Martin Scorseseis known to many as one of the greatest filmmakers who as ever lived. The director of such masterpieces asTaxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas,Casino, The Aviator, Hugo, and so many more has practically become synonymous with cinema itself. That’s partly because he’s such a huge fan of it. Often writing about movies, spending a lot of time discussing movies, and paying quite a lot of money to produce obscure new films and pay for the restoration of damaged classics, Scorsese is a hero to all cinephiles. But what are his favorite movies? Take a look at 11 of his most cherished titles.
Pearl (2022)
An A24 film has spun its way into the favorites of iconic Americanfilm director Martin Scorsese, and that movie isPearl. In the year 1918, a young woman is losing her mind as she chases a life of stardom to escape the purgatorial doldrums that is her parents' farm. This movie,starring Mia Goth, is particularly fascinating because it is a prequel tothe movieX, which came out in the same year.
Related:How Pearl Connects to Ti West’s X
Scorsese raved about the film, telling/Film:
Ti West’s movies have a kind of energy that is so rare these days, powered by a pure, undiluted love for cinema. You feel it in every frame. A prequel to ‘X’ made in a diametrically opposite cinematic register (think 50s Scope color melodramas), ‘Pearl’ makes for a wild, mesmerizing, deeply — and I mean deeply — disturbing 102 minutes. West and his muse and creative partner Mia Goth really know how to toy with their audience … before they plunge the knife into our chests and start twisting. I was enthralled, then disturbed, then so unsettled that I had trouble getting to sleep. But I couldn’t stop watching.
A Trip to the Moon (1902)
In direct opposition to the newest film on this list,A Trip to the Moonwas released in 1902 and is much, much shorter thanPearl.Thisclassic silent filmis between nine and 18 minutes depending on how quickly you run the frames per second, and follows an otherworldly trip to outer space. Advanced for its time, it captures a spaceship landing into a sentient moon’s eye in a shot which lands it into the favorites ofGoodfellas’director Martin Scorsese, and makes it memorable over 100 years later.
Vertigo (1958)
It’s only right that anAlfred Hitchcock filmbe on this list.Vertigois a psychological romance and one that comes in high esteem from Martin Scorsese.In his forewordtoVertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock ClassicScorsese writes, “It’s difficult to put into words exactly whatVertigomeans to me as both a film lover and as a filmmaker. As is the case with all great films, truly great films, no matter how much has been said and written about them, the dialogue about it will always continue. Because any film as great asVertigodemands more than just a sense of admiration — it demands a personal response.”
This film is one of Alfred’s most emotional and also one of his most highly regarded, despite its differences from the rest of his filmography. Don’t be led astray, while it is an outlier in Hitchcock’s catalog from an aesthetic standpoint, it is still full of suspense.
The Ten Commandments (1956)
The Ten Commandmentsisa religious dramadirected by Cecil B. DeMille who directed the film of the same name in 1923 as well. There are many things about this film that are interesting beyond the fact that its own director remade it; what keeps the flame alive in Scorsese’s mind is the pure spectacle of the thing. InFilm Comment’sSeptember/October issue from 1978, Scorsese wrote:
I’ve seen ‘The Ten Commandments’ maybe 40 or 50 times. Forget the story — you’ve got to — and concentrate on the special effects, and the texture, and the color. For example: The figure of God, killing the firstborn child, is a green smoke; then on the terrace, while they’re talking, a green dry ice just touches the heel of George Reeves or somebody, and he dies. Then there’s the reel Red Sea, and the lamb’s blood of the Passover. De Mille presented a fantasy, dream-like quality on film that was so real, if you saw his movies as a child, they stuck with you for life.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Scorsese is not alone in saying2001: A Space Odysseyis one of the greatest movies of all time. When asked about the film,Scorsese said, “It takes extraordinary audacity and power and guts to say, ‘Let’s just screech everything to a halt and take everybody back to prehistoric times.’” While this particular film is regarded as one of Stanley Kubrick’s best, Scorsese is all-around a big fan of his work.
The Searchers (1956)
The Searchersis a Westerndirected by John Ford, and is often considered not just one of the best Westerns of all time, but one of the best movies in general. A haunting study of the American West, this movie uses John Wayne to explore bitterness, colonization, obsession, and other major themes.
The Leopard (1963)
The Leopardis a period drama with a mostly international cast that centers around a war between two camps in Sicily, and was one of the many films Scorsese has paid to help restore.Scorsese calls it, “a masterpiece about Sicily, a meditation on eternity, and an endlessly rich historical tapestry, meticulously composed in color and on 70mm.”
This colorful movie features beautiful shots of Sicily and according to Scorsese, “it’s all at the service of deepening our sense of time and large-scale change, and the entire picture culminates in an hour-long sequence at a ball in which you can feel, through the eyes of the prince, an entire way of life.” This film is very cinematically beautiful and has been said to mean more and more to the filmmaker over time
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Post-war films steal away in the heart of Martin Scorsese, and the hauntingly intense Polish filmAshes and Diamondsis not left out. He regards this film as one of his biggest influences from one of his favorite directors, Andrzej Wanda. AsVoxrecounts, Scorsese says, “I can close my eyes and certain images will flash back to me with the force they had when I saw them for the first time over fifty years ago” and regards it as “a nightmare that won’t stop unfolding.”
The River (1951)
After the war, filmmakers shifted their perspective and began contemplating human existence in their work.The Riveris regarded as one of the very best coming-of-age movies for many, and is a late masterpiece fromthe great Jean Renoir. Following a young teenager through the trials of love and heartbreak, Scorsese tellsThe Criterion Collectionthat it’s, “a film that is, really, about life, a film without a real story that is all about the rhythm of existence, the cycles of birth and death and regeneration, and the transitory beauty of the world.”
Scorsese sees the film8½as a touchstone for himself as an artist and commends “the freedom, the sense of invention, the underlying rigor and the deep core of longing, the bewitching, physical pull of the camera movements and the compositions.” This movie is still seen today as one of the best at really capturing the lifeblood of an artist, a filmmaker in particular.
Related:The Best Federico Fellini Films, Ranked
As a filmmaker himself, Scorsese stands in awe of how Fellini was able to cinematically telegraph the struggle of the artist. The film is Federico Fellini’s autobiographical masterpiece about a director, and it resonates so deeply and therapeutically with Scorsese that he watches it almost every year.
The Red Shoes (1948)
The Red Shoesfollows suit with8½as a film that Scorsese watches yearly. He even references the two, tellingThe Criterion Collection, “I look at it again every year or so, and it’s always a different experience.” Similarly, this film is no stranger to his words of praise as it is one he has been known to commend over his long career. Another similarity that possibly makes it special to the filmmaker is that this movie also follows an artist and their struggles: the main difference is that this film follows a ballerina instead of a filmmaker. Scorsese regards this film as containing an “extraordinary sense of magic.”
Paisan (1946)
Paisanis a movie set during World War II and portrays language barrier-related communication issues in Italy at the time. Roberto Rossellini’s neorealist masterpiece earns a spot in Scorsese’s favorites because it brings back fond memories of the first time he watched it with his grandparents on TV. Watching this with his grandparents, he saw the admiration and connection that washed over them as they watched a film set in their homeland making him realize the power of cinema. Because of that childhood and filial association,Paisanis often considered to be Scorsese’s favorite film.
