Honestly, if you think you know all Martin Scorsese movies, you probably only know the ones where someone gets whacked in a Cadillac. People hear "Marty" and they think Robert De Niro with a mohawk or Joe Pesci losing his temper in a bar. But that's just the surface stuff.
Scorsese is basically the patron saint of cinema, a guy who grew up in Little Italy with asthma and a priesthood complex, which is why his movies feel like a weird mix of a street fight and a Sunday Mass. He’s 83 now, and he still works harder than people half his age. In fact, his next big swing, What Happens at Night, is reportedly gearing up to film in early 2026 with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence.
But to really understand the guy, you have to look at the flops and the weird experiments.
The Mean Streets of the Early Days
His first feature, Who’s That Knocking at My Door (1967), is basically a student film on steroids. It’s rough. It’s grainy. It stars a very young Harvey Keitel. You can see the DNA of everything he’d do later—guilt, New York, and a lot of Catholic imagery. Then he did Boxcar Bertha (1972) for Roger Corman. Corman was the king of "exploitation" flicks, and he told Marty to just make it bloody and fast. It’s probably the least "Scorsese" movie out of all Martin Scorsese movies, but it taught him how to actually run a set.
Then 1973 happened. Mean Streets.
That’s when he found his voice. He realized he didn’t need to copy European art films; he just needed to film the guys he grew up with. He cast Robert De Niro as Johnny Boy, and the rest is history. They made Taxi Driver (1976) shortly after, which is basically a horror movie disguised as a character study. Everyone quotes "You talkin' to me?" but the real meat of that movie is the loneliness. It’s a total vibe of 70s New York decay.
The Big Mistake Everyone Forgets
Right after the massive success of Taxi Driver, Marty almost ended his career. He made New York, New York (1977).
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It was a big, bloated musical. It was a disaster. He was struggling with addiction, the budget spiraled, and the critics hated it. Most people skip this one when they talk about his legacy, but it’s fascinating because it shows his obsession with old Hollywood. He didn't want to just film on location anymore; he wanted to build worlds on soundstages.
The Peak: From Raging Bull to Goodfellas
If New York, New York was the bottom, Raging Bull (1980) was the resurrection.
De Niro basically forced him to make it. Marty thought he was done with movies, so he filmed it like it was his last will and testament. It’s beautiful and brutal. It’s shot in black and white because Marty didn’t want to compete with the "bloody" look of other sports movies.
Then the 80s got weird.
- The King of Comedy (1982): A dark comedy about a stalker. Nobody liked it then. Everyone loves it now.
- After Hours (1985): A yuppie nightmare that takes place in one night. It’s frantic and funny.
- The Color of Money (1986): His only real "sequel" (to The Hustler). It won Paul Newman an Oscar and made Marty a bankable director again.
- The Last Temptation of Christ (1988): This caused actual riots. People were protesting outside theaters. Marty just wanted to explore the human side of Jesus, but the world wasn't ready.
Then came the one everyone knows. Goodfellas (1990).
If you haven’t seen it, stop reading this and go watch it. It’s the fastest-paced two-and-a-half hours in cinema. It changed how people made movies. The music, the freeze frames, the narration—it’s perfect. It also started a run of "organized crime" epics like Casino (1995), which is basically Goodfellas but with more neon and much more Joe Pesci screaming.
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The DiCaprio Era and Beyond
In the early 2000s, Marty found a new muse: Leonardo DiCaprio.
Some old-school fans hated it at first. They missed De Niro. But honestly, the run they had is insane. Gangs of New York (2002) was a massive, messy epic. The Aviator (2004) was a gorgeous biopic about Howard Hughes. And then The Departed (2006) finally won him the Oscar. It’s a remake of a Hong Kong film called Internal Affairs, and it’s just pure, popcorn-munching entertainment.
But Marty didn't just stay in the crime lane.
- Shutter Island (2010): A total mind-trip. It’s his highest-grossing movie if you don’t adjust for inflation.
- Hugo (2011): A kids' movie? Sorta. It’s really a love letter to the history of film.
- The Wolf of Wall Street (2013): A three-hour party about corporate greed. It’s the most "energetic" a 70-year-old man has ever been.
In recent years, he’s gone back to his roots but with a much more somber tone. The Irishman (2019) used de-aging tech to bring De Niro and Al Pacino back to their prime, but it wasn't a celebration of the mob life. It was about death. It was slow. It was quiet.
Same goes for Killers of the Flower Moon (2023). It’s an "anti-western." It tells the story of the Osage Nation murders in the 1920s. It doesn't give you the usual thrills. It’s heavy. It’s a $200 million movie that Apple funded, and it feels like a monumental piece of history.
Why the Documentaries Matter
You can't talk about all Martin Scorsese movies without mentioning the docs. He’s obsessed with music. The Last Waltz (1978) is arguably the best concert film ever. He’s done multiple films on Bob Dylan and a massive four-hour piece on George Harrison. For him, the documentaries are where he recharges his batteries.
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What Most People Miss
People think Scorsese just loves violence. They’re wrong.
He loves guilt. Every single one of his protagonists is a man who has done something wrong and is trying to find a way to live with it. Whether it's a mobster in Goodfellas or a priest in Silence (2016)—which, by the way, is his most underrated masterpiece—it's all about the soul.
Silence is a tough watch. It’s about Jesuit priests in 17th-century Japan. It’s long, it’s painful, and there are no car chases. But it’s the most personal thing he’s ever made. If you want to know what's going on in his head, watch that.
How to Actually Watch His Filmography
Don't just watch the hits. If you want to be an expert on all Martin Scorsese movies, you have to branch out.
- Start with the "Big Three": Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas. This gives you the foundation.
- The Underrated Gems: Watch After Hours for a laugh and The King of Comedy to feel deeply uncomfortable.
- The Deep Cuts: Check out Italianamerican (1974). It’s a short documentary where he just interviews his parents in their apartment. His mom, Catherine, is the real star. She’s the lady who cooks dinner for the guys in Goodfellas.
- The Modern Epics: The Wolf of Wall Street and Killers of the Flower Moon show he hasn't lost his touch.
The best way to appreciate him is to realize he’s a fan first and a director second. He spends half his time rescuing old movies through The Film Foundation. He doesn't just make "content." He makes cinema.
Keep an eye out for What Happens at Night in 2026. It's based on the Peter Cameron novel and sounds like it’s going back to that Shutter Island psychological thriller vibe. If the rumors are true, it’s going to be another late-career masterpiece that proves Marty is nowhere near done.
Go beyond the "mob movie" label. Dig into the weird religious stuff and the 19th-century romances like The Age of Innocence (1993). You’ll find a much more interesting artist than the one the memes suggest.