On this day in 1942 Martin Scorsese was born
There is perhaps no other director in the history of cinema who has made such a lasting impact on not just the film industry, but pop culture as a whole as Martin Scorsese.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest directors of all time, Scorsese has spent his life challenging himself and his audiences. Even if you don’t know much about Scorsese or his work, there’s a good chance you’ve still seen some of his films. After all, this man is responsible for some of cinema’s most memorable and influential works: The Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, and Raging Bull.
Scorsese finally scored his first major breakthrough with 1973’s Mean Streets. Though the film was a critical success, it didn’t exactly light up the box office. Nevertheless, this was the film that finally alerted the world to the fact that Scorsese was here to stay. After this breakthrough, Scorsese continued to fight for creative freedom and push the boundaries of what it means to be a filmmaker. Taxi Driver came next, and it changed everything. In 1976, Scorsese released his next film, Taxi Driver. The film was an immediate critical and commercial success, earning four Oscar nominations (including one for Scorsese for Best Director). To this day, Taxi Driver is considered one of Scorsese’s greatest films, as well as one of the most iconic pieces of cinema in history.
Scorsese released The Last Temptation of Christ, a controversial film that was heavily criticized by the church. The film was a commercial and critical disappointment.
After the failure of The Last Temptation of Christ, Scorsese made a deal with Warner Bros. to make a film about the Mafia. The resulting film, Goodfellas, was a critical and commercial success, earning Scorsese a Best Director Oscar nomination. After his Oscar nomination and the immense success of Goodfellas, Scorsese once again found himself with the freedom to choose the films he wanted to make.
Finally, after a decades, he won an Oscar for Best Director for The Departed In 2006, The film was, in many ways, a return to form for Scorsese. It was a violent, visceral, and brutal crime thriller. After his Oscar win, Scorsese has continued to make films that push boundaries and redefine the genre, including Shutter Island, Silence, and The Wolf of Wall Street.
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