The complete collection of Martin Scorsese’s favourite movies
“The nature of my films is regarded as somewhat violent, and the language is considered tough. As you grow older, you change.” – Martin Scorsese
The king of crime movies and slick gangster flicks, Martin Scorsese, is rightfully considered to be one of the greatest American filmmakers of all time, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Francis Ford Coppola, Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino and Stanley Kubrick. Known for his intense approach to storytelling that uses his constant inspiration from foreign cinema, Scorsese is more than just a director; he is a scholar of cinema.
Making a name for himself in the 1970s after earning his stripes with short films in the previous decade, Scorsese burst onto the scene with Mean Streets in 1973, the first of several collaborations with his longtime on-screen partner, Robert De Niro. Such would be proved in the coming years when De Niro and Scorsese once again teamed up for the making of the Palme d’Or winner Taxi Driver in 1976.
The following decade would be equally as explosive, creating the complex sports flick Raging Bull, which was more of an intense character study than a steady stroll in the park, before he turned for a short humorous stint with The King of Comedy and After Hours in 1982 and 1985, respectively.
With such favourites as Goodfellas, Shutter Island and The Wolf of Wall Street in modern cinema, Scorsese has proven his passion for diverse stories that span different genres and tones time and time again. But, each of his stories is based on a rich knowledge of cinema history. Take a look at each of his inspirations through an extensive rundown of his favourite movies of all time below.
Martin Scorsese’s favourite movies:
Martin Scorsese names the greatest movies of all time
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
- 8 ½ (Federico Fellini, 1963)
- Ashes and Diamonds (Andrzej Wajda, 1958)
- Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
- Diary of a Country Priest (Robert Bresson, 1951)
- Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa, 1952)
- The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963)
- Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1955)
- Paisàn (Roberto Rossellini, 1946)
- The Red Shoes (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, 1948)
- The River (Jean Renoir, 1951)
- Salvatore Giuliano (Francesco Rosi, 1962)
- The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
- Ugetsu Monogatari (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953)
- Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
Recently, in 2022, the iconic filmmaker took to the decennial Sight and Sound poll to discuss his picks for the greatest movies of all time. Choosing an eclectic range of films from across the world, the list does well to reflect Scorsese’s interests, honouring the very best directors who have ever blessed the silver screen.
Included on the list is his all-time favourite Stanley Kubrick movie, the sci-fi masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey from 1968. Riddled with mystery and deep tonal complexity, 2001 has long been beloved by filmmakers across the globe, becoming the influence to such subsequent genre classics as Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune.
The film Martin Scorsese called “one of the very greatest ever made”
The Red Shoes (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, 1948)
Scorsese had even more to say about one of his 15 favourites, calling 1948’s The Red Shoes, by British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, “one of the very greatest ever made”. Telling the story of a young ballet dancer who is torn between the pursuit of love or the pursuit of a career, having the skills and capability to become an excellent ballerina.
Speaking about the movie, Scorsese states: “I’ve said and written so much about this picture over the years; for me it’s always been one of the very greatest ever made. Every time I go back to look at it—about once a year—it’s new: it reveals another side, another level, and it goes deeper… it’s beautiful, one of the most beautiful Technicolor films ever made; it has such an extraordinary sense of magic”.
Martin Scorsese names his favourite western movie
The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
Despite being interested in each and every genre of cinema, Scorsese has rarely delved into the world of the movie western, aside from when he mixed this with his love for crime in 2023’s Killers of the Flower Moon. But, he has called John Ford’s 1956 masterpiece his favourite western for quite some time, being fond of the political commentary that places it as one of the most definitive American movies.
“The Searchers has been more or less officially recognised as a great American classic. But I have to admit that I never really know what that kind of recognition amounts to. The film turns up on many 10-greatest-films-of-all-time lists, including my own,” he stated about the movie, “Like all great works of art, it’s uncomfortable. The core of the movie is deeply painful. Every time I watch it — and I’ve seen it many, many times since its first run in 1956 — it haunts and troubles me”.
The two movies Martin Scorsese called “milestones in American cinema”
- Bullitt (Peter Yates, 1968)
- Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)
Speaking of iconic American movies, Scorsese once picked the 1968 movies Bullitt and Rosemary’s Baby as two “milestones in American cinema”. Though totally different in tone, with one being a high-octane car thriller and the other being a complex horror about the torment of childbirth, both were shot by the great American cinematographer William A. Fraker.
“Bullitt is a film of moods and textures—the streets, the clothing, the cars, the light. It was shot by a great cinematographer, William A. Fraker, who just passed away at the age of 86. He did a lot of exceptional work, including Dusty and Sweets McGee and American Hot Wax by Floyd Mutrux, John Boorman’s Exorcist II: The Heretic and Steven Spielberg’s 1941,” the director started, “Remarkably, he also shot Rosemary’s Baby the same year that he shot Bullitt — two milestones in American cinema”.
Martin Scorsese names his favourite Francis Ford Coppola film
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
Let’s go from Scorsese’s general love of American cinema to focusing on his favourites from some of the country’s greatest-ever filmmakers, starting with The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola. Whilst many praise the original iconic crime movie, Scorsese calls the sequel, The Godfather: Part II, his favourite film from the grand career of Francis Ford Coppola.
Speaking about the movie, directed by a man who shot to success around the same time as Scorsese, the filmmaker stated, “I admire the ambition of the project, its Shakespearean breadth, its tragic melancholy in its portrayal of the dissolution of the American dream… It is particularly the film within the film, the story of young Vito Corleone and his journey from Sicily to the Lower East Side, that touched me in a deep, personal way”.
Martin Scorsese’s favourite John Carpenter movies
- Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
- Halloween (1978)
- The Fog (1980)
- The Thing (1982)
- They Live (1988)
Next up, he takes on the filmography of the great innovator of 1980s filmmaking, John Carpenter, a man who changed the movie industry in more ways than one throughout the latter half of the 20th century. After ushering in the dawn of the slasher horror age with the release of Halloween in 1978, Carpenter would go on to inspire the camp tone of the decade with such classics as They Live and Escape From New York.
Scorsese’s favourite Carpenter flicks included an eclectic mix of movies, however, choosing many of his horror-orientated films like Halloween, The Fog and The Thing. “John Carpenter is a filmmaker who is unashamed to stay within the genres he loves and who practises his trade like a master craftsman,” Scorsese states, “His pictures always have a handmade quality – every cut, every move, every choice of framing and camera movement”.
Martin Scorsese’s favourite Wes Anderson movie
Bottle Rocket (1996)
The final of the American directorial trio is the great Wes Anderson, an innovator of independent cinema in the 21st century. Known for his distinctive art style and symmetrical form of filmmaking, Anderson has created some of the best modern movies, including The Grand Budapest Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom and Fantastic Mr. Fox, but Scorsese’s favourite of his is the 1990s flick Bottle Rocket.
Starring brothers Owen and Luke Wilson, Bottle Rocket is one of Anderson’s simplest movies in the best way possible, with his style refined to the point that each element speaks and breaths for itself. “[Anderson] knows how to convey the simple joys and interactions between people so well and with such richness,” Scorsese once stated, “This kind of sensibility is rare in movies”.
Martin Scorsese names his favourite silent movies
- Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (Fritz Lang, 1922)
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Rex Ingram, 1921)
- The Infernal Cakewalk (Georges Méliès, 1903)
- Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927)
- Napoléon (Abel Gance, 1927)
- Nosferatu (F. W. Murnau, 1922)
- Secrets of the Soul (Vincenzo Denizot, 1912)
Yet, American cinema would look a whole lot different had it not been for the incredibly important movies of the silent film era from 1894 and 1931. Scorsese is, of course, very aware of this fact and therefore once outlined his favourite silent movies of all time. Picking utter classics of the era, including F. W. Murnau’s horror Nosferatu and the double-bill of Metropolis and Dr. Mabuse the Gambler by Fritz Lang, Scorsese certainly knows his silent cinema.
Speaking about the era, Scorsese states: “When I first started seeing films, silent films were gone. I mean, now, at this point in time, 90% of all silent films are destroyed forever, and more go every day…Yes, silent film is wonderful. It’s extraordinary, especially if you see it in the right way and on a bigger screen, by the way, if you can. It’s fascinating”.
Martin Scorsese names his favourite horror movies of all time
- The Changeling (Peter Medak, 1980)
- Dead of Night (Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer, 1945)
- The Entity (Frank de Felitta, 1983)
- The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)
- The Haunting (Robert Wise, 1963)
- The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961)
- Isle of the Dead (Val Lewton, 1945)
- Night of the Demon (Jacques Tourneur, 1957)
- Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
- The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
- The Uninvited (Lewis Allen, 1944)
Having previously announced his love for Nosferatu, it’s clear that Scorsese has a thirst for horror, one of the oldest and most innately primal genres in the medium of storytelling. Clearly preferring intense tales that instil the viewer with dread, Scorsese’s favourite horror movies are a selection of 20th-century classics, including films from the likes of Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock and Robert Wise.
Among such classics as The Shining and Psycho, and more unknown greats like Isle of the Dead and The Entity, Scorsese picks the movie many consider to be the greatest horror of all time, William Friedkin’s Exorcist. Based on the novel by William Peter Blatty, the movie tells the story of a young girl who becomes possessed by an evil demon who changes the lives of not only her, but those around her, too.
The movie Martin Scorsese called “genuinely transcendental”
The Horse Thief (Tian Zhuangzhuang, 1986)
Without the influence of Scorsese, cinema wouldn’t seem anywhere near as transcendental as it does today, with the director gifting us such classics as Taxi Driver, Goodfellas and Killers of the Flower Moon. Aware of the medium’s ability to transcend time and space, Scorsese once named the movie as “genuinely transcendental”, sending fans of his into a frenzy.
The movie in question was the Chinese movie The Horse Thief, with Scorsese summing the film up by saying: “This is what life is all about: struggling to keep your family alive. Horse Thief was a real inspiration to me. It’s that rare thing of a genuinely transcendental film”.
