Martin Scorsese picks the five essential movies in his collection
The 1973 directional debut Mean Streets marked the beginning of a universally acclaimed career for Martin Scorsese, bolstered by a long-standing relationship with Hollywood hero Robert De Niro. This successful formula of gritty realism and a stark reflection of inner-city life was brought to a landmark climax in 1976 with the arrival of Scorsese’s magnum opus, Taxi Driver.
With an upswing synchronised with those of Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Brian De Palma and George Lucas, Scorsese became revered as a part of a group of esteemed filmmakers nicknamed the “movie brats”. This group of directors spearheaded the so-called New Hollowood movement and were known for being rather territorial when discussing their tastes in cinema.
Of course, nobody could beat Quentin Tarantino in the movie geek department, but Scorsese and his fellow movie brats enjoy shuffling the classics into ranked lists, too. The only problem for Scorsese is that he’s seen too many movies and struggles to whittle his favourites down to a digestible figure.
Scorsese identified this struggle in a past interview with the BBC’s Barry Norman. “How many films have you seen, Marty?” Norman asked, already sensing his audacity.
“Oh, I don’t know, it’s terrible! There’s just too many. I’ve seen too many films,” Scorsese replied with a hint of shame before laughing it off.
Noting that many filmmakers of Scorsese’s calibre successfully scrape together top ten lists, Norman asked the director if he could ever do the same. “I can’t name ten! No, I can’t, it’s terrible,” he said.
Instead, Scorsese had apparently filed his list down to 125 movies. Admitting that this wasn’t succinct enough for his fans, Scorsese commented, “There’s just no discipline at all on this. It’s just… just embarrassing, the whole thing.”
Contrite, Scorsese offered to reveal instead the five essential movies he wanted in his collection when he set out with his own money many years before. He initially wanted only these five movies, but as time wore on, his collection became more crowded than his “top-ten” list.
“I did say, though, there were about five pictures if I had to collect films,” Scorsese offered. “Now, I have a big collection, but at first, [when] I was starting to collect, I only wanted five pictures. One was The Searchers, the other was Citizen Kane, and the third was, well, not in any order, but The Red Shoes… 8½, and The Leopard by [Luchino] Visconti.”
So, while Scorsese fans will be lucky to ever divine Scorsese’s categorical top-ten, these five are a satisfactory substitute.
Martin Scorsese’s movie essentials:
- The Leopard – Luchino Visconti
- Citizen Kane – Orson Welles
- 8½ – Federico Fellini
- The Red Shoes – Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell
- The Searchers – John Ford
