Martin Scorsese Makes a List of 85 Films Every Aspiring Filmmaker Needs to See

Martin_Scorsese_Berlinale_2010

Before the rise of institutional film schools—ensconced in university walls with all the formality that entails—those seeking to learn the craft did so by apprenticing themselves to studios and master directors, and by watching lots and lots of movies. If we take the example of some of the most interesting filmmakers working today, this still may be the best way to become a filmmaker. Werner Herzog’s Rogue Film School, for example, forgoes the trappings of classrooms for a much more rough-and-tumble approach—and a direct confrontation with the medium. Kevin Smith dropped out of film school, as did Paul Thomas Anderson, spurred on partly by a love of Terminator 2. “My filmmaking education,” revealed Anderson, “consisted of finding out what filmmakers I liked were watching, then seeing those films.” It’s more or less how Quentin Tarantino learned to make movies too.

You could hardly do better—if you’ve decided to take this independent route toward a cinematic education—than apprentice yourself under Martin Scorsese. Or at least find out what films he loves, and watch them all yourself.

Last year, we featured a list of 39 foreign films the estimable director of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Hugo, Goodfellas (etc., etc., etc.) recommended to a young filmmaker. Today, we bring you a list of 85 films Scorsese referenced in the course of a four-hour interview he gave to Fast Company. “Some of the movies he discussed,” writes FastCo, “Others he just mentioned. But the cumulative total reflects a life lived entirely within the confines of movie making.” Shoot on over to Fast Company to read Scorsese’s commentary on each of the films below, and see an aesthetically pleasing version of his list over at MUBI as well.

Like I said, you could hardly do better.

Ace in the Hole
All that Heaven Allows
America, America
An American in Paris
Apocalypse Now
Arsenic and Old Lace
The Bad and the Beautiful
The Band Wagon
Born on the Fourth of July
Cape Fear
Cat People
Caught
Citizen Kane
The Conversation
Dial M for Murder
Do the Right Thing
Duel in the Sun
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Europa ’51
Faces
The Fall of the Roman Empire
The Flowers of St. Francis
Force of Evil
Forty Guns
Germany Year Zero
Gilda
The Godfather
Gun Crazy
Health
Heaven’s Gate
House of Wax
How Green Was My Valley
The Hustler
I Walk Alone
The Infernal Cakewalk
It Happened One Nght
Jason and the Argonauts
Journey to Italy
Julius Caesar
Kansas City
Kiss Me Deadly
Klute
La Terra Trema
The Lady From Shanghai
The Leopard
Macbeth
The Magic Box
M*A*S*H
A Matter of Life and Death
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
The Messiah
Midnight Cowboy
Mishima
Deeds Goes to Town
Smith Goes to Washington
Nashville
Night and the City
One, Two, Three
Othello
Paisa
Peeping Tom
Pickup on South Street
The Player
The Power and the Glory
Stagecoach
Raw Deal
The Red Shoes
The Rise of Louis XIV
The Roaring Twenties
Rocco and his Brothers
Rome, Open City
Secrets of the Soul
Senso
Shadows
Shock Corridor
Some Came Running
Stromboli
Sullivan’s Travels
Sweet Smell of Success
Tales of Hoffman
The Third Man
T-Men
Touch of Evil
The Trial
Two Weeks in Another Town

Note: An earlier version of this post appeared on our site in 2015.

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