Martin Scorsese: The Iconic Filmmaker and His Work explores the career of a man, who author Ian Nathan refers to in his Introduction as “surely the most revered director alive. By peers, critics, fans, by pretty much anyone who has an interest in film.”
Buy Martin Scorsese: The Iconic Filmmaker and His WorkThe book opens in “Little Italy,” the New York neighborhood where Scorsese grew up, and offers a brief biography, making connections from his life to his films, such as the relationship of Charlie and Johnny Boy of his breakout film Mean Streets mirroring that of his father and Uncle Joe. Nathan also mentions many films that impacted Scorsese, including “the heated melodrama of Duel in the Sun (the first title he can recall seeing);” “The Bad and the Beautiful, the first film to show him behind-the-scenes of filmmaking;” and “recogniz[ing] the world of Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront as his own.”
There are short looks at his early short films, What’s a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?, It’s Not Just You, Murray!, and The Big Shave. Then the book segues into his feature work. “The young Scorsese had a trilogy of films mapped out…[but] the first part, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, got no further than a treatment.” The second part became his feature debut, Who’s That Knocking at My Door, where he met frequent collaborators, actor Harvey Keitel and fellow NYU student/editor Thelma Schoonmaker.
It’s interesting to learn of Scorsese’s struggles. As an editor, he was fired from Woodstock, and as a director, he was fired after a week from The Honeymoon Killers. There was even failure in success. After filming the Roger Corman-produced Boxcar Bertha, his mentor, director John Cassavetes, responded to a rough cut negatively as he felt Scorsese was so much better than the material. That motivated Scorsese to make Mean Streets, which began one of cinema’s most iconic partnerships with actor Robert De Niro, making 10 features over 50 years.
Their next pairing was Taxi Driver, which covers 17 pages, tied for the most pages dedicated to a film. Nathan starts with a focus on screenwriter Paul Schrader coming into Scorsese’s orbit. Goodfellas, another landmark in Scorsese’s career, is the only other film given the same amount of attention.
The period between 1977 and 1982 is covered in a chapter called “The Dark Arts,” and though not mentioned on the opening page or the table of contents, Nathan does cover Scorsese’s documentary of The Band’s final concert, The Last Waltz. He also reveals Scorsese’s hospital stay over Labor Day weekend 1978 after a bad batch of cocaine – not for exploitative reasons, but because it led to Scorsese directing Raging Bull as he saw the story of boxer Jake La Motta’s self-destruction reflected his own story.
Moving through the decades, each film, regardless of how successful it was with critics or in finding an audience, gets a spotlight. Nathan not only digs into the the details of the movies he also digs into the dealings that took place for what could have been. Scorsese passed then came back to After Hours, bumping director Tim Burton. With actor Aiden Quinn no longer available, Willem Dafoe got the lead role in The Last Temptation of Christ. Scorsese switched projects with his friend, fellow director Steven Spielberg, taking on the Cape Fear remake and giving Spielberg Schindler’s List, which would go on to win seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Scorsese would win both those honors for The Departed, which the book incorrectly states is “a remake of celebrated Japanese crime thrillers” when they are actually from Hong Kong.
The new century saw Scorsese form a new partnership. Starting with Gangs of New York (which back in 1977 Scorsese announced as his next project in a Variety ad), actor Leonardo DiCaprio has starred in six films, with What Happens at Night currently in production, even though it’s not mentioned in the paragraph given to new projects under consideration. It also saw him take on new challenges. He became an executive producer and directed the pilot for the Prohibition-era Boardwalk Empire and then made the family film Hugo, which he shot in 3D.
Ian Nathan refers to Martin Scorsese as “America’s greatest living artist, in all that term applies.” While it’s unclear who the challengers would be, Nathan certainly makes a compelling case why he bestows the title with this well-written, captivating look at Scorsese’s career.
