Cape Fear (1991)

Martin Scorsese’s remake of the 1962 film creates something bigger, louder and a lot more scary than the original. This time around the psychopath Max Cady is played by Robert De Niro, who is fuelled by his own version of religion as well as a desperate craving for revenge. The plot is very similar – ex-con terrorises lawyer and his family – except that Scorsese builds in more moral ambiguity. Sam Boden (Nick Nolte) is not a squeaky-clean lawyer. Instead, he has acted unprofessionally by concealing a report relating to Cady’s case and is unfaithful to his wife Leigh (Jessica Lange) with a legal clerk called Loti (Illeana Douglas). 

The biggest difference is that the Bodens’ daughter, Danielle (a particularly superb Juliette Lewis), is a 15-year-old who is drawn into an ambiguous understanding with Cady. He exploits her dawning sexuality as well as her feelings of being misunderstood by her parents. 

In many ways it’s a film about family and – like Cady himself – it cleverly explores the threads that tie them together as well as probing into the cracks that pull them apart. 

The music, based on Bernard Herrmann’s score for the original, has a high drama, helping to drive the dynamism and the tension on screen. 

There’s also the slight novelty of cameos from three of the original cast – Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck and Martin Balsam all appear in minor roles. 

If there’s a criticism it’s that it’s a little overwrought at times, but I like that quality: Scorsese turns up the drama and makes it almost unbearable. Then he turns it up some more.

The Departed (2006)

Directed by Martin Scorsese, this remarkable crime thriller is as good as any. 

In Boston. Irish Mob boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) places Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) as a spy within the police force. Sullivan quickly rises up the ranks, becoming a highly respected detective, and protects Costello by feeding him information. Meanwhile, the police assign undercover agent Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) to infiltrate Costello’s criminal gang. And both of them end up dating the same police psychologist (Vera Farmiga as Dr. Madolyn Madden). 

It’s incredibly clever. The plot moves fast enough to make your head spin, but Scorsese’s storytelling gifts are such that it works. 

The all-star cast also includes Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone and Mark Wahlberg. The soundtrack is terrific, although a repeat use of the intro to “Gimme Shelter” by the Rolling Stones in the same scene seems like an error. 

As usual with Scorsese, you get everything – a masterclass in film-making. The characters are richly fleshed out. It’s thrilling. It looks visually stunning. And the script is really sharp.

The Aviator (2004)

Biopic of billionaire entrepreneur Howard Hughes, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. 

It’s a sad and engrossing story that expertly details Hughes’ decline into paranoia, social reclusiveness and the crippling discomfort of extreme OCD. 

Scorsese’s usual tricks are all displayed, but it’s refreshing to see them used in a non-crime story. At times it all seems a little too stylised, but then Scorsese handles this visual flamboyance so well that he makes it work. Plus, it’s a film about the veneer of Hollywood success so that lavish styling serves to further underscore the subject matter. 

DiCaprio is absolutely superb as the visibly crumbling Hughes. Cate Blanchett is also at her best, capturing the quick-witted energy of Katharine Hepburn. 

Also popping up are Kate Beckinsale (as Ava Gardner), Ian Holm, John C. Reilly, Alec Baldwin, Jude Law, Gwen Stefani (as Jean Harlow), Willem Dafoe and Alan Alda (as Senator Ralph Owen Brewster).

Goodfellas (1990)

Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Nicholas Pileggi’s book Wiseguy is a beautifully filmed masterpiece. Unlike Casino, it’s presented from the perspective of a character that you can relate to. Through Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), we see inside the world of the mafia and – crucially – why it initially seems so appealing. 

It’s about many things; the mafia, obviously, but also family, marriage and changing times in the USA.

Scorsese manages to pull off certain effects (freeze frames, a tiny bit of fourth-wall speaking to camera at the end) without it ever seeming tricksy. The characters seem entirely real. It’s also improbably funny – see Joe Pesci’s character's relationship with his mother (played by Scorsese’s own mother), or the obsession with food (Henry asking his brother to keep stirring the sauce as his life’s falling apart). And Robert De Niro is at his very best.

Although it’s multilayered, it’s also superbly lucid storytelling. You know what’s going on and why, even as the film constantly surprises you. Fantastic music choices too.

Mean Streets (1973)

Brilliant drama by Martin Scorsese. Harvey Keitel plays Charlie Cappa, a small-time criminal in New York who gets into trouble because his friend Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro) owes money and is something of a loose cannon. 

De Niro is fantastic: genuinely unpredictable and hugely watchable. Keitel is sympathetic: you can relate to him because he seems to want to do the right thing, but he’s out of his depth. His epileptic girlfriend Teresa (Amy Robinson) is also likeable and convincing. 

While it’s a lower-budget, earlier film than most of the classics in his catalogue, Scorsese’s usual tricks and tics are all in place: the wall-to-wall use of music (including Phil Spector hits and the Rolling Stones), the distinctive dialogue and framing of shots, and the expert ramping up of dramatic tension.

Shutter Island (2010)

US marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) is sent to a Boston Harbour island. With his companion (Mark Ruffalo), he is looking into the disappearance of a patient from the Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane. But he’s quickly swept into a deeper mystery about what’s really going on at the asylum. 

Directed by Martin Scorsese, this is a genuinely terrifying psychological thriller. Leonardo DiCaprio is superb as a complicated character making a horrible discovery. 

It’s closer in tone to Cape Fear than anything else I’ve seen by Scorsese. What seems to be a noirish thriller acquires extra depths as it becomes stranger and even more disturbing. It’s difficult to say any more without giving away the big twist. 

The superb cast also includes Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams and Max von Sydow.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

The curiously featureless face of Leonardo Di Caprio works perfectly to represent the banality of ultra-greed in Martin Scorsese’s audacious biopic of non-legal trader Jordan Belfort. 

The aesthetic is bland and corporate, as it should be. Scorsese avoids the subtle layering of American Hustle and instead opts for relentlessness, brilliantly pushing the excess factor. Some of the speeches by the “wolf” are incredibly well done – a much more extreme twist on the “greed is good” theme of Michael Douglas as Gordon Gecko in Wall Street. 

Some critics complained that there’s no moral core, but surely that’s the point of this film. The book is even better. Jordan’s written account condenses certain episodes in his life. The film further combines and condenses, so inevitably drifts towards fiction.

A diverse cast also includes Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Rob Reiner, Joanna Lumley and Matthew McConaughey.

Gangs of New York (2002)

One of Martin Scorsese's lesser works. As a fan, I found this a big disappointment.

Fragmented and unfocused, it tells the story of the feuding Catholic and Protestant groups in the New York of the 1860s. At the same time, Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio) seeks revenge from William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis), who killed his priest father (Liam Neeson).

Scorsese tries to tell too many stories and loses track of the multiple threads.

There's slightly naff Irish music running through the film, which drags on for 167 minutes.

DiCaprio doesn't get to act much, which is a missed opportunity, and Cameron Diaz (who plays his pickpocket girlfriend) doesn't bring a great deal to the role.

There was possibly a great film in here somewhere, but possibly it got lost in the edit.

Casino (1995)

Lengthy, sometimes dense and extremely violent Martin Scorsese crime thriller. 

Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci play mafia men sent from Chicago to Las Vegas, scamming money off a casino’s profits for the bosses back home. They become rivals and enemies, which is a problem because Pesci’s character is essentially a psychopath. Meanwhile, Sharon Stone is an ex-prostitute who marries De Niro but is still attached to her pimp boyfriend played by James Woods.

It’s similar to Goodfellas in terms of subject matter and tone, but that film is far more appealing because it has a character you can relate to. There’s no one in Casino that you can identify with at all. Also, the violence is really disturbing – especially the head-in-a-vice and buried-alive scenes. I’m not sure I will ever get those images out of my mind.

The use of music was a little excessive. Countless great songs are jammed in, which is fun, but sometimes it's at the expense of light and shade. I craved a little more space.

De Niro is as good as ever, but it remains a flawed film that seems like it could have been a masterpiece and somehow didn’t turn out that way.

Raging Bull (1980)

Martin Scorsese directs Robert De Niro again. This time, De Niro plays real-life boxer Jake LaMotta in an adaptation of the latter’s 1970 memoir. It works as a biopic, tracing his career and personal life from the early 1940s to the mid-1960s. 

It’s beautifully shot in black and white. 

Joe Pesci is superb as LaMotta’s brother and trainer. Brilliantly, we never find out whether he’s having an affair with the boxer’s wife (Cathy Moriarty) or whether this is merely LaMotta’s jealousy and paranoia.

It’s brutally violent and every one of those punches looks like it really hurts. It’s excellently shot, in that sense. Being totally “method” about it, De Niro famously gained weight to depict LaMotta in his later years.

Donnie Brasco (1997)

Crime drama directed by Mike Newell. 

It’s loosely based on the true story of Joseph D. Pistone (played by Johnny Depp), an FBI agent who infiltrates the New York mafia of the 1970. He befriends Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino) but finds himself torn between doing his job as an agent and becoming part of the shady world he is attracted by. 

It’s engaging, but somehow not quite as good as it should have been. You wonder if in the hands of Martin Scorsese the same material could have been more skilfully handled. Depp and Pacino are both excellent. 

My favourite scene is when the various meanings of “Forget about it” are discussed. If only there had been more of this subtle, nuanced character-based comedy.

The Hustler (1961)

Paul Newman is utterly terrific in this drama about a wildly talented pool player, “Fast” Eddie Felson, who lacks the wise judgement to capitalise on his gifts. Jackie Gleason plays his rival, Minnesota Fats. Piper Laurie is his troubled, heavy-drinking girlfriend Sarah. And George C. Scott is the manipulative, controlling Bert. 

Adapted from the novel by Walter Tevis, it feels closer to a play at times. There’s a gritty, low-key quality to the scenes, which are built around character and dialogue. Newman is wonderful, oozing an easy charm even when things start to go wrong for him.

Martin Scorsese filmed a sequel in 1986 called The Color of Money. Paul Newman reprised the role of Fast Eddie, but unfortunately his young protégé was played by Tom Cruise. 

Trivia: Bob Dylan borrowed these lines spoken by Piper Laurie for his 1985 song “Seeing the Real You at Last”

: “I've got troubles, and I think maybe you've got troubles. Maybe it'd be better if we just leave each other alone.”

 

A Most Violent Year (2014)

Excellent thriller directed by J. C. Chandor and set in the early 1980s. 

Oscar Isaac stars as a New Yorker whose business – selling oil – is threatened by corruption and violence. Jessica Chastain plays his tough wife – a complex, brilliantly drawn character, whose father has a dubious criminal background. 

It has a Martin Scorsese feel and the choice of urban locations is superb. The title doesn’t quite work, though, as it could be applied to countless other thrillers.

Taxi Driver (1976)

A masterpiece. Robert De Niro is utterly transfixing as Travis Bickle, a New York cabbie who becomes obsessed with cleaning up the city – whatever the cost. 

Cybil Shepherd and Jodie Foster are excellent as Betsy (the campaign volunteer for a presidential candidate) and Iris (a child prostitute), while Harvey Keitel is suitably creepy as Iris’s long-haired pimp. 

It’s beautifully filmed: you could freeze almost any frame and make a poster of it. And Martin Scorsese’s subtle handling of tension was never better judged. 

The original score by Bernard Herrmann makes a compelling, noirish film even more so. 

You can interpret it as a film about PTSD or a story about isolation and loneliness. 

Disturbingly, this classic was an influence on John Hinckley Jr., who in 1981 attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan in order to impress Jodie Foster.