Martin Charles Scorsese was born November 17, 1942
in Flushing, Queens to an Italian-American family.
As a young kid, they moved to the Lower East Side
to a neighborhood that Scorsese later said
"was like a village in Sicily."
He had really terrible asthma as a child,
so he couldn't go outside and play a lot of sports.
So instead, he found his escape with movies,
and he went to the movie theatre at a really young age,
and also loved watching a TV show that was on
in New York, called, "Million Dollar Movie,"
which played a lot of independent and foreign films.
So Scorsese was exposed to a broad range of films
from a very young age and he also loved, you know,
the big Hollywood studio productions
like "On the Waterfront," and "Singin' in the Rain,"
and "Citizen Kane."
At age of eight, he started to draw his own storyboards,
but he was mainly recreating the films that he'd seen,
until about the age of 12, when he started to
draw his own original ideas, complete with
the title card "directed and produced by Martin Scorsese."
Much later, he went to NYU to study film directing
and, while he was there, he started to work on
his very first feature film called, "I Call First,"
later renamed, "Who's That Knocking On My Door."
And on that film, he worked with Harvey Keitel,
the first of what would become a lot of collaborations,
and also worked with editor Thelma Schoonmaker,
who went on to become vitally important
to his entire career.
- [Man] So that's really a French magazine, huh?
- (laughing) Yes, I'm afraid it is.
- [Man] Well, how the hell did they ever get
a hold of "The Searchers?"
- The what?
- "The Searchers." It's a movie made about,
oh, about 11 years ago, that picture of John Wayne
is from that movie.
- He didn't finish the film until after he graduated NYU
and he sent it around to a lot of film festivals.
It got rejected from most of the film festivals,
but it did get into Chicago Film Festival,
where a film critic called Roger Ebert saw the film
and he was really instrumental
in noticing Scorsese's talent right from the beginning,
saying that he was a director to watch
and that this could possibly be one of the biggest moments
in American film history at that time.
- Well, you know, I really thought
you'd love me, you know that?
You really had me believing that.
- I do love you, that's why.
- What, that's why, because you love me,
that's why you're not gonna marry me?
(sighing)
- What kinda business you handing me here?
- In 1971, Scorsese moved to Los Angeles,
and he started to hang out with a lot
of other film directors who were up-and-coming,
like Brian De Palma and Francis Ford Coppola.
I would've loved to be at a table with all of those guys.
And he began to work for Roger Corman,
who was known as the King of Cult Film.
In 1972, he released "Boxcar Bertha,"
which was a Roger Corman film.
It was about two train robbers, fugitives
who were lovers on the run
and, apparently, after John Cassavetes,
— another director friend of Scorsese's — saw the film,
he encouraged him to go and make something personal.
So, in 1973, came "Mean Streets"
— where Scorsese returned to Little Italy —
a very gritty, dark film, working once again
with Harvey Keitel, who plays a lower-level gangster
trying to save his hotheaded friend,
played by Robert DeNiro, and also trying to
deal with the Catholic guilt that he feels.
- You know, I borrowed money all over this neighborhood,
left and right, from everybody.
I never paid 'em back, so I can't borrow no money
from nobody no more, right?
So who does that leave me to borrow money from, but you.
I borrow money from you because
you're the only jerk-off around here
that I can borrow money from without payin' back, right?
- "Mean Streets" was the first time
that Scorsese worked with actor Robert DeNiro,
and, of course, those two went on
to create one of the most impressive
cinematic partnerships in American film.
After "Mean Streets," Scorsese did something
completely different and he made
"Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore,"
which was released in 1974.
And this is a rare film in Scorsese's filmography
because it's one of his few completely
female-centric movies.
It's sometimes called a "neo-woman's picture."
It stars Ellen Burstyn as a widower, a mother,
who flees her life with the dream
of becoming a lounge singer,
and she starts to work as a waitress.
- I used to be good when I was a kid,
but I'm not good anymore.
My voice has got a wiggle in it.
- Well, honey, I ain't gonna bullshit ya.
You better get that wiggle outta your voice
or you better take up something else.
(laughing)
- After that, he returned to the streets of New York
to make "Taxi Driver," from 1976,
which is now considered to be a masterpiece
and one of the pivotal movies of
the New Hollywood movement at a time when
these young filmmakers started to make
independent movies that changed the way films were made
from the old way of studio Hollywood films
and those conventions to completely free,
playing with different forms and rules,
and it was a really exciting time.
- You talkin' to me?
Well then, who the hell else are you talking to?
You talkin' to me?
- "Taxi Driver" starred Robert DeNiro as probably
one of the best antiheroes ever in films.
Travis Bickle, a loner taxi driver who becomes
very angry with the scum that he sees at nighttime
in New York and becomes determined to save
a young, female prostitute played by Jodie Foster
from her pimp, played by Harvey Keitel.
- (mimics gun firing)
- In the late 1970s, Scorsese was dealing with
a lot of personal demons, but he was helped
through that time by his friend Robert DeNiro,
who was one of the people who encouraged him
to make "Raging Bull," released in 1980.
This was a project that Scorsese had wanted to do
for a long time, and when it came out,
it was yet another masterpiece from Martin Scorsese,
a black and white look at a very violent man,
Jake LaMotta, played by DeNiro, a boxer who was
just as angry outside of the ring
as he was in the ring. A beautiful film though
— including the violence, beautifully shot in black-and-white,
wonderfully edited by Thelma Schoonmaker —
and it went on to win Robert DeNiro the Best Actor Oscar.
- So gimme a stage where this bull here can rage,
and though I can fight, I'd much rather recite.
That's entertainment!
Scorsese continued his look at outsiders
with "The King of Comedy," from 1983,
which is, I think, my personal favorite
of Martin Scorsese's films and
"Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore."
But, I love "The King of Comedy," because
it's a really dark look at a comedian
who will do anything to get his big break.
Rupert Pupkin is the name of the character
played by Robert DeNiro and he's a standup comedian
or wannabe standup comedian,
living in his mother's basement,
who comes up with a plan to kidnap
a late-night TV host, played by Jerry Lewis,
to try to convince him to give him a spot on his show.
- And the comedy find of the year,
making his television debut, Rupert Pupkin,
the new king of comedy.
- [Mother] Rupert, Rupert!
Are you crazy?
What's the matter with you? - Say "hello" to—
Come on, Mom!
- [Mother] People are sleeping! Lower it!
- Oh.
(tape machine clicking)
- [Mother] What's the matter with you?
- Mom!
- And it's interesting that in 2019,
we have "The Joker," which is very much inspired
by "The King of Comedy," and a little bit of "Taxi Driver,"
which just shows the continuing influence of this film.
It wasn't a huge hit when it first came out,
but is now considered to be a classic.
After "The King of Comedy" came the dark comedy,
"After Hours," in 1985, then "The Color of Money" in 1986,
which was kind of a sequel to "The Hustler," from 1961,
starring Paul Newman, back again as his
pool shark character, Fast Eddie, who now has
a protege in the form of a character played by Tom Cruise.
- Pool excellence is not about excellent pool.
It's about becoming something.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
- Like what?
- A student.
- He rounded out the 1980s by making
"The Last Temptation of Christ" in 1988,
which was a film that was a dream for Scorsese.
He always wanted to make a film about Jesus Christ.
A very religious film, an epic film,
slow and beautifully shot.
It caused a little bit of controversy
when it came out, but it was definitely
a personal fulfillment for Scorsese.
- Father, were you listening to me?
Are you still there?
- In the 1990s, Scorsese returned to the world of the mafia
and gangster films with "Goodfellas," from 1990,
which was based on a book called "Wise Guys,"
and it follows the character of Henry Hill,
played by Ray Liotta, who goes under the wing
of Jimmy Conway, an established gangster,
played by Robert DeNiro.
And once again, it was just full of life,
full of color, a lot of violence as well,
but showing really the behind-the-scenes,
the inner workings of the gangster world,
beautifully edited once again.
(laughing)
- Who here's the big cops?
(laughing)
- You're like funny, really funny.
- What do you mean, "I'm funny"?
(laughing)
- It's funny, you know, the story. It's funny.
You're a funny guy.
(laughing)
- What do you mean, you mean the way I talk, what?
- After that came "Cape Fear" in 1991
which was a remake of the Gregory Peck movie from 1962,
and interestingly, in 1993, Scorsese made
"The Age of Innocence," which was a 19th-century
Victorian romance, starring Michelle Pfeiffer,
Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder,
which, when you look at it on the surface,
it feels like a very different film for Scorsese,
but as he has explained, the world of
the polite manners and that kind of society of that time
was just as brutal as the gangster world.
And they also had to follow their own moral code
of loyalty, plus you had to make the choice often
between your tribe or what you truly want.
- Are you very much in love with her?
- As much as a man can be.
- Do you think there's a limit?
- And in 1995, Scorsese had a huge hit with "Casino."
Again, about the mafia, but this time, set in Las Vegas
with Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, and Robert DeNiro.
- Alright, I'm gonna give you a choice.
You can either have the money and the hammer
or you can walk outta here.
You can't have both.
- By the 2000s, Martin Scorsese was not slowing down at all,
and he formed a new partnership
with another exciting actor, Leonardo DiCaprio.
DiCaprio has said that Scorsese saved him
because he was going down the path to become
one particular type of actor and Scorsese
completely changed his direction and made him
become a different type of actor.
These two worked together in the "Gangs of New York,"
from 2002, which was about the late 19th-century
immigration riots in New York,
and then "The Aviator" in 2004, which was
all about Howard Hughes, with Leonardo DiCaprio
playing Howard Hughes.
I love that movie because it takes you back
to that Hollywood studio era and all of the craziness
that Howard Hughes brought with him.
- The way of the future, the way of the future (coughing).
The way of the future, the way of the future,
the way of the future.
- Then, in 2006, DiCaprio and Scorsese made
"The Departed," which was a remake of
a Hong Kong thriller called "Infernal Affairs,"
all about a young cop infiltrating the mafia,
once again, returning to the gangster world.
And it was with this film that Scorsese
finally won the Best Director Academy Award.
That was his sixth time being nominated
for that specific category and everyone was
hoping that he would finally win it, and he did.
And it was made even more special
by the fact that his friends, Francis Ford Coppola,
Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas, were there
to present him with the long-awaited Oscar.
- And I'm overwhelmed with this honour with the Academy,
and also the honour of being presented by
my old old friends. We go back 37 years.
I'm so moved.
(clapping) I'm so moved.
- Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio worked together
once again on "Shutter Island" in 2010,
and in 2013 on the insane "The Wolf of Wall Street,"
which was one of those films, when I first saw it,
I didn't know what to think of it.
It felt overly excessive, but after sitting
and chewing on it for a while, I couldn't
get it out of my head.
I realized that that's exactly what Scorsese
was trying to do.
He was trying to show the sickening excess of Wall Street
and he managed to do that
really successfully with that movie.
(strange throat singing)
- And I can't wait to see "The Irishman"
because Martin Scorsese's back with Robert DeNiro,
with Harvey Keitel and Joe Pesci,
and it is somewhat of a return to the gangster film.
It's all about Jimmy Hoffa and a mob hitman
that he worked with.
- You know, I don't— I don't care
whether you did it or not.
That makes no difference to me.
- Yeah, I know.
- I'm here to defend you, right?
- Right.
What do you wanna know?
You wanna know if I did it or not?
- Well...
- I really like the work of Martin Scorsese
because, although it's seemingly quite macho
and violent, it really pushes
the conventions of filmmaking.
He is an exciting movie maker who,
even though he returns to the same themes,
he always does it in a different way.
I also really love his work with Film Foundation,
which he founded in 1990, which is all about
preserving and restoring cinema.
And he's done some great work on films
like "The Red Shoes" by Michael Powell
and Emeric Pressburger, which might have been lost
if he hadn't stepped in with his foundation to restore it.
Martin Scorsese is a lover of cinema.
He's a cinephile. He is a walking encyclopedia of movies.
He's my cinematic hero because of the way
he champions films from all over the world
and the way that he talks a lot about
the importance of preserving film history.