Martin Scorsese started his film career while he was attending college at NewYork University, were he made a couple of short movies such as What's A NiceGirl Like You Doing In A Place Like This?, It's Not Just You, Murray!, and The Big Shave. He also made his first feature length film Who's That Knocking At My Door? with fellow student and actor Harvey Keitel, and editor Thelma Schoonmaker, which would later become the precursor to Mean Streets.Even though Scorsese started his film career in college, he had developed acertain affinity for film at a young age, especially neo-realist cinema. He believed that documentaries on Italian neo-realism had a lot of influence onhim, as well as the movie Ladri di Biciclette which in English is known as The Bicycle Thief. Scorsese became so infatuated with film, that he gave up hisinitial desire to become a priest, for film.
While in college Scorsese created his own style of film making, and of thethree short movies he did while in college, his most well known was The BigShave. If you have seen any of Scorsese's later work, before this, you can see were his style developed from after watching The Big Shave, which shows an man who shaves himself death. It shows him shaving, and cutting himself in the process, until he slits his own throat. It has all the gore in it's 6 minutes that Scorsese uses in his other films that he created later on. This short film that he created was considered to be an indictment of America'sinvolvement in Vietnam, because of it's alternate title Viet '67. After Scorsese finished his work at New York University, he took the people he had been working with on Who's That Knocking At My Door?, he made Mean Streets,which was somewhat of a sequel to Who's That Knocking At My Door?. His style, I think is starting to fine tune itself during this movie which "established many of the thematic stylistic hallmarks of the Scorsese oeuvre: his use of outsider antiheroes, unusual camera and editing techniques, dueling obsessions withreligion and gangster life, and the evocative use of popular music." (Marc Raymond)
I think that this style that was quoted still holds true to Scorsese's more recent films, as well as his older films. By doing the movie Mean Streets, Scorsese also gained the friendship of actor Robert De Niro, who was frequently cast in many of Scorsese's movies such as Taxi Driver, New York New York, whichactually was a flop of a movie according to critics, and myself. I felt that while Scorsese did do a good job in making the movie, it just didn't have that flare in it like his movies prior to it. It really didn't make me want to watch it again. It also did terrible in box office as well, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, and Casino. The next film that Scorsese did, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, really differed from the style he was now known for from Mean Streets, but it won an Oscar, and it shows how well Scorsese can adapt to other genres of movies with his own style.
The reason he directed the movie, was because he wanted to prove that he could direct a good movie that didn't just have male leads, and whoever doubted him, was definitely proven wrong. I think that Scorsese definitely shows that he can work amazingly well under pressure and false insinuations. Italso goes to show that even if he had a reputation for violent and gritty films, didn't mean that he couldn't use his style in different ways.I think that when Scorsese made his next film, Taxi Driver, he really got people's attention on what he could do, because since it was such a controversial movie, and it was back to his original style of moviemaking, lots of people wanted to see it, and they did.
To me, Taxi Driver was his most influential film, because if you look at his later work, you can see the sametype of violence, and storytelling in Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Cape Fear,Casino, Gangs of New York, and The Departed. I personally believe that if Scorsese hadn't made Taxi Driver, his later films wouldn't have had that extraflare in them that you know Scorsese can deliver. Taxi Driver was alsocritically acclaimed, so it received a lot of attention, from a lot ofdifferent kinds of people, especially five years later when John Hinckley Jr.tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan, and he blamed it on Jodie Foster'scharacter in Taxi Driver, and her as well, because he became obsessed with the film. It shows how powerful Martin Scorsese's directing is, and the acting roles in his films are.
I definitely think that after Taxi Driver, was made, and it became a big success, Scorsese found a groove so to speak for his style. I think that no matter what he does in a film, if he needed to use violence and gritty realness in a movie, he could deliver like no other, which might be the reason his next movie New York, New York was considered and was a flop. I think this, because it was even more of a departure from his normal style of directing than Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore?New York, New York was frowned upon by critics, because they thought it to be alet down from Scorsese's earlier work, and I have to agree with them, because he is highly stylized in the making of this movie/musical, but I didn't think itwould be a movie I could watch more than once.
I am glad that Scorsese actually did this movie, because once he had done a bad movie, he could learn from hismistakes which he did, and I don't think I've seen any of his movies after that, that had any of the style he used for New York, New York. To me, the really bad part about this movie, was that since it got terrible reviews, and did bad in the box office, Scorsese became depressed, and developed a cocaine problem. After Scorsese was dealing with these problems, it made me wonder if he wasgoing to continue making movies, but then two years later, Scorsese makes Raging Bull, and this movie shows that Scorsese can once again make a great movie, while under pressure.
His unique style of violence definitely shows inthis movie, it was shot in black and white, which I think added some flare,plus he added things like slow motion to this film which Scorsese didn't use that much in his previous films. and it doesn't hurt when Robert De Niro offers an amazing Oscar winning performance. This movie also went back to the styles of Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, where you have a male character seeking redemption, with violence and guilt surrounding the character as well. I personally believe that any boxing movie made after Raging Bull has gotten some sort of influence from this movie, because it was so real, and well done, theway Scorsese depicted the boxing and violence, especially since it is based ona real man , Jake La Motta. I just don't see why it didn't do well in the box offices, because the critics loved the movie, and it was voted as the greatest film of the 1980's.
What I think is so great about Scorsese's style of directing is his focus onthe characters, because he takes so much time into the development of hischaracters, which is basically the main focus of his movies. Scorsese actually said, at the Oscars I think, The Departed was the first movie that he made,that focused more about the actual plot/story than the characters. When he said this, I really noticed that to be true, because re-watching most of his movies after that statement, they do. The movies basically focus on the characters,and how they grow through the couple hours you actually see them on screen, and the plot is driven by the characters. Just to list a few, like Taxi Driver and Goodfellas. Now this really does apply to practically all of his earlier films, but these to me stand out more than the other films for some reason.
For instance, in Taxi Driver, the story is following Travis, De Niro's character, and how he is disgusted with the city, how he wants to clean it up, and his goal of saving Iris, Jodie Foster's character, a teenage prostitute, and Travis doesthis how he's sees fit. In Goodfellas, the focus is mainly on Henry, who is played by Liotta, and then on two other support roles Jimmy, and Tommy who are played by De Niro, and Pesci. It's basically how Henry grew up into the mafia, and then the tragic downward spiral of everyone in the movie. I think the way Scorsese shows these character developments is part of his style, not taking anything away from The Departed, I thought that was an amazing movie, it shows his style because everything is focusing on a troubled male character, withexcessive violence, and good music, which I don't think anybody could really complain about.
The pictures I have for this project I think depict Martin Scorsese's style rather well, because they show grittiness and realism that only he can deliver. I have one picture from Mean Streets, one picture from Taxi Driver, and one picture from Raging Bull. The photo from Mean Streets shows Robert De Niro's character fighting with Harvey Keitel's character, and Amy Robinson's character is in the middle trying to stop them from fighting. The second picture I have is Robert De Niro's character in Taxi Driver pointing his fingers at his head like a gun, while he is covered in blood. The third picture I have is Robert DeNiro's character in Raging Bull, and it shows him all beat up just after a fight.
With the pictures that I used, I wanted to depict the gritty violence, and the somewhat over the top violence that Scorsese uses in his films. I don't think that anyone can do that with three pictures, but I think I did a pretty good job with the three that I used, because in my opinion my picture from Mean Streets shows that real kind of violence that Scorsese uses, while my picture from Taxi Driver shows that slightly over the top violence that he uses, along with his dark sense of humor. The picture from Raging Bull, has both I aspectsof violence in it, because it shows that after a boxing match anyone can lookbeat up and ragged, but Scorsese shows it with such graphic detail, that it can be over the top, which is not a bad thing at all, especially considering the fact that so many movies that are made today use that same over the top violence in them that Scorsese used.
Scorsese's influence on film, is very noticeable, because you see mimics ofthings from his movies, and parodies, which does show how fascinated people arewith his movies. I think that if Scorsese wouldn't have become a director, film wouldn't be the same, because so many other directors use his style offilmmaking. I believe that a lot of directors today try to copy Scorsese as away to make a big film, but they don't get it right, because they can't tell a story like Scorsese can. Even though a vast majority of Martin Scorsese's work is based on a book or real events, or real people, Scorsese makes it look sogood on screen. I think that a lot of people try to copy his style of storytelling, but I haven't seen a movie that has really had that flare that Scorsese's movies do in the storytelling department.
I think that if someone has seen some of Scorsese's early movies, and then are given some of hisearlier movies to watch, without telling them who directed it, they could probably tell, because you can see the way Scorsese uses good actors over andover again in his films, plus they still stick with the same theme of his movies being about some real event or person, or based on something like a book, and having an oppressed male character, so to speak, with a bunch of problems. I believe that when the technology was becoming better and better in the 1970s, Scorsese took advantage of that, because of a lot of the techniques that he used, and I think that is still happening in his movies today, because nothing in his movies seem to get really old or repetitive except the actors, whichisn't even a problem, because I believe that the actors either like or respect Scorsese so much, that they act their best in his movies.
I think that the technology of the 70's really helped out all movie directors in that era aswell, but not everyone took advantage of the technology, and sometimes thatpaid off, but Scorsese didn't pull any punches, and I believe that it was definitely the right choice. Overall, I believe that Martin Scorsese started his redefinition of film fromthe late 60s through today, and hopefully his style doesn't die when he does,because I fell that it would be a gigantic blow to the film industry.
Bibliography:
Biskind, Peter. Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood. Rockefeller Center: New York, New York 1998.
Brunette, Peter. Martin Scorsese Interviews. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1999.
Ehrenstein, David. The Scorsese Picture, The Art & Life of Martin Scorsese.Carol Publishing Group: New York, New York 1992.
Scorsese, Martin. Scorsese on Scorsese. Faber and Faber Limited: Queen Square,London 1989.
all movie.com Jason Ankeny. (All Media Guide LCL.) 3 Nov.2007 <http://wc04.allmovie.com/cg/avg.d11?p=avg&sql=2:110533
Scenes of cinema.com Marc Raymond. 3 Nov. 2007 <http://www.scenesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/scorsese.html>
Wikipedia.com From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (Wikipedia Foundation,Inc.)3 Nov. 2007. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Scorsese>
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