The King of Comedy

Martin Scorsese, 1982 (8.6*)
One of the most underrated of Scorsese's films. Robert De Niro plays Rupert Pupkin, a frustrated standup comic. (and with De Niro playing him, he's one of the creepiest standups ever) He wants to hit the big time, but seems to never get past the open mike level. He thinks if he just gets a few minutes on a major late night show, his natural comedic talent will carry him in a meteoric rise into stardom.

He tries to get a spot on a show hosted by Jerry Lewis, but never really gets a chance without any type of resume or a name agent. Harassing and stalking Lewis puts him off even more, so Pupkin decides that if he kidnaps the host and holds him for ransom, with the bounty being a five-minute spot on the show to do a standup routine, then he can break into the big time due to public acclaim.

Remarkably, Jerry Lewis actually shows some dramatic acting skills in this; I'd have to say it's his best dramatic acting that I've seen. So does comedienne Sandra Bernhard as a friend of De Niro's who becomes his willing accomplice in this plot. Just the very idea of this shows the type of half-cocked individual Rupert Pupkin is; he's just one gun shy of being Travis Bickle in Scorsese's Taxi Driver.

This is one of the more unusual crime films, as well as one of Scorsese's most unique. It's not a guns firing, blood on the wall kind of crime film - it's an almost too realistic, borderline psychotic type of crime, which has become all too real in the modern era.

This didn't go totally unnoticed, at least in Europe: the screenplay by Paul D. Zimmerman won a BAFTA award; Sandra Bernhard won a National Society of  Film Critics award for supporting actress, and the film won a London Film Critics award for best picture and was nominated for a Palm d'Or at Cannes. Awards page at IMDB

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Shutter Island

Martin Scorsese, 2010 (7.8*)

This is Scorsese's tribute to Hitchcockian melodramas, in my opinion, aided by an exotic island location which holds a maximum security asylum for the criminally insane, and an earnest if strained performance by Leonardo Dicaprio. The film is full of stormy atmosphere, disappearing psychos, mysterious doctors; in fact, all it's missing are the Universal logo and Boris Karloff and you'd have a classic 40's horror film if done in black and white.

I've actually heard people say that this is Scorsese's best film, while others have placed it closer to his worst (impossible with Bringing Out the Dead in his filmography), so it's obviously not an 'accepted classic' of his. I guess it really depends on how jaded a film fan you are, for this is really not a new story, the 'twist' is not that unexpected, and one gets the feeling that 'I've seen all this before'.

The most misleading marketing in recent history has all the ads touting this as a Hitchcockian suspense-horror film, yet it's far closer to A Beautiful Mind and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, being more about states of insanity than any horrific mystery. I'm not sure if Scorsese's real fans will find this as rewarding as his more serious efforts (Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Departed), yet it's an engrossing enough story to hold one's interest until the cliched plot unravels. Look for terrific character actor Ted Levine, the killer in Silence of the Lambs, in a small part as a prison guard.

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Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

Martin Scorsese, 1974 (8.2*)
Best Picture (BAA)
Not only is this another Martin Scorsese winner, it’s also a romantic comedy, albeit with dramatic overtones. Single mother Ellen Burstyn won a Best Actress Oscar® for her terrific performance as a single mother struggling to raise a son on a waitress’ salary, while searching for another spouse among slim pickings.

Harvey Keitel is terrific in a small part as a boyfriend, a friendship that starts out innocently and turns very frightening as he exerts his alpha male dominance. Look for teenaged Jodie Foster (who calls her mom “Ramada Rose”) in a very funny androgynous role as a misbehaving teenager, who befriends Burstyn’s son, played by Alfred Lutter in a quirky, funny performance.

Vic Tayback, the gruff diner owner and cook, was the only cast member to keep their role in the tv comedy Alice, based on the film. Winner of the British Academy Award for the year’s best film. Two Oscars®

Quote: You leave this scorpion alone, he’ll leave you alone; you mess with him, he’ll kill you. (Harvey Keitel)

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The Departed

Dir: Martin Scorsese, 2006 (8.9*)

Best Picture (AA)

Scorsese finally got his due, with an Oscar for Best Director after 8 nominations (for not his best either), he began his speech with "can I get a recount?", a hilarious throwback to the "stolen" election of 2000. This organized crime drama is based on a small and inferior Hong Kong film called Infernal Affairs. The screenplay’s author, William Monahan (Oscar winner) sent it to Leonardo DiCaprio, who convinced Scorsese to film it, with himself in the lead role of an undercover detective infiltrating a crime family headed by Jack Nicholson, while his inside man, Matt Damon, works on the organized crime task force for the police – so it’s a "double mole" story, complex yet tightly plotted. Mark Wahlberg is excellent, and Oscar nominated, as a detective suspicious of Damon, Martin Sheen is well cast as head of the task force. 4 Oscars

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Taxi Driver

Dir: Martin Scorsese, 1976 (9.0*)

Palm d'Or (Cannes)

AFI and Time Mag Top 100

An all-American homicidal psycho classic, Robert De Niro paints a portrait none will ever forget, as cabbie over-the-edge Travis Bickle. Travis is attracted to policital campaign worker Cybil Shepherd, who is obviously of another class, as in "someone with". Jodie Foster is a teenage prostitute who catches his eye and friendship, and Harvey Keitel, with super-long hair (!) is her pimp.

We witness Bickle's evolution from bored and lonely cabbie to a dark and sinister instrument of modern rage in a brilliantly spiraling story of an anonymous denizen of the night coming to grips with his own societal impotence in a way that will leave his mark one way or another.

Look for Scorsese in a scene in the cab, spying on his wife. Eventually we see the dark side of America and it’s pretty scary and unforgettable, but this is a crime classic! This is now No. 3 all-time in our compendium of Top Ranked Films in all film polls, see post for the new 2011 update here..

Quote: You talking to me? You talking to me? Well, I don’t see anyone else here. (De Niro, to himself)

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Goodfellas

Dir: Martin Scorsese, 1990 (9.0*)

Best Picture (BAA)
AFI and Time Top 100
Scorsese’s epic tribute to the gangster film tells the true story of Irish criminal Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), based on his memoirs. Robert De Niro is excellent as usual as , and Joe Pesci won an Oscar for his over the top take as the homicidal partner with a trigger finger. Lorraine Bracco had a star-making role as Liotta’s wife, and got an Oscar nomination for supporting actress. Look for the long tracking shot that follows Jimmy and friends down into the night club. This is a long and rich film that maintains a good pace until it starts increasing in speed, and then we’re all pounding along to Harry Nilsson’s "Jump into the Fire" as Hill goes on a coke binge, which is a pretty good description of this lifestyle. Only One Oscar

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Raging Bull

Dir: Martin Scorsese, 1980, bw (9.1*)
AFI and Time Top 100
This Martin Scorsese sports classic was shot in black & white and is a masterpiece of the colorless, a decision which places the film during its own era, when many of us saw boxing weekly on tv. Robert De Niro, in his best (Oscar winning actor) performance, and one for all time, put on the boxing moves as well as 40 lbs in order to play the older Jake LaMotta after retirement, and also the younger LaMotta in the ring in some of the best staged boxing in film history.
This terrific docudrama covers about 20 yrs in LaMotta’s life; Joe Pesci did a good job as his brother and manager, but Cathy Moriarty was a stunner as his wife Vicky and was robbed of an Oscar, as was Scorsese as best director. Many now consider this the best sports film ever. 8 nominations, including Picture and Director, 2 Oscars (Actor, Film Editing)
Quote: You never knocked me down, Ray, never…

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Gangs of New York

Martin Scorsese, 2002 (9.1*)
This is Scorsese's most ambitious achievement, staggering in scale and execution. It's also based on a true history of New York, at a time when large immigrant gangs controlled the Five Points area of Manhattan, eventually rioting over the draft and causing the U.S. Navy to be called in to bombard the citizens, the only time in U.S. history we warred against our own citizens.

Leonard diCaprio and Cameron Diaz are both pretty good, as lovers who meet when she picks his pocket, but Daniel-Day Lewis is superb as the archetypal villain, Bill the Butcher (head of the "Native American Party", meaning the earlier arriving Irish immigrants), and who won every acting award that year except the Oscar® (18 in all). You'll never forget his glass eye with the U.S. shield as a pupil. Nominated for 10 Oscars®, won none.

Quote: It's not the ballots that decide the elections, it's the counters. (Boss Tweed)
Quote2: You can always hire one-half of the poor to kill the other half. (Boss Tweed)
Quote3: Well, all the good Irish already came over, all we're getting now are the dregs. (Bill the Butcher)

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