Have you seen all Marty's Must-See Movies?
Martin Scorsese is not just one of the most celebrated and prolific directors of all time, he is also one of the greatest audience members. In his own words, "When I'm making a film, I'm the audience."
Scorsese worships in the movie theaters, and his love of the format is palpable in his work. We at No Film School love self-taught filmmaking, so when we saw Marty's must-watch list that was compiled by Mental Floss, we had to share it.
They compiled Marty's list by looking at a few different interviews he's done, as well as some responses he's had over the years to the questions of what movies everyone should see.
I found the list pretty interesting for a variety of reasons. First, of course, I was curious what on it I've seen. I was also surprised at what he left off that I would have surely expected. Certain classic gangster and crime movies, for example.
I'm reminded by this list that ever since I was in High School I've been made aware of how important Scorsese considers Duel in the Sun, and yet I still haven't seen it. Gotta finally cross that off the list!
I'm always inspired and excited when I see a movie like High and Low show up on a list like this because it's a lesser known film by Kurosawa, and yet it's a masterclass in framing, camera movement, and writing a taught engaging plot.
There is a TON any creator can learn from the great movies of the past. Nobody knows this better than Marty. If I were to editorialize this list just a bit (and who am I to contradict Scorsese, but here it goes) I'd probably hold off on the Shakespeare adaptations and get into the other stuff first. Othello should probably take a back seat to Sweet Smell of Success. My two cents.
What are yours?
Either way, whether you simply love film, or aspire to create your own visual content, these are Marty's picks to help you learn. Listed in chronological order:
1. The Infernal Cakewalk (1903)
2. Secrets of the Soul (1912)
3. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
4. Nosferatu (1922)
5. Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922)
6. Metropolis (1927)
7. Napoleon (1927)
8. The Power and the Glory (1933)
9. It Happened One Night (1934)
10. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
11. La Grande Illusion (1937)
12. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
13. Stagecoach (1939)
14. The Roaring Twenties (1939)
15. The Rules Of The Game (1939)
16. Citizen Kane (1941)
17. How Green Was My Valley (1941)
18. Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
19. Cat People (1942)
20. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
21. Rome, Open City (1945)
22. Children Of Paradise (1945)
23. Duel in the Sun (1946)
24. Gilda (1946)
25. A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
26. Paisan (1946)
27. Beauty & The Beast (1946)
28. The Lady From Shanghai (1947)
29. T-Men (1947)
30. I Walk Alone (1947)
31. The Red Shoes (1948)
32. Germany Year Zero (1948)
33. Force of Evil (1948)
34. La Terra Trema (1948)
35. Macbeth (1948)
36. Raw Deal (1948)
37. Bicycle Thieves (1948)
38. Caught (1949)
39. The Third Man (1949)
40. Stromboli (1950)
41. The Flowers of St. Francis (1950)
42. Gun Crazy (1950)
43. Night and the City (1950)
44. An American in Paris (1951)
45. The River (1951)
46. Ace in the Hole (1951)
47. The Magic Box (1951)
48. The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
49. Europa ’51 (1952)
50. Othello (1952)
51. Umberto D. (1952)
52. Ikiru (1952)
53. The Band Wagon (1953)
54. House of Wax (1953)
55. Julius Caesar (1953)
56. Pickup on South Street (1953)
57. Ugetsu (1953)
58. Tokyo Story (1953)
59. Dial M for Murder (1954)
60. Journey to Italy (1954)
61. Senso (1954)
62. Seven Samurai (1954)
63. Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
64. All that Heaven Allows (1955)
65. Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
66. The Searchers (1956)
67. Forty Guns (1957)
68. Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
69. Some Came Running (1958)
70. Touch of Evil (1958)
71. Vertigo (1958)
72. Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
73. Big Deal On Madonna Street (1958)
74. Shadows (1959)
75. The 400 Blows (1959)
76. Peeping Tom (1960)
77. Rocco and His Brothers (1960)
78. Shoot the Piano Player (1960)
79. Breathless (1960)
80. L'Avventura (1960)
81. The Hustler (1961)
82. One, Two, Three (1961)
83. Cape Fear (1962)
84. The Trial (1962)
85. Two Weeks in Another Town (1962)
86. Salvatore Giuliano (1962)
87. Il Sorpasso (1962)
88. America, America (1963)
89. Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
90. The Leopard (1963)
91. Shock Corridor (1963)
92. High and Low (1963)
93. 8½ (1963)
94. The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
95. Band of Outsiders (1964)
96. Before the Revolution (1964)
97. The Rise of Louis XIV (1966)
98. Blow-Up (1966)
99. Weekend (1967)
100. Faces (1968)
101. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
102. Death by Hanging (1968)
103. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
104. The Butcher (1970)
105. The American Friend (1970)
106. Klute (1971)
107. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
108. The Merchant of Four Seasons (1971)
109. The Godfather (1972)
110. M*A*S*H (1972)
111. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
112. The Conversation (1974)
113. Ali: Fear Eats The Soul (1974)
114. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)
115. The Messiah (1975)
116. Nashville (1975)
117. Kings of the Road (1976)
118. Apocalypse Now (1979)
119. The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
120. Health (1980)
121. Heaven’s Gate (1980)
122. Mishima (1985)
123. Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
124. Do the Right Thing (1989)
125. The Player (1992)
How many of you have seen them all? Should we start a Martin Scorsese Movie List Challenge? Or Marathon?
Let us know in the comments!
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Your Comment
5 Comments
I'm not sure if Nofilmschool ever updates articles like this, but it would be cool if there were one-line summaries of why Scorsese thinks each film is important (or alternatively, hyperlinks to the articles Scorsese where mentions each film). Either way, thank you for the list!
January 7, 2019 at 8:28PM
This is a great idea. We do update articles like this, and I think it would be worth revisiting this one to include that. It would take time to find one quote for each film, but certainly, we could find quotes for many of them. Thanks for the idea.
January 8, 2019 at 2:09PM
If you saw 2 films a week, you could see all of these films in under a year. It would be a great idea to see the film and have 3 elements in review: 1) Writing, 2) Photography/Editing, 3) Directing.
January 8, 2019 at 11:09AM
The Scorsese Must See Movie Viewing Challenge!
January 8, 2019 at 2:09PM
It's interesting that the most recent movie on the list is 27 years old. Nothing worthwhile since then? Hmmm...
January 11, 2019 at 10:46AM
62/125. Have watched half of the list. Just watched "A Matter Of Life and Death" only a couple of days ago.
February 3, 2020 at 8:19AM