A man who was supposed to be a priest, Martin Scorsese has instead become a name synonymous with cinema. His work is known for its frenetic energy, deeply passionate storytelling, and characters ridden with guilt. Scorsese creates distinct ways of telling stories with a perspective deeply embedded and indebted to the history of cinema.
Not only does he make great film after great film, but he also tends to forgotten cinema. Scorsese's World Cinema Project oversees the re-release and restoration of films from all over the world that have had little exposure, looking to preserve what had previously been lost. Indeed, as much as Scorsese is a great director, he is also generally one of the hardest working people in the industry today, executive producing important documentaries and independent films while keeping the integrity of the film industry intact. Even now in the latter stages of his career, Scorsese continues to raise the bar and make work relevant to his oeuvre. Here are his best films, ranked.
Updated May 2023: If you are a fan of Martin Scorsese, you're in luck. This article has been updated with additional content and entries by Danilo Raúl.
20 Mean Streets (1973)
The third feature by Martin was Mean Streets, released in 1973. This movie would begin his long-standing collaboration and friendship with Robert De Niro. It's also the film that set the tone for most of his movies as stories lacking intrinsic plot. The film is set in New York City's Little Italy and follows a small-time hood named Charlie (Harvey Keitel) as he makes do with everyday life.
Mean Streets is usually categorized as one of Martin's mob films, but it's far from it. Charlie's rank in the underworld is never stated. We see him interact with mobsters with a defined range inside a family. Still, he's usually seen running errands and saving Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro) from getting in trouble. Their friendship is the element driving most of the movie until Johnny Boy goes off the rails and is seemingly killed by the film's climax.
19 Shutter Island (2010)
Martin Scorsese is an accomplished storyteller, capable of wearing different hats across many genres. Shutter Island is one of his best efforts and a film that flexes his creative muscles outside his comfort zone. The story begins with Marshal Teddy Daniels and his partner Chuck Aule investigating the disappearance of a patient in Ashecliffe Hospital, located at Shutter Island. The cast includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, and Ben Kingsley.
The psychological thriller shrouds every character with multiple layers of mystery as we are led to believe something is very off on the island. Further explorations take us inside the mind of Teddy, and we realize that not everything on the island is as it seems. It's an intricate story that was well received by audiences, who rewarded the director with a box office gross of $300 million on a budget of $80 million.
18 Silence (2016)
This masterful drama allows Martin to explore the struggles of his catholic faith in a historical setup. Starring Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield, and Adam Driver, Silence tells the story of two Portuguese Jesuit priests who must embark on a dangerous mission to Japan in the 17th century. Sebastião Rodrigues and Francisco Garupe receive the order to track and find Cristóvão Ferreira, who's been lost on the island and made to renounce his faith.
Since both monks are pupils of the priest, they take the mission while accepting the task of spreading Christianity in the secluded nation. Based on historical events, the solid script takes few liberties to recount how difficult (and eventually impossible) it was for the Christian faith to find its footing in the land of the rising sun. Silence is a hard watch and probably one of the most challenging films from the director.
17 The Color of Money (1986)
Many people say Martin accepted to make The Color of Money after the underwhelming performance of After Hours, his previous offering in 1985. We can't confirm this information. However, this 1986 drama offers something very different in the world of sports films.
The story follows former pool player Eddie Felson, who recognizes the talents of a young man named Vincent Lauria and decides to take him under his wing to increase his skills in the game and help him make some money. The all-star cast includes Paul Newman and Tom Cruise. At first sight, the story might not seem much, but Martin extracted the best from each actor to tell a compelling story, enough to gain Paul Newman his only Academy Award for best actor.
The story touches upon multiple themes, such as the value of mentorship, the strength derived from competitiveness, and the search for redemption. It also studies the importance of acknowledging personal failings and placing timely correctives to succeed fair and square. We also get some great insight into the world of competitive pool playing, a sport that is largely ignored by Hollywood most of the time.
16 Hugo (2011)
The first foray of Martin in the world of CGI and 3D had to be a larger-than-life story. Hugo accomplishes that in every regard. Starring Asa Butterfield, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Chloë Grace Moretz, the film is an adaptation of Brian Selznick's 2007 book The Invention of Hugo Cabret. The slice-of-life story is closely tied to Scorsese's love for cinema. It begins with an orphaned boy living at a train station, trying to unravel the mystery of fixing an automaton able to write with a pencil.
After Hugo and Isabella manage to activate the automaton, they find out the drawing made by the machine belonged to a scene from a film made in 1902 named A Trip to the Moon. The movie was made by Isabelle's godfather Georges Méliès. Both kids do their best to track down Méliès, who finally manages to reconcile with his past and embrace his beloved creations. This film would mark an unusual turn for the director, given the family-friendly tone of the film.
15 The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
This is likely Martin's most controversial film ever made, as he told the story of Jesus beyond the boundaries explored by Christian lore. If the internet had been around in 1988, The Last Temptation of Christ would have been the first film to break it. The movie itself is an adaptation of a novel by Nikos Kazantzakis. Willem Dafoe is Jesus in this film; the story explores the struggles of Jesus with his humanity and divinity.
The film thoroughly explores Jesus's conscience during the crucifixion. In a split second, we are offered insight into the mind of the savior who must choose to save himself and live a man's life, know love, endure pain, grow old, and pass away. His other option is to embrace his mission, die for our sins and achieve divinity at his father's side. The movie sparked international outrage and a flood of death threats to the director.
14 The Aviator (2004)
An enthralling and epic ode to the days of old Hollywood and a heartbreaking look into a fragile and genius mind, The Aviator is Scorsese in all of his film-loving glory. Leonardo DiCaprio takes the reins as the genius director Howard Hughes who decided that he wanted to fly. Clearly, his ambition and confidence put him in the middle of an extraordinary amount of power, but the film shows how his psyche slowly devolved into madness. Nominated for 11 Oscars and winning a total of five, The Aviator remains one of Scorsese's biggest celebrations of filmmaking and the American Dream.
13 The Age of Innocence (1993)
A film full of decadence, Scorsese provided another insightful, and entertaining look at New York in The Age of Innocence, but this time, through a lens unlike most of his previous films. The story centered on the lives of the high society in the 1870s and how power leads to seduction. In his first collaboration with Daniel Day-Lewis, Scorsese seamlessly blends the actor in an epic period piece where he battles against his family's wishes to have him marry. He strikes up an affair with May Welland, played by an incredible Winona Ryder, and the film becomes a deeply felt study of repression, society, and sensuality.
The incredible costume design won an Oscar and Ryder was nominated, and Scorsese served as co-writer on a script that's an incredibly faithful adaption from Edith Wharton's novel of the same name while remaining a wholly untouchable piece of work from the auteur.
12 After Hours (1985)
The 1980s were an unusual, exciting period for Martin Scorsese. He would make an extremely controversial religious movie, direct an 18-minute Michael Jackson music video, film his first remake (one of only two) and first mainstream movie, and experimented with two pitch-black comedies, The King of Comedy and After Hours. The latter remains a movie most people have forgotten about, which is a real shame because it's a wild, surreal masterpiece of paranoia and anxiety. Griffin Dunne plays a man having the worst night of his life as he goes from bored office worker to being hunted by an angry mob in the streets. It's Scorsese's funniest film.
11 The King of Comedy (1982)
The aforementioned film The King of Comedy is of a similar ilk to Taxi Driver, in that it is another tale of massive self-delusion with Robert De Niro in the spotlight, except this film leans into comedy and dark satire. From one cringe-inducing moment to the other, De Niro plays the comedian “Rupert Pupkin,” who is desperate for a chance as he stalks the legendary Jerry Lewis, playing a late-night talk show host. The film would later inspire Todd Phillips’ Joker, which reverses the roles and puts De Niro in the role of talk show host and Joaquin Phoenix as the delusional wannabe comedian. Scorsese has said that he thinks this movie holds Robert De Niro's best performance in any of his films, and it remains a darkly prescient and relevant satire of fame and the media.
10 Cape Fear (1991)
Scorsese's second and last remake, the borderline horror film Cape Fear follows the story of a recently released convicted rapist as he stalks the family of the lawyer that defended him in court. Robert De Niro is absolutely despicable as the tattooed and southern accent-speaking Max Cady, receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in the process. Nick Nolte plays Cady's former lawyer, and both Jessica Lange and Juliette Lewis are fantastic in their roles as the lawyer's family. In a cool nod to Scorsese's love of film, Cape Fear also features the stars of the original 1962 film, the legendary Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, and Martin Balsam.
To help himself get into the role, De Niro would routinely research sexual predator cases and used to call Scorsese's house and leave strange voice messages in his Max Cady accent, which understandably made the director uneasy. Cape Fear was originally supposed to go a completely different way, as Steven Spielberg was set to direct and cast Bill Murray as Max Cady, but the acclaimed director stepped aside and suggested Martin Scorsese for the job.
9 Gangs of New York (2002)
In a distinct and anomalistic, but nonetheless extremely effective, part of Scorsese's filmography, Gangs of New York is a revenge period piece detailing the battling gangs of the city in the 1860s, as Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio) seeks out Bill "The Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis) for murdering his father. The film celebrates Scorsese's Italian ancestry and was filmed entirely at Cinecitta Studios in Rome.
Day-Lewis gives an absolutely phenomenal performance in one of the most terrifying and brutal roles in his career, something that seemed to prepare him for arguably his best performance in There Will Be Blood. The supporting cast was incredible as well, bringing in Cameron Diaz, John C. Reilly, Henry Thomas, Liam Neeson, and Brendan Gleeson. The biggest aspect of the casting, however, is Leonardo DiCaprio's collaboration with Scorsese, their first at the time and the one which would lead to six films so far. All the sets and costume designs were top-notch, and Gangs of New York was nominated for ten Oscars, unfortunately not winning a single one.
8 The Departed (2006)
Scorsese’s first foray into the depths of the Irish criminal world and taking a step back from his Italian roots, The Departed is an old-school crime epic starring some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Entangled in a web of lies, Scorsese's film perfectly channels the inner workings of Billy Costigan, played by DiCaprio, as he goes toe-to-toe with crime boss Frank Costello. Costello was played to an absolute maximum of sleaziness from icon Jack Nicholson (who, surprisingly, has only worked with Scorsese this one time).The Departed would go on to win Scorsese his first Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture despite its grit and ruthlessness.
7 The Irishman (2019)
After being sold off from the studio system because it didn’t want to take the financial risk, Scorsese took his vision for The Irishman to Netflix. Starring the other long-time Scorsese collaborator Robert De Niro, teaming him up with friend Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa, and bringing Joe Pesci out of retirement for his first feature film in almost ten years, all the pieces were there for another great film.
While turning his fine eye to the inner workings of the gangster world is not new territory for Scorsese, what came across was far more meditative, cold, and full of dread, making for another memorable turn in the genre he knows so well. While the de-aging effects were controversial, the epic three-hour film used its special effects to service a phenomenal narrative. The Irishman was nominated for a staggering ten Oscars but unfortunately didn't win any (continuing the Oscars' weird snubs toward Scorsese films).
6 Casino (1995)
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The spiritual sequel to Goodfellas, Casino is essentially a commentary on capitalism running amok in the city of sin but shot with the eye of a man who can stylize violence and decadence better than most. Once again, Scorsese casts Robert De Niro with Joe Pesci, but surrounds them with an incredible ensemble cast including Sharon Stone and the great Don Rickles in a surprising turn.
Casino is a constant spiral of a film, a twirl of backstabbing that threatens the way the mob operates. The movie jumps from power grabs and brutal negotiations involving a vice-grip, and Scorsese lets loose to create another incredible tale of mob violence, based on real events in 1970s Las Vegas. Sharon Stone also received her one and only Oscar nomination for Best Actress.
5 Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
Arguably Scorsese's most underrated film, the stunning Bringing Out the Dead just might be Scorsese's most stylistically bombastic and aesthetically wild film. The extremely dark comedy-drama stars Nicolas Cage as a brooding EMT paired with a variety of maniacal ambulance drivers (including a great John Goodman) as they scour the New York streets to try and save lives and usually fail.
With a wonderful soundtrack filled with epic needle drops, the film is a drugged-up journey into the heart of suffering and madness, containing a mesmerizing performance from Cage in what he named as one of his three best movies.
4 Raging Bull (1980)
Scorsese is no stranger to centering his films around explosively violent and morally dubious men, but none quite got the same cinematic detail as his biopic on boxer Jake LaMotta did in Raging Bull. Using the major boxing matches to detail the psychological makeup and evolution of the famed Middleweight champion was a stroke of genius from Scorsese.
Each fight was told differently, from using smoke and excess to using dolly zoom shots to warp the ring and show Lamotta's boiling point, Scorsese channeled his technical mastery to tell a story of rage and violence in a way only he could. Raging Bull was nominated for eight Oscars and actually took home two, for Best Editing and a Best Actor win for Robert De Niro.
3 The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
When Scorsese decided to tackle the most corrupt people, the director figured the only way to do it would be a farce. Teaming up again with his superstar muse, Scorsese surrounded Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street with an ensemble that could match his high energy with improvisational comedy. There were no better options in the supporting roles than Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, and Matthew McConaughey.
The team-up of DiCaprio and Hill as the two scam artists that ripped off millions of Americans as they rose their way to the top of the Wall Street ladder was despicable but incredibly watchable. Scorsese always knows how to lean into how appealing and fun a gangster lifestyle is but always reminds his audience that the bad guys never make it out on top. Much like The Irishman, The Wolf of Wall Street was nominated for a plethora of Oscars, but again didn't take home any of the gold.
2 Taxi Driver (1976)
Only a filmmaker not averse to controversy could conceive of a film like this. Paired with screenwriting savant Paul Schrader (who also wrote Scorsese's Raging Bull and The Last Temptation of Christ), Taxi Driver is a masterpiece of artful violence. Robert De Niro stars as Travis Bickle, seething with madness and a slowly devolving psyche as he looks for purpose in the dirty streets that only Scorsese could capture (1970s New York).
This infamous movie antihero is the Vietnam veteran who loses his mind during the lonely nights of taxi driving. Scorsese has never made a film quite like this one, and its terrifyingly violent climax still holds up more than four decades later.
1 Goodfellas (1990)
If The Godfather showed us the politics of running a mob family, then Goodfellas showed us what the rest of the guys do. A fun, alluring, and high-octane picture where violence can arise at any time, Goodfellas is a masterpiece depicting how intoxicating danger can be (in this case, the high of being in the mafia). With memorable moment after memorable moment and iconic line readings at every corner, Joe Pesci manages to steal the show and would go on to win the Oscar for his role as the highly volatile but hilarious "Tommy DeVito."
Goodfellas is consistently on most lists of the greatest films ever made because it finds Scorsese firing on all cylinders; he fills the frame with electric energy and utilizes montage better than any other director. While the opening tracking shot with voiceover narration and the "Layla murder montage" are up there as some of the greatest, there isn't a scene in Goodfellas worth skipping.