Martin Scorsese is arguably the greatest living filmmaker. The number of masterpieces to his name rivals such legendary directors as Akira Kurosawa and Alfred Hitchcock. Movies likeTaxi DriverandGoodfellashave been meticulously studied for decades, and will continue to be studied for decades to come. While he’s mainly known for gangster movies, Scorsese has dabbled in a wide range of genres, from musicals to dark comedies to psychological thrillers.
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Not all of Scorsese’s movies rank among the best ever made, buthis ratio is a lot higher than most. Across a career that spans half a century, there’s only one “rotten” score among Scorsese’s directorial efforts on Rotten Tomatoes.
26Boxcar Bertha (52%)
Scorsese directed his second feature, romantic crime thrillerBoxcar Bertha, for producer Roger Corman, whose heavy-handed sensibility seriously hindered Scorsese’s usually nuanced filmmaking. The one good thing to come out ofBoxcar Berthais that after fellow director John Cassavetes saw it and told Scorsese, “You’ve just spent a year of your life making a piece of sh*t,” he was inspired to helm his first masterpiece:Mean Streets.
25New York, New York (63%)
The flop that almost ended Martin Scorsese’s career, musicalNew York, New Yorkbenefits from a phenomenal lead performance by Liza Minnelli, whose title theme became iconic when it was recorded by Frank Sinatra.
24Shutter Island (68%)
Culminating in a doozy of a plot twist,Shutter Islandis a harrowing psychological thriller that flips the all-is-not-as-it-seems trope on its head several times over.Leonardo DiCaprio’s captivating lead performancekeeps the audience hooked even when nothing makes sense.
23Who’s That Knocking At My Door? (70%)
Scorsese’s feature debut,Who’s That Knocking at My Door?is a sobering drama in which Harvey Keitel plays a young man who finds out his girlfriend was sexually assaulted by her ex-boyfriend. This simplistic, but powerful premise serves a poignant examination of relationships.
In many ways,Bringing Out the Deadis a spiritual successor toTaxi Driver. It’s another Scorsese/Schrader collaboration about a disturbed mind whose job has them driving around a bustling city in the middle of the night, but instead of a cabbie, it’s an ambulance driver.
21Gangs Of New York (73%)
One of Scorsese’s most ambitious projects,Gangs of New Yorktells the story of how America was born. Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis anchor the movie with phenomenal lead performances.
20Cape Fear (75%)
Scorsese’s remake of the classic 1962 thrillerCape Feardoesn’t reinvent the wheel. Bernard Herrmann’s score is left intact and Robert De Niro’s Max Cady is similar to Robert Mitchum’s. But it works, because the original did everything right and the remake just brings those familiar thrills into the modern age.
19Kundun (75%)
With a timeline that spans more than two decades, Scorsese’s biopic of the 14th Dalai Lama follows a pretty episodic structure, but Roger Deakins’ cinematography and Philip Glass’ score are impeccable.
18New York Stories (75%)
Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and Woody Allen each directed a segment inNew York Stories, an anthology movie that sought to capture the titular city. Scorsese’s segment, “Life Lessons,” is the first one shown and arguably the best of the three.
17Casino (80%)
While it’s often criticized for emulating the style ofGoodfellasinstead of branching off and becoming its own thing,Casinodoes have a very different story. Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci’s dynamic is the crux of the movie’s examination of organized crime in Las Vegas.
