Category Archives: Introductions

The film swapped for Schindler’s List and turned into a post-Reagan American take on the shattered façade of suburban perfection. Martin Scorsese’s take on Cape Fear removed the details intended for Spielberg and grew the film’s eventual ideas from a few brief mentions. In this introduction I gave for a screening of the film atContinue reading “Cape Fear (1991) – Introduction”

“I didn’t want to be a product of my environment, I wanted my environment to be a product of me.” With a rewrite of the character of Frank Costello the script for The Departed started to line up much more with Martin Scorsese’s view of the world in the film and real life. I talkContinue reading “The Departed – Introduction”

The Wild Bunch’s display of violence and gambles taken in a dying outlaw world influenced a lot of the same themes in Martin Scorsese’s Casino. In this introduction for the director’s urban western I look at the similarities between the two, as one exchanges banks and saloons for casinos and restaurants, and just what drewContinue reading “Casino – Introduction”

Martin Scorsese initially turned down The Wolf Of Wall Street because of its similarities to Goodfellas. The way to avoid those issues? Make a film of excess. That excess, inspired by Caligula, gave the film a shock value for many when first released, perhaps because of it’s matter-of-fact, unjudgmental style. All part of Scorsese’s lookContinue reading “The Wolf Of Wall Street – Introduction”

Martin Scorsese has described the 80s as the worst decade for him personally. With his highly-acclaimed Goodfellas arriving at the start of the 90s there’s part of it that feels like he may have been looking back at the previous decade, and beyond. From the tumultuous production of New York, New York to the longContinue reading “Goodfellas – Introduction”

It took six years for Martin Scorsese to form an understanding with The King Of Comedy. In the wake of Taxi Driver, and John Hinkley Jr’s assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, the film grew a darker, more sinister side to the initial comedy presented to him by Robert De Niro. I look into this andContinue reading “The King Of Comedy – Introduction”

“Thank you for giving me back my love of making movies” as said Martin Scorsese at the end of a month of night shoots which, after a disastrous 1983 for the director, embraced chaos and just laughing. In this introduction I look at the fast-paced, stripped-back production of his film After Hours. The audio inContinue reading “After Hours – Introduction”

“I don’t know why people expect art to make sense when they accept the fact that life doesn’t make sense” – David Lynch While he claimed The Straight Story to be his most experimental film, in terms of production Inland Empire may well have that title amongst David Lynch’s work. Featuring much of his loveContinue reading “Inland Empire – Introduction”

Martin Scorsese claims that Raging Bull was where he entirely relearnt how to make films, having reluctantly taken it on after almost dying. In order to do this he may well have gone to his early influences that led him to fall in love with cinema in the first place, particularly Johns Ford and Wayne.Continue reading “Raging Bull – Introduction”

A film of in-the-moment make, rather than write, what you know, 8 1/2 brought a production technique that Federico Fellini would embrace for much of the rest of his career. An idea sparked at, as is the case with many great tales of classic films, just the moment he was about to announce defeat. Fellini’sContinue reading “8 1/2 – Introduction”