A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies 

Martin Scorsese describes his initial and growing obsession with films from the 1940s and 50s as the art form developed and grew with clips from classics and cult classics.

Directors:

Martin Scorsese, Michael Henry Wilson

Writers:

Martin Scorsese, Michael Henry Wilson

Stars:

Martin Scorsese, Allison Anders, Kathryn Bigelow

Cast

Episode credited cast:
Martin Scorsese	...	Himself - Narrator / Host
Allison Anders	...	Herself
Kathryn Bigelow	...	Herself
Francis Ford Coppola	...	Himself
Brian De Palma	...	Himself
André De Toth	...	Himself
Clint Eastwood	...	Himself
Jodie Foster	...	Herself
Carl Franklin	...	Himself
George Lucas	...	Himself
Gregory Peck	...	Himself
Arthur Penn	...	Himself
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Philippe Collin	...	Récitant / Narrator (French version) (voice)

Storyline

Despite its nearly four-hour running time, this is a uniquely personal look at movies from one of the late 20th century's great directors and film historians. The film consists of head & shoulder shots of Scorsese speaking into the camera for a minute or two, followed by 10-15 minutes of film clips with Scorsese voice-over. Scorsese approaches the films in terms of how they affected him as a director foremost and as a storyteller/film fan second. Segments include "The Director as Smuggler," "The Director as Iconoclast", and so on. The Journey begins with silent masters like D.W. Griffith and ends in 1969 - when Scorsese began to make films; as he says in closing, "I wouldn't feel right commenting on myself or my contemporaries."

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Plot Keywords:

reference to the vietnam war | tv mini series | film history | reference to bing crosby | reference to darryl f. zanuck | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 May 1995 (UK)

Also Known As:

Historia kina amerykanskiego wedlug Martina Scorsese

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,350, 8 March 1998

Gross USA:

$39,075

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$39,075

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Film Institute (BFI), BFI TV, Channel 4

Technical Specs

Runtime:

225 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Black and White Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The machine gun spray that comes close to hitting James Cagney as he and Edward Woods turn the corner are real bullets fired by a real machine gun.

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Quotes

Brian De Palma: In any kind of art form you're creating an illusion for the audience to look at reality through your speciall eye. The camera lies all the time. It lies twenty-four times a second.

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Connections

References Heroes for Sale (1933)

User Reviews

A seat in a classroom with the world's greatest teacher.

As a "rebuttle" of sorts to the AFI's top 100 films, the British Film Institute worked out a documentary with Martin Scorsese.

Now. I am a huge film fan and pride myself on having seen many, many films. But, I am nowheres in comparrison with my idol. In this fantastic (though long) documentary, Scorsese walks the viewer through several stages of the American History on film. This is divided in to several sections including the Western, the Gangster film and the Noir. Full of bouncy enthusiasm, Martin Scorsese is a great tour guide as well as a fantastic professor.