Martin Scorsese: The Life Story Behind the Crime Drama Master

Martin Scorsese makes films about men who want to be good and cannot. He was born in Queens, New York, on 17 November 1942, and he grew up in Little Italy, in Manhattan, in a small apartment above the streets where the Mafia, the church, and the family all lived side by side. He was a sick child, with asthma so bad that he could not play outside, and he spent his childhood watching the streets from a window, and watching films in the local cinema. That watching became his life. He made Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and The Departed, and he became one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema.

His films are full of New York, of the streets, the bars, the churches, and the men who live in them. They are full of guilt, of Catholic guilt, of men who go to church on Sunday and do terrible things on Monday, and who know that they are doing wrong, and who cannot stop. Scorsese understands those men, because he grew up among them, and because he is one of them in a way. He is a Catholic, he is an Italian-American, and he is a New Yorker, and all three of those things are in his films.

He has been making films for more than sixty years, from a student short in 1963 to Killers of the Flower Moon in 2023, and he is still working. He has won an Academy Award, he has made films with Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, and he has saved old films through his Film Foundation. This is the story of how a sick boy at a window became the master of the crime drama, and why his films still matter.

Little Italy: A Sick Boy at the Window

Little Italy, in the 1940s and 1950s, was a world of its own. It was a neighbourhood of Italian immigrants, of small shops, of churches, and of families who lived close together. Scorsese’s parents, Charles and Catherine, were Sicilian immigrants, and his father worked in the garment trade. The family lived in a small apartment on Elizabeth Street, and the streets below were full of life, of men talking, of women shopping, and of children playing. Scorsese watched it all from the window, because his asthma kept him inside.

He could not run, he could not play sports, and he could not go out the way other children did. He went to church, he went to the cinema, and he watched. The cinema was his escape, and it was his education. He watched westerns, he watched gangster films, and he watched the great directors, and he learned how a film could tell a story. He also watched the streets, and he learned how people talked, how they moved, and how they lived. That watching, from a window, is the heart of his films. He is a watcher, and his films are about watching, about men who watch the world and try to understand it.

He thought about becoming a priest. He went to a seminary school for a time, and he was serious about it, but he left, and he went to New York University to study film. The priesthood stayed with him, though, in a different way. His films are full of Catholic ideas, of sin, of guilt, of redemption, and of men who pray and then do terrible things. He did not become a priest, but he became a director who makes films about the soul, and that is a kind of priesthood too.

The Priesthood That Wasn’t and NYU

At New York University, Scorsese studied film, and he made short films that showed his talent. His student film, What’s a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?, made in 1963, was a funny, stylish film about a writer who becomes obsessed with a picture on his wall. It was a small film, but it showed that Scorsese could direct, and that he had a voice. He made another short, It’s Not Just You, Murray!, and he learned the craft of filmmaking, how to work with actors, how to edit, and how to tell a story in pictures.

He met Thelma Schoonmaker at NYU, an editor who would become his closest collaborator. Schoonmaker edited almost all of his films, and she won Academy Awards for her work. Their partnership is one of the great director-editor partnerships in cinema, and it lasted for more than fifty years. She understood his films, and he trusted her, and together they made the fast, energetic editing that is the signature of his style. A Scorsese film moves, it cuts quickly, it uses music, and it never sits still, and that is partly Schoonmaker’s doing.

He also met Harvey Keitel at NYU, an actor who would star in his early films. Keitel was a tough, honest actor, and he was perfect for Scorsese’s world of Little Italy. The two men worked together, and they built a friendship that lasted. Scorsese was learning, and he was building a team, and that team would make his first feature films.

Who’s That Knocking and Mean Streets

Scorsese’s first feature film was Who’s That Knocking at My Door, made in 1967, with Harvey Keitel as a young man from Little Italy who falls in love with a girl who is not Italian, and who struggles with his Catholic guilt. It was a small film, made on a small budget, but it was personal, and it showed Scorsese’s world. It was about the streets he grew up on, the church he went to, and the guilt he felt. It was a film that only he could have made, and it was a start.

He made Boxcar Bertha in 1972, a film for the producer Roger Corman, and he learned how to work fast and cheap. Then he made Mean Streets in 1973, and it was a breakthrough. Mean Streets was the story of Charlie, played by Keitel, a small-time criminal who wants to be good, and Johnny Boy, played by Robert De Niro, a wild, reckless friend who keeps getting into trouble. It was set in Little Italy, it was full of the music Scorsese loved, and it was shot with a hand-held camera that made it feel alive. It was a success, and it made Scorsese a name.

Mean Streets also began his partnership with De Niro, one of the great actor-director partnerships in cinema. De Niro was a young actor, and Scorsese saw in him a quality that other directors had missed, a quiet intensity, a willingness to be ugly, and a complete commitment to a role. The two men would go on to make many films together, and De Niro would become Scorsese’s most important actor. Mean Streets was the beginning, and it was a film that still feels fresh today, because it is honest, and it is personal, and it is true.

Alice, Taxi Driver, and the Night City

After Mean Streets, Scorsese made Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore in 1974, a film about a widow who tries to start a new life with her son. It starred Ellen Burstyn, who won an Academy Award for her performance, and it showed that Scorsese could make a film about a woman, and about ordinary life, as well as a film about criminals. It was a success, and it gave him the freedom to make his next film, the one that would make him famous.

Taxi Driver, made in 1976, is the story of Travis Bickle, played by De Niro, a taxi driver in New York who is lonely, angry, and slowly losing his mind. He drives through the night city, he sees the violence and the filth, and he decides to do something about it. The film is dark, it is violent, and it is one of the greatest films ever made. It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, and it made De Niro a star. It is a film about loneliness, about a man who cannot connect with other people, and who turns to violence because he does not know what else to do. It is a film that still frightens audiences today, because Travis Bickle feels real, and his loneliness feels real.

Taxi Driver also showed Scorsese’s skill with the camera. The night city, shot in rain and neon, is a character in the film, and the music, by Bernard Herrmann, gives it a lonely, sad feeling. It was Herrmann’s last film, and it is one of his best scores. Scorsese had made a masterpiece, and he was only thirty-three. He had arrived, and the world knew it.

Raging Bull and the Fall

After Taxi Driver, Scorsese made New York, New York in 1977, a musical about a jazz musician and a singer, and it was a failure. It was too long, too expensive, and audiences did not like it. Scorsese was disappointed, and he went through a hard time. He has spoken about struggling with drugs in the late 1970s, and about feeling lost, and about not knowing if he would make another film. It was a dark period, and it could have ended his career.

De Niro saved him, in a way. De Niro wanted to make a film about Jake LaMotta, a boxer who was a champion and a violent, self-destructive man, and he asked Scorsese to direct it. Scorsese did not want to at first, because he did not like boxing, and he did not like LaMotta, but De Niro persuaded him, and Scorsese made Raging Bull in 1980. It was a black-and-white film, shot with a beauty that made the violence look like art, and De Niro gave one of the greatest performances in cinema. The film won Academy Awards, including Best Actor for De Niro, and it is now considered one of the greatest films ever made.

Raging Bull was a film about a man who destroys himself, and it was made by a man who was close to destroying himself. Scorsese put his own pain into the film, and the film is better for it. It is a hard film to watch, because LaMotta is a terrible person, but it is also a beautiful film, because Scorsese films him with love and with understanding. It is a film about a man who cannot be good, and who knows it, and who keeps trying anyway. That is Scorsese’s story, and it is the story of many of his films.

The King of Comedy, After Hours, and the Wilderness Years

After Raging Bull, Scorsese made The King of Comedy in 1982, a film about a man who wants to be famous, and who kidnaps a talk show host to get on television. It starred De Niro as the desperate man, and Jerry Lewis as the host, and it was a dark, funny film about fame. It was not a success when it was released, but it has since become a classic, and it is now seen as one of Scorsese’s best films. It was ahead of its time, because it understood that fame had become a disease, and that people would do anything to be famous.

He made After Hours in 1985, a small, funny film about a man who has a bad night in New York, and it was a success. He made The Color of Money in 1986, a film about pool, with Paul Newman, and it was a success. He made The Last Temptation of Christ in 1988, a film about Jesus, based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, and it was controversial. Religious groups protested, and the film was banned in some places, but Scorsese believed in it, and he made it because it was a story about faith, about doubt, and about what it means to be human. It was a personal film, and it showed that Scorsese was still willing to take risks.

These were the wilderness years, the years when Scorsese was not making big hits, but he was making interesting films, and he was learning. He was a director who had made masterpieces, and who was now making smaller films, and he was doing it with the same care. He was not a young man anymore, and he was not the flavour of the moment, but he was still working, and he was still a great director. The best was yet to come.

Goodfellas and the Mob Masterpiece

In 1990, Scorsese made Goodfellas, and it changed everything. The film was based on the true story of Henry Hill, a mobster who became an informant, and it starred Ray Liotta, De Niro, and Joe Pesci. It was a fast, funny, violent film about the Mafia, and it was told with an energy that had never been seen before. The camera moved, the music played, and the story unfolded in a rush, from a boy who wanted to be a gangster to a man who lost everything. It was a masterpiece, and it is now considered one of the greatest films ever made.

Goodfellas won an Academy Award for Joe Pesci, and it was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director, but it did not win. Scorsese lost to Kevin Costner for Dances with Wolves, and many people thought it was unfair. Goodfellas is a better film, and it has lasted longer, but the Academy did not see it that way. Scorsese would have to wait sixteen more years for his Oscar, and Goodfellas is a reminder that awards do not always go to the best film. The film is the award, and Goodfellas is still watched, still quoted, and still loved, thirty years later.

The film also showed Scorsese’s skill with actors. Liotta was a revelation as Henry Hill, Pesci was terrifying as Tommy, and De Niro was perfect as Jimmy Conway. The film is full of great performances, and it is full of great scenes, the long take through the Copacabana, the dinner in prison, and the final day of Henry’s life, shot like a nightmare. It is a film that every director studies, and every film student watches, because it is a lesson in how to make a film.

Casino, the Dalai Lama, and the 1990s

After Goodfellas, Scorsese made Cape Fear in 1991, a thriller about a man who is released from prison and terrorises the lawyer who put him there, and it was a success. He made The Age of Innocence in 1993, a film about New York society in the nineteenth century, based on the novel by Edith Wharton, and it was a beautiful, sad film, very different from his crime films. It showed that Scorsese could make a costume drama, and that he could do it with the same care he brought to the Mafia. He made Casino in 1995, a film about Las Vegas, with De Niro and Pesci, and it was a big, violent film about greed and betrayal. It was a success, but it was not as good as Goodfellas, and it felt like a return to familiar ground.

He made Kundun in 1997, a film about the Dalai Lama, and it was a beautiful, quiet film, very different from his usual work. It was not a commercial success, and it caused trouble with China, but Scorsese believed in it, and he made it because it was a story about faith, about exile, and about a man who loses his home. He made Bringing Out the Dead in 1999, a film about a paramedic in New York, and it was a dark, sad film, not a success, but an interesting one. The 1990s were a mixed decade for Scorsese, with great films and with disappointments, but he kept working, and he kept trying new things.

He also founded the Film Foundation in 1990, an organisation to save old films, to restore them, and to make sure they are not lost. Scorsese loves old films, and he knows that many of them are in danger, because the film itself decays, and because nobody cares. The Film Foundation has saved hundreds of films, and it is one of the most important things Scorsese has done. It is a generous act, and it shows that he cares about cinema, not just his own films, but all films, and the history of the art he loves.

The Departed and the Oscar at Last

In the 2000s, Scorsese made Gangs of New York in 2002, a big, violent film about New York in the nineteenth century, with Daniel Day-Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio, and it was a success. He made The Aviator in 2004, a film about Howard Hughes, with DiCaprio, and it was a success. He had found a new actor in DiCaprio, just as he had found De Niro thirty years earlier, and the two men worked well together. DiCaprio was young, talented, and willing to take risks, and Scorsese trusted him.

He made The Departed in 2006, a crime film about a policeman who infiltrates the mob and a mobster who infiltrates the police, set in Boston, and it was a huge success. It starred DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Jack Nicholson, and it won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Scorsese, his first Oscar for directing. He had been nominated many times, and he had waited for decades, and finally, at sixty-four, he won. It was a happy moment, and it was deserved, but it was also a little sad, because the Oscar came for a film that was good, but not his best. Goodfellas and Raging Bull were better, and they did not win. The Oscar is a strange thing, and Scorsese’s win shows that it does not always go to the best film.

The Departed was a great film, though, and it is still watched and loved. It was fast, tense, and full of great performances, and it showed that Scorsese could still make a great crime film, thirty years after Mean Streets. He was not a young man anymore, but he was still a master, and the Oscar was a recognition of a lifetime of work, not just of one film.

The Irishman, Killers of the Flower Moon, and the Late Films

After The Departed, Scorsese made Shutter Island in 2010, a thriller about a detective on an island, and Hugo in 2011, a film about a boy in Paris who loves films, and it won Academy Awards. He made The Wolf of Wall Street in 2013, a film about a stockbroker who becomes rich by fraud, with DiCaprio, and it was a huge success, funny, violent, and outrageous. He made Silence in 2016, a film about Jesuit priests in Japan, a story about faith that he had wanted to make for decades, and it was a beautiful, sad film, not a commercial success, but a personal one.

He made The Irishman in 2019, a long film about a mob hitman, with De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci, made for Netflix, and it was a success. It was a film about old age, about regret, and about a man who looks back on his life and wonders what it meant. It was a fitting film for Scorsese, who was in his seventies, and who was looking back on his own career. He made Killers of the Flower Moon in 2023, a film about the murder of Osage Native Americans in Oklahoma in the 1920s, with DiCaprio and De Niro, and it was a great film, nominated for Academy Awards. It was a film about America, about greed, and about a crime that had been forgotten, and Scorsese told it with care and with anger.

Today, Scorsese is in his eighties, and he is still working, still making films, and still thinking about cinema. He has made more than twenty-five feature films, he has won an Academy Award, and he has changed the way films are made. He is a New Yorker, a Catholic, and an Italian-American, and all three of those things are in his films. He is the master of the crime drama, and he is one of the greatest directors who ever lived.

My Take:

I think the first thing to say about Scorsese is that his films feel like New York. Not the New York of postcards, but the real New York, the streets, the bars, the churches, and the men who live in them. He grew up in Little Italy, he watched the streets from a window, and he put what he saw into his films. That is why his films feel so true. They are not made up. They are remembered, and they are lived, and that is a different kind of truth. A director who grew up in a place can film it in a way that a visitor cannot, and Scorsese is the best example of that.

What I admire most is the guilt. His films are full of Catholic guilt, of men who go to church on Sunday and do terrible things on Monday, and who know that they are doing wrong, and who cannot stop. That is a powerful idea, and it is a true one, because many people live that way. They know what is right, and they do what is wrong, and they feel guilty, and they keep doing it. Scorsese understands those men, because he is one of them in a way. He is a Catholic, he is an Italian-American, and he is a New Yorker, and all three of those things are in his films. He does not judge his characters. He understands them, and he lets the audience understand them too.

I also think about the asthma, and about what it meant for a boy to be sick and to watch the world from a window. Scorsese could not play outside, so he watched, and he went to the cinema, and he learned to see. That is a hopeful story for anyone who is sick, or who is different, or who cannot do what other children do. A limitation can become a strength, if you use it well. Scorsese used his, and he became a director who sees more clearly than most people. I think that is a beautiful thing, and it is a lesson worth remembering.

There is a part of his story that makes me sad, and it is the late 1970s, when he struggled with drugs and felt lost. He has spoken about that time, and about how close he came to losing his career. It is a reminder that even great artists can fall, and that success does not protect you from pain. De Niro helped him, by asking him to make Raging Bull, and that film saved his career. I think that is a powerful story about friendship, about how one person can help another at the right moment, and about how a film can save a life. Scorsese’s life was saved by a film, and the film he made is one of the greatest ever made.

I want to talk about Goodfellas, because it is one of my favourite films, and because it is a film that I think about often. It is fast, it is funny, and it is violent, and it is told with an energy that is breathtaking. The camera moves, the music plays, and the story unfolds in a rush, and you feel like you are living the life of a gangster. That is Scorsese’s gift. He makes you feel what his characters feel, even when his characters are doing terrible things. You understand Henry Hill, even when you do not like him, and that understanding is the heart of the film. It is not a film that excuses crime. It is a film that shows why crime is attractive, and why it destroys the people who live it.

I also think about the Oscar, and about how long Scorsese waited for it. He was nominated many times, and he did not win until 2006, for The Departed, when he was sixty-four. Goodfellas and Raging Bull were better films, and they did not win, and that is a shame. But the Oscar does not matter as much as the films do. The films are still here, and they are still watched, and they are still great. An award is a moment. A film is forever, and Scorsese’s films are forever. I think he knows that, and I think he is at peace with it.

If I am honest, I do not love every Scorsese film. Some of his later films are long, and some are not as strong as his best work. But I respect all of them, because they were made with care, and because they were made by a person who loves cinema. It is easy to make a film that everyone likes. It is hard to make a film that you believe in, even when you know it might fail. Scorsese did that, again and again, and that is why his career is so long and so rich. He took risks, and he learned from them, and he kept going.

I think about Thelma Schoonmaker a lot, and about how important she is to Scorsese’s films. She has edited almost all of them, and she has won Academy Awards for her work. Their partnership is one of the great director-editor partnerships in cinema, and it lasted for more than fifty years. A director needs an editor who understands him, and Scorsese found his in Schoonmaker. She understood his films, and he trusted her, and together they made the fast, energetic editing that is the signature of his style. That is a reminder that a film is made by many people, not just the director, and that the editor is as important as anyone.

What I like about Scorsese is that he never stopped learning. He made films for sixty years, and he kept trying new things, new genres, and new technologies. He made a film for Netflix, he made a film in 3D, and he made a film about the Osage murders, a story that had been forgotten. He did not get stuck in the past. He kept moving forward, and he kept growing. That is a rare quality in a director, and it is one of the reasons his films still feel modern, even the ones he made decades ago.

I also think about the Film Foundation, and about how important it is. Scorsese founded it in 1990 to save old films, to restore them, and to make sure they are not lost. He loves old films, and he knows that many of them are in danger, because the film itself decays, and because nobody cares. The Film Foundation has saved hundreds of films, and it is one of the most important things Scorsese has done. It is a generous act, and it shows that he cares about cinema, not just his own films, but all films. That is a beautiful thing, and it is a legacy that will last.

I think about Taxi Driver, and about how frightening it still is. Travis Bickle is a lonely man, and his loneliness feels real, and his anger feels real, and the film is a warning about what loneliness can do. It is a film that was made in 1976, and it still feels modern, because loneliness is still a problem, and because there are still men like Travis Bickle in the world. Scorsese understood that, and he made a film about it, and the film is still relevant. That is a remarkable achievement, and it is why Taxi Driver is still watched.

There is a sadness in his story too, and it is the sadness of a man who has seen the world change, and who has seen the cinema change, and who worries about the future. Scorsese has spoken about his worries, about streaming, about the death of cinema, and about the loss of the theatrical experience. I understand those worries, because the cinema I love is changing, and it is not always changing for the better. But Scorsese keeps making films, and he keeps fighting for cinema, and that is a hopeful thing. He is not giving up, and neither should we.

I want to say something about De Niro, and about their partnership. They made many films together, from Mean Streets to The Irishman, and their partnership is one of the great actor-director partnerships in cinema. De Niro understood Scorsese, and Scorsese understood De Niro, and together they made films that neither could have made alone. That is a rare thing, and it is a reminder that a great director needs a great actor, and a great actor needs a great director. They found each other, and the cinema is better for it.

In the end, I think Martin Scorsese’s story is about a boy who watched the streets from a window, who went to the cinema, and who became one of the greatest directors who ever lived. He made films about guilt, about crime, about New York, and about the soul, and he made them with a skill that few directors have ever matched. He won an Academy Award, he made films with De Niro and DiCaprio, and he saved old films through his Film Foundation. He did it by staying true to himself, by staying true to New York, and by never losing his love of cinema.

I will keep watching his films, and I will keep thinking about them, because they are films that reward thinking. Goodfellas will still excite me, Raging Bull will still move me, and Taxi Driver will still frighten me, and that is a remarkable thing. A film that can do all of that, forty years after it was made, is a great film, and Scorsese made several of them. That is his legacy, and it is a legacy worth remembering.

I also think his story is a reminder that a difficult childhood can become a strength. Scorsese was sick, he could not play outside, and he watched the world from a window. That watching became his art, and his art became one of the great careers in cinema. I hope young people who feel different, or who are sick, or who cannot do what other children do, look at Scorsese and see that their difference can become their gift. It did for him, and it can for them.

There is one more thing I want to say, and it is about the future. Scorsese is in his eighties, and he is still working, still making films, and still thinking about cinema. That is a hopeful thing, because it shows that a long career is possible, and that a person can keep growing, even in old age. I hope he keeps making films, and I hope we keep watching them, because the cinema needs directors like him, directors who care, who think, and who never give up.

Finally, I think Scorsese’s life is a story about love. He loves New York, he loves cinema, and he loves the people in his films, even when they do terrible things. That love is the heart of his work, and it is why his films feel so human. He does not judge his characters. He loves them, and he lets the audience love them too, even when they should not. That is a generous way to make films, and it is one of the reasons his films are so great. I hope we remember that love, and I hope we carry it with us, when we watch his films, and when we think about his life. It is a love that has lasted for sixty years, and it is still there, in every frame he makes.

I also think about the young filmmakers who study his films in school, and who try to learn from them. They watch Goodfellas, they watch Taxi Driver, and they see a director who made films with energy, with honesty, and with love. That is a powerful example, and it is one that will inspire filmmakers for generations. Scorsese did not just make films. He showed other people how to make films, and that is a legacy that will last long after he is gone. I hope those young filmmakers remember that the best films come from a place you know, from a street you grew up on, and from a life you have lived.

I also think about Little Italy, and about the streets Scorsese watched from his window. Those streets are still there, and the films he made about them are still there too, and they will be there for as long as people love cinema. A boy who could not go outside became a director who showed the world what was outside his window, and that is a beautiful thing. I hope young people who feel stuck, or sick, or different, look at Scorsese and see that their window can become their art, and that their watching can become their life.

Frequently Asked Questions

When was Martin Scorsese born?

Martin Scorsese was born on 17 November 1942 in Queens, New York, and he grew up in Little Italy, Manhattan, where his Sicilian immigrant parents lived. He was a sick child with asthma, and he spent much of his childhood watching the streets from a window and going to the cinema.

What is Martin Scorsese’s most famous film?

Many people would name Goodfellas from 1990 as his most famous film, a fast, violent story about the Mafia starring Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci. Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Departed are also among his best-known works.

Did Martin Scorsese win an Academy Award for directing?

Yes, he won his first Oscar for Best Director for The Departed in 2006, when he was sixty-four, after being nominated many times before. The film also won Best Picture, and it was a long-awaited recognition of a lifetime of work.

Who is Thelma Schoonmaker?

Thelma Schoonmaker is the editor who has worked with Scorsese on almost all of his films since their time at New York University, winning Academy Awards for her editing. Their partnership is one of the great director-editor partnerships in cinema.

What is the Film Foundation?

The Film Foundation is the organisation Scorsese founded in 1990 to save old films, restore them, and make sure they are not lost. It has helped preserve hundreds of films, and it reflects Scorsese’s love of cinema history.

What was Martin Scorsese’s latest film?

His most recent major film is Killers of the Flower Moon, released in 2023, about the murder of Osage Native Americans in Oklahoma in the 1920s, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. It was nominated for Academy Awards.