# Your Top Ten Martin Scorsese Directing Efforts

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-ten-martin-scorsese-directing-efforts/578509
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 15, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-ten-martin-scorsese-directing-efforts/578509 "2011-04-15T16:49:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-ten-martin-scorsese-directing-efforts/578509/1 "2011-04-15T16:49:18Z")

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In [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13688149&postcount=33) from [Are there any crime dramas (movie or TV) since 1990 that rival The Godfather or Goodfellas?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=604575) how would you disagree with the IMDb’s [Filmography by rating for Martin Scorsese](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000217/filmorate) in his directorial efforts?

Here’s the list:

Director  
1.(8.80) - Goodfellas (1990)  
2.(8.67) - A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995) (TV)  
3.(8.60) - Taxi Driver (1976)  
4.(8.50) - The Departed (2006)  
5.(8.49) - No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005)  
6.(8.40) - “Boardwalk Empire: Boardwalk Empire (#1.1)” (2010)  
7.(8.40) - Raging Bull (1980)  
8.(8.17) - My Voyage to Italy (1999)  
9.(8.10) - Casino (1995)  
10.(8.08) - The Key to Reserva (2007)  
11.(8.00) - The Last Waltz (1978)  
12.(8.00) - Shutter Island (2010)

13.(7.84) - Michael Jackson: Number Ones (2003) (V)  
14.(7.73) - Public Speaking (2010)  
15.(7.70) - The King of Comedy (1982)  
16.(7.69) - A Letter to Elia (2010)  
17.(7.60) - The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)  
18.(7.60) - After Hours (1985)  
19.(7.60) - The Aviator (2004)  
20.(7.59) - Italianamerican (1974)  
21.(7.58) - American Boy: A Profile of: Steven Prince (1978)  
22.(7.50) - Mean Streets (1973)  
23.(7.42) - “The Blues: Feel Like Going Home (#1.1)” (2003)  
24.(7.40) - Gangs of New York (2002)  
25.(7.40) - Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)  
26.(7.40) - Michael Jackson: Video Greatest Hits - HIStory (1995) (V)  
27.(7.35) - Vesuvius VI (1959)  
28.(7.30) - Cape Fear (1991)  
29.(7.30) - Bad (1987) (V)  
30.(7.20) - The Age of Innocence (1993)  
31.(7.20) - Shine a Light (2008)  
32.(7.19) - Location Production Footage: The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) (V)  
33.(7.18) - “Amazing Stories: Mirror, Mirror (#1.19)” (1986)  
34.(7.14) - Street Scenes (1970)  
35.(7.10) - Kundun (1997)  
36.(7.08) - Made in Milan (1990)  
37.(7.07) - Lady by the Sea: The Statue of Liberty (2004) (TV)  
38.(7.01) - The Big Shave (1968)

39.(6.90) - The Color of Money (1986)  
40.(6.81) - Who’s That Knocking at My Door (1967)  
41.(6.80) - Bringing Out the Dead (1999)  
42.(6.59) - It’s Not Just You, Murray! (1964)  
43.(6.58) - What’s a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (1963)  
44.(6.51) - New York, New York (1977)  
45.(6.50) - The Concert for New York City (2001) (TV)  
46.(6.21) - New York Stories (1989)  
47.(6.12) - Boxcar Bertha (1972)

Which are in your Top Ten of his works?

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### Author: ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-ten-martin-scorsese-directing-efforts/578509/2 "2011-04-15T17:01:01Z")

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I’ll be crazy and say I’ve only really enjoyed three of his works:

Aviator was amazing.

His journey through American movies was also excellent. I like that quite a bit.

I thought Goodfellas was also pretty good(decent, anyway).

Didn’t like the Departed, Raging Bull, Casino, Shutter Island(well, it was OK), and that is all I’ve seen.

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### Author: ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-ten-martin-scorsese-directing-efforts/578509/3 "2011-04-15T17:21:55Z")

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Looks like I’ve only seen 5 of his movies, and I rank and rate them as follows:

1. Shutter Island (9 out of 10)
2. Taxi Driver (7)
3. The Aviator (7)
4. The Departed (5)
5. Bringing Out the Dead (Saw it too long ago to give it an accurate rating now, but I remember I didn’t care for it much.)

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### Author: ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-ten-martin-scorsese-directing-efforts/578509/4 "2011-04-16T21:20:32Z")

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1. Taxi Driver
2. Raging Bull
3. The King of Comedy
4. The Aviator
5. Goodfellas
6. The Color of Money
7. Mean Streets
8. After Hours

The documentary of his on Italian cinema I’d rate high, as I would “The Last Waltz” and 'American Boy," I guess I’ve seen most all of his movies, with the exception of the music videos and some of the documentary work. The fictional work starting chronologically with “The Big Shave” to the present, though, seen most of them, would rate my top eight as above.

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### Author: ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-ten-martin-scorsese-directing-efforts/578509/5 "2011-04-16T21:29:39Z")

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Of those I’ve seen:

Taxi Driver (1976)  
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)  
Raging Bull (1980)  
The Last Waltz (1978) (his most overlooked)  
Mean Streets (1973)  
Gangs of New York (2002)  
The Age of Innocence (1993) (Higher rated because I watched it being filmed)  
After Hours (1985)  
The Departed (2006) (His most overrated. I couldn’t sit through it – and that’s very rare for me)  
The Aviator (2004)  
New York, New York (1977)  
The King of Comedy (1982) (Good idea, but didn’t gel)

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### Author: ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-ten-martin-scorsese-directing-efforts/578509/6 "2011-04-16T22:48:06Z")

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I think _Goodfellas_ is my favorite, but I also really love _Casino_ in all its over the top glory.

I know it’s considered a classic, but I’ll go out on a limb and say I really didn’t get the hype around _Taxi Driver_.

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### Author: ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-ten-martin-scorsese-directing-efforts/578509/7 "2011-04-17T03:06:23Z")

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That one about the Italians. I think they were in the mob.
