born 01/30/2013 09:27 AM

That Kirk Douglas shot from Ace In The Hole there is an excellent example of traditional image manipulation. The shadow of the telephone is made with a marker: http://www.fastcocreate.com/mu...

Flag Respond unknow_movies_at_all 01/04/2013 11:21 AM

Jajajajaja.....:S (ROHIT1234)

Flag Respond rohit1234 01/02/2013 03:06 AM

its a pity i haven't watched any.

Flag Respond Claylori 01/01/2013 09:58 PM

Re your comment on the fall of the Roman Empire" - it was Stephen Boyd, not Anthony.

Flag Respond Airborne All The Way 12/31/2012 08:31 PM

Hi, Obviously, a modern man could not comprehend the frontier experience. See the Emipre of the Summer Moon. Regards, Airborne All The Way

Flag Respond Jrp 12/31/2012 03:55 PM

Folly yes. Very American. Plus Visconti and Rossellini. No Russian, French, Japanese, Swedish... I can think of Latina American and Indian masterpieces too. So what does he screen and why?

Flag Respond Biketeamtr 12/29/2012 10:06 PM

this list is a guide to hollywood's self gloryfying history, without filling a miimum of content. except rosselini and visconti there is not a bit of the real milestones of cinema-mostly european, from antonioni to zulawski...a pitty!

Flag Respond Kjshfjsdhf 12/29/2012 06:43 PM

This is a folly. So American. So limiting.

Flag Respond Joel sorge 12/29/2012 03:18 AM

Pretty shocked to not see Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures on this list...

Flag Respond Matt Maginley 12/29/2012 02:15 AM

There are films that any student of film would have seen, should have seen by the time they get to a Master Class with Martin Scorcese, or to have the ability to sit with him for 4 hours discussing film one on one. Yes, these are personal favorites that influenced him, but I wouldn't presume to say there is any one particular film missing. There are films not mentioned but we all know he saw them and was influenced by them in one way or another. I would like to to know what films interested the author/reporter Rick Tetzeli that Martin Scorcese identified with to have a 4 hour interview.

Flag Respond Sarthak Khanna 12/03/2012 11:24 AM

anybody who has watched jean pierre melville' le samourai, le doulos or any other of his films can tell who revolutionized the crime genre!! he did to gansters what leone did to cowboys.. from a film maker who prime films were based on crime don't mention such a genius.

Flag Respond Hanckuo 11/26/2012 11:38 AM

To people who complain about PULP FICTION not included on the list, think about it: when Scorsese did the ranking for films of the 1990s on At the Movies, he didn't include PULP FICTION back then either. So what makes you think he would include it this time?

Flag Respond Guest 11/19/2012 12:06 PM

You write an article about film and can't spell Steven Spielberg right?

Flag

Respond Sknowles 10/19/2012 08:24 AM

Not one David Lean film ...or maybe the Boulting Brothers Scott Dane Knowles

Flag Respond bonaparte3 08/24/2012 12:15 AM

A pretty good list (but, with any list you generate controversy); largely an insight into Scorsese's sensibility.

Flag Respond Amit_Rai 07/25/2012 03:52 PM

The headline "The 85 films you need to see to know anything about film is misleading. It should simply be "85 films that influenced Scorsese". And I still can't figure out where does in other words, the films you need to see to be the film expert you think you are comes from? I am sure, being the expert you are, you would agree one would have to see a lot more than just Rossellini and Visconti, to know "anything" about film. How about films from Kieslowski, Kurosawa, Tarkovsky, Kubrick, Truffaut, Godard, Bergman...... to start with???

Flag Respond Kratos4ever 01/01/2013 12:51 PM

So true I think the same, great movies many of them but how about Sergio Leone I think this is self glorifying!

Flag Trent Johnsen 07/25/2012 12:58 PM

Not crazy about Scorsese. No reference to David Lean's work and that explains a lot.

Flag Respond Rob Hruska 07/25/2012 11:52 AM

No Kubrick films? There is no justice.

Flag Respond Karen DeKlein 12/30/2012 08:31 PM

was thinking the same. This list is a little silly.

Flag Motgiarc 07/15/2012 08:57 AM

No Fellini on that Italian movie channel in New York? What about Bergman, Godard, Truffaut. This list proves it is all up to the individual. Many good flicks, many no so much.

Flag Respond Newpines 05/04/2012 09:44 AM

I once heard Scorsese say the best film ever was that Kubrick flick with Tom Cruise and his wife (I can't say it's name, I hated it). My favorite film is Bagdad Cafe but it never makes anyone's list.

Flag Respond Sherron Malin 06/23/2012 05:57 PM

I remember Bagdad Cafe and really enjoyed it. Saw it on TV

Flag Al 05/26/2012 07:37 PM

I would hope you give Eyes wide shut just another try alot of people dont like or understand it the 1st or 2nd time but please check it out again and youll appreciate the art of the master Stanley Kubrick

Flag Jgood 05/09/2012 04:09 AM

Eyes wide shut. i didnt like it either

Flag Patrick 03/24/2012 05:40 AM

http://flavorwire.com/267040/v... shouldn't even bother writing this says it fine. sorry

Flag Respond Patrick 03/24/2012 05:17 AM

if Scorsese (and imagine the amount of cinema he has watched) sat down to document every film he felt you should watch that would have a positive influence or show complete originality we would never get through them. just enjoy the list, do what you will with it don't hack at it, opinions are our own... and he must love cinema, absolutely love it we do to be reading this

Flag Respond Jcdewitt 03/14/2012 12:37 PM

so many of these movies are boring. Watch movies you enjoy, not ones the priests of culture tell you to watch.

Flag Respond Jeff 03/26/2012 09:10 PM

How many of these films have you seen, and which ones do you consider "boring?"

Flag Cubitfox 03/14/2012 05:49 PM

This guy is boring. Watch movies that you want to watch, not one's that aren't considered boring by a random guy on the internet.

Flag Kmatsoga 03/14/2012 01:48 AM

im doing media studies and to see some of the productions listed on this list just shows me how far off i am in this movie business, people like Martin Scorsese make it an unachievable dream when one looks at where they are at this moment in time

Flag Respond ber Producer 09/02/2012 07:00 PM

"At this moment in time" we have more filmmaking options and access to low-cost tools and equipment than ever before. It actually makes it much more realistic.

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