cinemabon
12-15-2004, 08:15 AM
Martin Scorsese has had an illustrious career in Hollywood and produced some of America’s finest moments on celluloid. Many on this site and similar sites have their favorite Scorsese films. There is a new documentary, made for TCM, which consists of a faceless interviewer supposedly asking Marty about his various film projects beginning with Mean Streets and ending with The Aviator. During this interview, Scorsese is very self-effacing, with a “gee shucks” attitude about all those reviewers out there who read things into his material. He’s just pointing the camera and telling a good a story.
If there is one thing that Marty is good at, it’s sounding like he is just one of the regular Joe’s out there. When in fact, he is part of the Hollywood crowd and somewhat of a snob. However, I am not here to detract from Scorsese (“I am not here to bury Caesar, but to praise him”). This new interview does have a few insights that help to illuminate how Marty sees himself these days. Gone are the bravado days when he could do no wrong. That would be the period around Goodfellas, another film highlighted in the documentary/interview. These days, having suffered a terrible financial loss and set back with Gangs of New York, Marty is eating humble pie and making movies about Hollywood, namely, one of Hollywood’s flashiest characters, Howard Hughes. Looking at many of the scenes, it does look like Scorsese has finally come to that middle ground where Hollywood will forgive Marty his past transgressions, and hand him the trophy that is long overdue.
But let us harken back to the beginning and look at the progression from Mean Streets with his friend and best acting partner Bobby DeNiro. As Marty honed his craft, so did Bobby, each one getting better and better as they worked their way through a myriad of scripts until they told the story of Jake LaMotta. When Scorsese told the story of “The Raging Bull,” both he and DeNiro hit their stride, creating one of the greatest storytelling events in the history of Hollywood. For its raw emotional power and brutal imagery, Raging Bull is one of the greatest films ever made by two men who love to tell stories through the medium of film. While they went on to tell others and many would argue their favorites, Raging Bull had all the tour de force moments that makes a good film a great one. For that, Scorsese and Bobby DeNiro should have both received their just reward, but only Bobby was recognized.
So, this year, with a muddied field out there and most films looking rather dim at the end of the year, the opportunity for Oscar is wide open. This looks like Scorsese’s year, (nominated six times for AA and five times for DGA). How bitter sweet it will be for him, to have been denied his directorial recognition for so long and to win for something that was more a walk through for him than a labor of love. His body of work, while a mixed blessing of the great and the occasional flop (they all have ‘em), is still one I would always be envious of. Anyone in Hollywood that would deny Martin Scorsese his due this year is a fool.
If there is one thing that Marty is good at, it’s sounding like he is just one of the regular Joe’s out there. When in fact, he is part of the Hollywood crowd and somewhat of a snob. However, I am not here to detract from Scorsese (“I am not here to bury Caesar, but to praise him”). This new interview does have a few insights that help to illuminate how Marty sees himself these days. Gone are the bravado days when he could do no wrong. That would be the period around Goodfellas, another film highlighted in the documentary/interview. These days, having suffered a terrible financial loss and set back with Gangs of New York, Marty is eating humble pie and making movies about Hollywood, namely, one of Hollywood’s flashiest characters, Howard Hughes. Looking at many of the scenes, it does look like Scorsese has finally come to that middle ground where Hollywood will forgive Marty his past transgressions, and hand him the trophy that is long overdue.
But let us harken back to the beginning and look at the progression from Mean Streets with his friend and best acting partner Bobby DeNiro. As Marty honed his craft, so did Bobby, each one getting better and better as they worked their way through a myriad of scripts until they told the story of Jake LaMotta. When Scorsese told the story of “The Raging Bull,” both he and DeNiro hit their stride, creating one of the greatest storytelling events in the history of Hollywood. For its raw emotional power and brutal imagery, Raging Bull is one of the greatest films ever made by two men who love to tell stories through the medium of film. While they went on to tell others and many would argue their favorites, Raging Bull had all the tour de force moments that makes a good film a great one. For that, Scorsese and Bobby DeNiro should have both received their just reward, but only Bobby was recognized.
So, this year, with a muddied field out there and most films looking rather dim at the end of the year, the opportunity for Oscar is wide open. This looks like Scorsese’s year, (nominated six times for AA and five times for DGA). How bitter sweet it will be for him, to have been denied his directorial recognition for so long and to win for something that was more a walk through for him than a labor of love. His body of work, while a mixed blessing of the great and the occasional flop (they all have ‘em), is still one I would always be envious of. Anyone in Hollywood that would deny Martin Scorsese his due this year is a fool.