Director Martin Scorsese grew up on the "mean streets" of New York City's Little Italy neighborhood in the 40s and 50s. His upbringing has clearly influenced his filmmaking, as he's one of the most acclaimed gangster movie directors of all time. His mob movies ooze an authenticity that can only come from a director who's intimately familiar with the subject matter.
However, Scorsese's talents far transcend the crime genre. His mastery of the craft extends to many different styles of moviemaking, from contemporary black comedies and documentaries to period biopics. When it comes to his feature narratives that aren't related to mob life, there are plenty of top-rated picks to choose from.
Gangster Movie: Casino - 80%
A mere five years after teaming up with Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci for the iconic mob drama Goodfellas, Scorsese reunited with the two leading men for Casino. It's the mostly true story of the rise and fall of the mafia's empire in Las Vegas in the 1970s and 1980s.
The film is almost three hours long, but it's entertaining from beginning to end. Despite many feeling that it was a bit derivative of Goodfellas in both its casting and subject matter, it still stands on its own as a great gangster movie.
Non-Gangster Movie: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore - 88%
1974's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore is a love story between a widowed woman and an Arizona ranch hand she meets while traveling to California from her New Mexico home. It's undoubtedly one of the milder, gentler films in Scorsese's filmography, though it still packs quite an emotional punch as a heartfelt romance.
Ellen Burstyn won an Academy Award for her performance in the title role, making this the first Scorsese film to win an Oscar. There would be plenty more to come.
Gangster Movie: The Departed - 91%
Scorsese finally won his long-deserved Best Director Oscar for 2006's The Departed, which also took home the Best Picture prize. Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Jack Nicholson lead a stellar ensemble cast in this extremely well-executed cat and mouse thriller about the FBI's infiltration of Boston's ultra-dangerous Irish mob.
Nicholson's character was inspired by real-life Boston gangster Whitey Bulger, and the film itself is an American re-interpretation of the 2002 Hong Kong thriller, Infernal Affairs.
Non-Gangster Movie: After Hours - 89%
After Hours was released in 1985 after Scorsese was well-established as one of the great directors of his time. It's a small film in every sense: it was produced on a low budget, it's only 97 minutes long, and it takes place in one 24-hour span.
Despite not performing very well at the box office, it was a hit with critics and remains, to this day, one of the most underrated Scorsese titles.
Gangster Movie: The Irishman - 95%
2019's The Irishman, produced by Netflix, is the epic story of real-life hitman Frank Sheeran, who claims to have been the one who killed his friend Jimmy Hoffa in 1975. The film reunites Scorsese with Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci and marks his first collaboration with Al Pacino.
Highly anticipated for years since it was announced, The Irishman doesn't disappoint. It's slower-paced and more contemplative than Scorsese's other gangster movies, but given its themes of regret, aging, and mortality, that's for the best.
Non-Gangster Movie: The King Of Comedy - 89%
Rupert Pupkin is one of the great characters in Scorsese's filmography. He's an aspiring stand-up comic who dreams of getting his big break on Jerry Langford's popular late-night television show, and is willing to take extreme measures in order to accomplish this goal.
The King of Comedy and Taxi Driver were clear inspirations for the 2019 smash hit Joker, whose main character borrowed heavily from Pupkin and Travis Bickle. The King of Comedy is unsettling, at times upsetting, but also, as its title would suggest, quite funny. It's a peculiar film, but one that undoubtedly left its mark.
Gangster Movie: Mean Streets - 95%
Film critic Roger Ebert put it well when he wrote that Mean Streets "isn't so much a gangster movie as a perceptive, sympathetic, finally tragic story about how it is to grow up in a gangster environment."
Released in 1973, it's the third feature-length narrative film Scorsese ever directed, and the first in the crime genre. Starring Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel, and David Proval, it tells the story of a low-level criminal's doomed effort to protect his hot-headed friend from his "debt collectors." Scorsese's natural talent for crafting crime movies that are at once cinematic and realistic was made clear from the opening moments of Mean Streets, which still holds up as one of his strongest films in any genre.
Non-Gangster Movie: The Color Of Money - 89%
Paul Newman won the Academy Award for Best Actor for reprising his role as "Fast Eddie" Felson in The Color of Money. Released in 1986, it's the sequel to 1961's The Hustler. Eddie begins the film as a retired pool hustler, but is inspired to make a comeback when he starts mentoring his promising protege, Vincent, played by Tom Cruise.
The Color of Money is another of Scorsese's oft-overlooked films nowadays, but it was well-received by critics and audiences upon its release, and remains beloved among billiards enthusiasts for its accurate depiction of not simply the spot itself, but much of the culture surrounding it.
Gangster Movie: Goodfellas - 96%
Debates over what's the best mob movie ever made are almost exclusively between 1972's The Godfather and Goodfellas. Whereas the former is more operatic and larger than life, Goodfellas is gritty, fast-paced, and realistic. It's based on the true experiences of Henry Hill, a small-time gangster with connections to mafia associates with high hopes of becoming major players in the New York underworld.
Filled with moments of explosive violence, nerve-shredding suspense, and dark humor, Goodfellas is arguably the best and most influential gangster film ever made.
Non-Gangster Movie: Hugo - 93%
Released in 2011, at the height of the 3D movie craze, Hugo is the beautifully crafted adventure story of an orphan boy's journey to find a special key that would unlock an automaton left to him by his deceased father.
Known for telling starker and less sentimental stories, Hugo was a major stylistic departure for Scorsese. It's a big, colorful, warm-hearted family film about magical themes and the magic of movies themselves. It was a major success, racking up five Oscar wins and widespread critical acclaim.