Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese
1) Scorsese began his career in the late 1960s after graduating from NYU.
2) He made his film debut in 1967 with Who’s That Knocking at My Door
3) before making some of the most important films of the 1970s and 1980s including:
   a) Mean Streets (1973)
   b) Taxi Driver (1976)
   c) Raging Bull (1980)
4)His films often feature Italian Americans and center on the theme of redemption.

Mast and Kawin point out that:
1)As fast and violent as Scorsese's films often are, they are also intensely meditative.
2)Many of his films also have thoughtful voice-over narrators.
3)Scorsese is knowledgeable about film history and it shows in his film technique.
4) He constantly refers to classic directors like
   a)Michael Powell - The Red Shoes
   b)Rossellini
   c)Welles
   d)Hitchcock
   e) and even D. W. Griffith - (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) The Birth of a Nation
5) His characters are often isolated (sometimes within the limits of an obsession).

Introduction on Mean Streets

At the beginning of Mean Streets, Charlie (Harvey Keitel) observes in voice over: “You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets; you do it at home.”
Charlie is torn between his devout Catholicism and his mafia ambitions.

The following scene from Mean Streets showcases one of Scorsese's trademark devices: scenes of brutal violence set to the music of the 1960s and 1970s:

Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1973):

This guys a mook - pool hall scene Click Here
Clip we saw in class - pool hall fight with a pay off to the police at the end. 

An article on Scorsese's three film motifs
Click Here