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he was a tad miscast in Dreams, but i still liked the segment he was in.
Am I the only person here who thought "Bringing out the Dead" was a piece of caca? I haven't seen it since the theater release and I wonder if it's worth a second shot.
he was a tad miscast in Dreams, but i still liked the segment he was in.
Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Cape Fear, Casino...
I haven't see all of his movies so I cannot comment on several of those.
New York, New York
Taxi Driver
Goodfellas
Mean Streets
The Departed
Casino
The King of Comedy
Raging Bull
Gangs of New York
Bringing Out the Dead (yeah, I'm the one person who liked it)
I'm bumping this thread because Raging Bull is hands down the greatest film Scorsese ever made.
it has far far more depth than Goodfellas, Casino, or The Departed, and while I could see a strong case for Taxi Driver, I think it's the fight scenes from RB that give it the edge.
I think the American Film Ins ute got one thing right in naming this #4 in their greatest american films of all time list.
I consider Goodfellas the greatest movie ever, so that gets #1 by far. Taxi Driver gets my #2. I love how you're left wondering if that letter from Jodie Foster's mother is real, or if it's some psychotic vision he's having as he dies after the shootout.
I believe everything that happened in the end of Taxi Driver, DID in fact happen and was not meant to be a dreamlike sequence. I know there's def. been speculation in regards to that, but I think Scorsese has confirmed that everything in the end of the film did in fact take place in the story.
I also love how in Taxi Driver, had Bickle shot the senator, he would've been seen as a low life in the media, but instead gets turned around into a hero thanks to his shoot out with the pimps.
Also, in regards to Goodfellas, I enjoyed the movie tremendously. I think Scorsese has a knack for superb pacing, as like the Departed, the film makes 3 hours feel like 15 minutes.
However, where Goodfellas suffers for me (and maybe this is my film snobbery talking) is that the characters all lack depth. Goodfellas has much more in common with the Departed than it does Raging Bull or Taxi Driver, in which I see the latter two films as more of a character study.
So while it's all subjective of course, I still gotta go with Raging Bull as his best, as I think you can learn the most from a technical aspect with repeated viewings more than any other one of his films.
the departed is a remake. original is quite a stretch.I could care less what you think, its an opinion. I put the Departed #1 because cause it was original, and because Jack had me laughing the whole ing time. Thanks for your dumb response thougher or whatever ur name is.
I think Raging Bull is considered his best film yet, I've never seen it.
the whole film is up on youtube, but I'd strongly recommend that you watch it on DVD, as the cinematography in that movie is incredible and a crappy youtube resolution wouldn't do it any justice.
I don't think there should be much depth to the characters in Goodfellas. There certainly isn't as interesting a person as DeNiro in Taxi Driver in Goodfellas. The cast of Goodfellas all plays a bunch of greedy, low-life, criminals who have no real personality and only care about themselves. The men are just common thugs who throw their money around and act like they're stars and the women are simple gold-diggers. Henry Hill isn't someone who is supposed to be a sympathetic character. He's a rat throughout the whole movie. I love that Goodfellas doesn't try to make their characters into deep thinkers with human emotion, such as movies like The Godfather did. It seems so much more realistic that all of the characters are always shown as s bags.
It matches with who these people really are. Henry Hill is a piece of whose family and everyone else he ever ran across hates. Pesci plays an asshole named Tommy DeSimone, a guy who was so screwed up that he gunned an old man down for no reason when he saw him walking in the street. These people have no depth to their personalities, and I like how Goodfellas reflects that.
I totally see what you're saying, but to me, Goodfellas was just an incredibly entertaining film, but I just thought the screen presence De Niro had in something like Raging Bull (where he was so much of a s bag, that I even struggle to call his character a protagonist) that you can find an emotional connection and in some aspects, even relate to the character.
I couldn't find a whole lot of realism to Goodfellas in terms of film imitating real life, although it was a well told story. I simply appreciate Goodfellas for what it was - a great popcorn filck.
I think in regards to realism, it was genius on Scorsese's part to shoot RB in black and white, and for De Niro to actually do the ridiculous 60 pound weight gain, as his performance in that film has to rank as one of the greatest of all time.
You do bring up some great point about Goodfellas however, but personally I gotta go for how well everything came together in Raging Bull.
these are my top 10 Scorsese films, as I forgot to post this earlier:
1. Raging Bull
2. Taxi Driver
3. Goodfellas
4. Mean Streets
5. King of Comedy
6. Casino
7. The Departed
8. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
9. Last Temptation of Christ
10. New York New York
This is the Jake LaMotta story, correct ? circa late 70's early 80's ?
Film making in the 60's and 70's was the heyday of hollywood. So they tell me anyway.
Yup, you are correct.
And yeah, the 70's was arguably the finest decade for American film making.
I like that Goodfellas doesn't glamorize things; every character is incredibly transparent. Having known people like that (doing similar things) growing up, it fits in well to me. I get what you're saying though: your argument is similar to one I make to friends when I tell them how much I hate Menace II Society, and how much I love Boyz N the Hood. Doughboy (Ice Cube) is shown as a person with real emotions other than anger, whereas O-Dogg and Kane are stereotypes that made it seem like I was watching a minstrel show.
I can't believe I've never seen Raging Bull. I'll probably rent it this weekend to see what I'm missing.
haha, I haven't seen Boyz N the Hood in years, but I would also take it over Menace II Society.
and I'd be very curious to see what you think of Raging Bull.
message me or bump this thread whenever you do get a chance to watch it.
Taxi Driver
Goodfellas
Raging Bull
The Last Temptation of Christ
Casino
Departed
Gangs of New York
Kundun
After Hours
Mean Streets
I totally disagree.
Both films came out when I was in my teens and living in LA (though, not in South Central), and there are parts of both that I can relate to. I knew the people they were about. But, however many years later, Boyz N The Hood is the one that looks silly and dated to me. And really overwrought.
Menace II Society, however, has always felt to me like the more authentic of the two films. I've never seen its characters to be stereotypes, either. The character of O-Dogg (modeled after Pesci's in Goodfellas, for the record) may not have much depth, but people who are that deeply sociopathic seldom do.
Except that both Scorsese and Paul Schrader (the writer) deny that the ending was ever intended to be interpreted as a dream.
The one huge plot hole in Taxi Driver to me was, earlier in the day Travis Bickel, a white dude with a Mohawk in a fatigue jacket, was being chased by Secret Service agents. Later that night, the police find a white guy with a Mohawk in a fatigue jacket in the midst of a blood shootout. Don't you think the Service guys would have put 2 and 2 together and realized that was the guy they were looking for?
Last edited by ShoogarBear; 10-13-2007 at 11:06 PM.
Shoogar, what side of the fence do you stand on when it comes to Taxi Driver vs Raging Bull?
I think Raging Bull is a much more mature, complete, and accomplished film. Taxi Driver was more shocking and pushed more emotional buttons.
If Scorsese was forced to do both those films over, I suspect he wouldn't change a thing about RB, but would probably have several things he'd do differently in TD (not necessarily that that would make it a better film).
1 The Color of Money
2 Taxi Driver
3 Gangs of New York
4 Raging Bull
5 Goodfellas
6 The Aviator
7 The Departed
scorsese is the defintion of overrated
hes got 3 good movies
casino-mainly because joe pesci steals the show, his accent alone is worth watching that movie
taxi driver-hes got a badd ass heater in that movie
the departed-good but ive seen it once, it will probably suck one day
i was never with the classic gangster films
im proud to say ive never watched more than one minute of the goodfellas or the godfathers, recently i did see scarface, and it blew nuts, pacinos accent alone is a reason to never watch that movie
just to let it be know, unlike more commericial posters such as thispego and cbf, i have never read one page of any lord of the rings books, nor seen more than one minute of any of those stupid movies
1. Goodfellas
2. The Departed
3. Raging Bull
4. Taxi Driver
5. Casino
6. Gangs of New York
7. The Aviator
8. Cape Fear
9. The Age of Innocence
10. The Last Temptation of Christ
I don't know why, but I think I'm starting to think that Goodfellas and The Departed are 1a & 1b.
I rate Taxi Driver slightly above Goodfellas as Scorsese's greatest work because of Travis Bickle. To describe his life would be like Private Joker trying to explain to the Colonel in Full Metal Jacket why he had Born to Kill written on his helmet but also a peace symbol. Joker referred to the duality of man.
Bickle was like that. He wanted to save a twelve year old girl out of pros ution but frequented pornos and had no problem taking Cybill Shepherd's character to one on their first date. He was an ex-marine and vietnam vet but Scorsese doesn't really get into that angle except that Travis is very adept at using weapons. He is also very disciplined. But he is extremely troubled and the way the war impacted him is all implied in the narration, imo. Bickle is america's worst nightmare but also it's greatest patriot.
Goodfellas is great because it's perfect. The script, the acting, the direction; it's as perfect as you can get. I know these people are corrupt, greedy, violent gangsters but why do I admire them? Because of Scorsese. It's the way he shoots the actors in this loose environment, allowing the actors to become the characters the writer envisioned. They have fun and tell jokes. They are family men. And in no way does Scorsese glamorize the mafia. There is a reason the Sopranos was a hit and I think it had much to do with this film.
I have more respect for Taxi Driver because it was made in the mid 70's and it still holds up. But Goodfellas is groundbreaking and is a very close second.
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