TCM Schedule for Friday, June 19 -- Great Directors -- Blake Edwards/Martin Scorsese

[Staph]

Today's great directors are Blake Edwards and Martin Scorsese. Enjoy!


5:26am -- Short Film: From The Vaults: Lionpower From Mgm (1967)
In this short, MGM showed distributors and exhibitors highlights from the studio's films scheduled to be released during the upcoming 1967-68 film seasons.
C-27 mins

As they used to say, this film features "more stars than there are in the heavens".


6:00am -- He Laughed Last (1956)
When a chorus girl inherits a gangster's nightclub, her boyfriend accuses her of cheating.
Cast: Frankie Laine, Lucy Marlow, Anthony Dexter, Dick Long
Dir: Blake Edwards
C-77 mins, TV-G

One of a very few acting roles for Frankie Laine, much better known as a singer and composer. Some of Laine's finest hits include That's My Desire (1947), Mule Train (1949), Jezebel, Cry of the Wild Goose (1950), On Sunny Side Of The Street (1951), I Believe (1953) and Moonlight Gambler in 1957. He sang the title song for the hit TV series Rawhide that starred Clint Eastwood in the early 1960s. When Mel Brooks advertised in the show business trade papers for a "Frankie Laine-type" voice to sing the title song for Blazing Saddles (1974), he expected a good imitation of the real Laine. Instead, Frankie Laine himself showed at Brooks' office two days later, ready to do the job. He got the job and sang the Oscar-nominated title song again at the Academy Awards the following year.


7:30am -- Experiment in Terror (1962)
A master criminal tries to force a bank teller to help him pull off a big heist.
Cast: Glenn Ford, Lee Remick, Stefanie Powers, Ross Martin
Dir: Blake Edwards
BW-123 mins, TV-PG

Lots of wonderful television actors in this, including Stefanie Powers (The Girl From Uncle and Hart to Hart) and Ross Martin (the original Artemis Gordon in The Wild, Wild West).


9:47am -- Short Film: From The Vaults: A Look Into The 23rd Century (1976)
This featurette gives a behind the scenes look at the making of the sci-fi classic "Logan's Run" (1976).
Cast: Michael York, Jenny Agutter
Dir: Ronald Saland
C-9 mins

Logan's Run won a Special Achievement Award for L.B. Abbott, Glen Robinson and Matthew Yuricich for visual effects, and was nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Dale Hennesy and Robert De Vestel, and Best Cinematography for Ernest Laszlo.


10:00am -- The Carey Treatment (1972)
A doctor uncovers a hotbed of corruption when he tries to clear a colleague of a murder charge.
Cast: James Coburn, Jennifer O'Neill, Pat Hingle, Skye Aubrey
Dir: Blake Edwards
C-101 mins, TV-14

Working title: "A Case of Need".


11:53am -- Short Film: From The Vaults: Action On The Beach (1964)
Behind the scenes look at the D Day special effects created in filming The Americanization of Emily (1964).
Cast: James Garner, Arthur Hiller, James Coburn.
BW-6 mins

Included as a special feature on the DVD The Americanization of Emily (1964) released in 2005 by Warner Home Video.


12:00pm -- Victor/Victoria (1982)
An unemployed female singer poses as a female impersonator and becomes a star.
Cast: Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston, Lesley Ann Warren
Dir: Blake Edwards
C-134 mins, TV-MA

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score -- Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Robert Preston, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Julie Andrews, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Lesley Ann Warren, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Rodger Maus, Tim Hutchinson, William Craig Smith and Harry Cordwell, Best Costume Design -- Patricia Norris, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Blake Edwards

Director Blake Edwards admitted in an interview that he "chickened out", and added the scene in which King Marchand (James Garner) discovers that Victoria (Julie Andrews) is indeed a woman. Originally he was to fall in love with Victoria before he was sure about her gender, hence his line "I don't care if you are a man" before he kisses her.


2:15pm -- The Party (1968)
An Indian actor turns a swank Hollywood party into a disaster.
Cast: Peter Sellers, Claudine Longet, Marge Champion, Sharron Kimberly
Dir: Blake Edwards
C-99 mins, TV-PG

This film was improvised from a 56-page outline. Each scene was shot in sequence, and built upon the previous scene. To aid in this experiment, the film's producers had a video-camera tube attached to the Panavision camera and connected to an Ampex studio videotape machine, allowing the actors and crew to review what they had just filmed.


4:00pm -- A Shot In The Dark (1964)
Inspector Clouseau tries to clear a beautiful woman accused of shooting her husband.
Cast: Peter Sellers, Elke Sommer, George Sanders, Herbert Lom
Dir: Blake Edwards
C-102 mins, TV-PG

The movie was completed before The Pink Panther (1963), but shelved because the studio didn't think it was good. The success of the first film made the executives decide to release the shelved film. This also explains the short time span between the release of the first film and this one, and the absence of Kato in The Pink Panther (1963) but his appearing in this film and all sequels. Burt Kwouk's character is named Kato (later Cato) after the Asian sidekick in The Green Hornet (1940).


6:00pm -- The Pink Panther (1964)
In the first Inspector Clouseau film, the bumbling French police detective tries to stop a notorious jewel thief from nabbing a princess' diamond.
Cast: David Niven, Peter Sellers, Capucine, Robert Wagner
Dir: Blake Edwards
C-115 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Score - Substantially Original -- Henry Mancini

An animated Pink Panther was created for the opening credits because writer and director Blake Edwards felt that the credits would benefit from some kind of cartoon character. David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng decided to personify the film's eponymous jewel, and the Pink Panther character was chosen by Edwards from over a hundred alternative panther sketches. The Pink Panther introduced in the opening credits became a popular film and television character in his own right, beginning with the cartoon short The Pink Phink (1964) the following year.


What's On Tonight: GREAT DIRECTORS: MARTIN SCORSESE


8:00pm -- Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
A widow dreaming of a singing career ends up waiting tables in Phoenix.
Cast: Kris Kristofferson, Ellen Burstyn, Diane Ladd, Billy Greenbush
Dir: Martin Scorsese
C-112 mins, TV-MA

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Ellen Burstyn (Ellen Burstyn was not present at the awards ceremony. Martin Scorsese accepted the award on her behalf.)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Diane Ladd, and Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Robert Getchell

Coming hot off her success in The Exorcist (1973), the studio granted Ellen Burstyn total creative control over this project. She had two goals: to make a film about woman with real-life problems, and to secure an up-and-coming film maker as the director. Upon selecting this script, Brian De Palma brought Martin Scorsese to Burstyn's attention. While impressed with Scorsese's talent after viewing Mean Streets (1973), Burstyn still hesitated to hire the director, fearing he could only direct men. When she asked Scorsese what he knew about women, Scorsese replied "Nothing, but I'd like to learn." Satisfied with his enthusiasm, Burstyn immediately hired Scorsese.


10:00pm -- Scorsese on Scorsese (2004)
Director Martin Scorsese discusses his career and film clips in an interview.
Dir: Richard Schickel
BW-86 mins, TV-MA

Scorsese appeared in an "American Express" ad where he goes to pick up photos of his nephew's birthday party at a drug store, and then proceeds to nervously pick through what's wrong with each picture while trying to get the clueless photo-lab clerk's opinion on them. He proceeds to buy more film with an American Express card and calls the people on the pictures saying they need to reshoot. Scorsese says this funny ad is probably the closest he's come to accurately "playing" himself.


11:30pm -- The King of Comedy (1983)
A would-be comic kidnaps a talk-show host to win a guest shot on his show.
Cast: Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Diahnne Abbott, Sandra Bernhard
Dir: Martin Scorsese
C-109 mins, TV-14

Robert De Niro used anti-Semitic remarks to anger Jerry Lewis while filming the scene where Rupert Pupkin crashes Jerry Langford's country home. Lewis, who had never worked with method actors, was shocked and appalled, but delivered an extremely credible performance.


1:30am -- Goodfellas (1990)
A young man works his way up through the New York City mobs.
Cast: Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro, Lorraine Bracco
Dir: Joseph Reidy
C-145 mins, TV-MA

Won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Joe Pesci

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Lorraine Bracco, Best Director -- Martin Scorsese, Best Film Editing -- Thelma Schoonmaker, Best Picture -- Irwin Winkler, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorsese

The word "fuck" is used 296 times, for an average of 2.04 fucks per minute. About half of them are said by Joe Pesci. After Joe Pesci's mother had seen the film, she told her son that the movie was good, but asked him if he had to swear so much.


4:00am -- Mean Streets (1973)
A small-time hood must choose from among love, friendship and the chance to rise within the mob.
Cast: Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, David Proval, Amy Robinson
Dir: Martin Scorsese
C-112 mins, TV-MA

The innovative use of the hand-held camera was largely down to the fact that the film's meager budget didn't stretch to laying down lots of tracks for all the tracking shots.

[Staph]

1. Profiles of Blake Edwards and Martin Scorsese

Blake Edwards Profile

Writer and director Blake Edwards is best known for helming the Pink Panther comedies of the 1960s and 1970s, but his contributions to entertainment stretch far beyond those wildly popular slapstick tales of the bumbling Inspector Clouseau. He made a name for himself as a "modern cinema" original by combining a colorful visual style with a knack for layered jokes and subtle blend of high and low humor in films like Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), The Pink Panther (1963) and A Shot in the Dark (1964) and as the creator of the stylish detective series Peter Gunn (NBC, 1958-60, ABC 1961). A career-long collaboration with composer Henry Mancini's playful compositions became a crucial element in this creative vision. During the 1970s and 1980s, Edwards balanced his ongoing Pink Panther releases with more personal, dramatic material that explored the lives of aging artists and society's evolving sexual conventions, best exemplified in his 1979 hit, 10. Only a handful of Edwards 39 films were hailed with Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy nominations, but ongoing creative disputes with studio executives compromised what might have been an even larger body of revered work. Misfires notwithstanding, Edwards earned enormous respect among the film industry and his comedies remained popular for generations.

Blake Edwards was born William Blake Crump on July 26, 1922, in Tulsa, OK. His parents divorced when he was young and his mother remarried to Jack McEdwards, a production manager in Hollywood. His stepdad's father was J. Gordon Edwards, an early film director known for his Fox Studio films with racy screen vamp Theda Bara during the teens and early 1920s. Studio backlots became Edwards' playground and the kids of Hollywood heavy-hitters were his childhood friends. Edwards graduated from Beverly Hills High School and served in the Coast Guard briefly before entering the family business, where his stepfather first snared him work as an extra. Edwards advanced to supporting roles, eventually signing a contract with Fox, appearing in nearly 25 films during the mid 1940s including B-films like Strangler of the Swamp (1945) and classics like William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Life (1946).

Shifting his efforts to writing, Edwards wrote for NBC's hardboiled radio serial Richard Diamond, Private Detective (NBC, 1949) which began the development of his trademark sense of humor. He made his screenwriting debut in 1948 with Panhandle and by the 1950s, Edwards was steadily cranking out screenplays. He produced the syndicated series City Detective (1953) and in 1955, made his directorial debut with Bring Your Smile Along, a thin musical romance in which Constance Towers played a schoolteacher and would-be songwriter who finds love in the big city. He made a bigger impression with his writing and directing efforts on Mister Cory (1956), which also helped boost the career of the film's star, a young Tony Curtis. In 1958, Edwards created and directed the Emmy-nominated TV detective series Peter Gunn, whose jazz-loving hipster private eye breathed new life into the genre and established Edwards' fresh, youthful vision.

In theaters, Edwards entered his peak filmmaking years, beginning with the classic Cary Grant and Tony Curtis Navy comedy Operation Petticoat (1959). In 1961, Edwards directed Audrey Hepburn in one of the era's most iconic films, a loose adaptation of Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's which earned the actress an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a fragile country girl masquerading as an eccentric New York socialite. Henry Mancini, who had begun his collaborations with Edwards on Peter Gunn, earned an Academy win for the film's enduring score and the famous song, "Moon River." The director followed up with a groundbreaking film that boldly explored a couple's descent into full blown alcohol addiction, The Days of Wine and Roses (1963), starring Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick. The film was a Golden Globe nominee for Best Drama, and one that inspired both Lemmon and Edwards to seek their own recovery from alcohol shortly after the film was released.

After proving his versatility with the taut, strikingly photographed thriller Experiment in Terror (1962), Edwards introduced audiences to a bumbling French inspector named Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers) and began the era of his beloved Pink Panther film series. The first release, The Pink Panther (1963) was an immediate hit thanks to writer-director Edwards' blend of high and low humor, a lush, modern visual style, and another sophisticated Mancini score. Sellers, known for his elaborate character creations, ran with the material and left his mark as one of film history's most unlikely and likeable outsider heroes. Behind the camera, however, Sellers and Edwards locked horns often, vowing never to work together again after the successful sequel, A Shot in the Dark (1964). Edwards' continued in the vein of madcap comedies with the unsuccessful slapstick ode to Laurel and Hardy, The Great Race (1965), which was notable for a pie fight that involved the flinging of 2,357 baked goods. The Party (1968) found Edwards and Sellers burying the hatchet for a "fish out of water" tale of an East Indian at a swanky Hollywood party. The film later gained a loyal cult following, thanks to Sellers' physical humor and in spite of abundant toilet humor and insensitive cultural stereotyping.

Edwards continued to stumble at the box office, with the enormous financial failure of the espionage spoof Darling Lili (1969) on his head and clashes with studio executives over their "butchering" of dramas Wild Rovers (1971) and The Carey Treatment (1972). Eventually Edwards' heartbreak over the system turned to depression, and he and new bride Julie Andrews - star of Darling Lili - moved to Europe, where they remained for most of the decade. Andrews and Edwards collaborated again on the spy/romance, The Tamarind Seed (1974) before financial necessity led Edwards to reconsider the Pink Panther series. Sellers was also experiencing a career lull and both put their differences aside to facilitate a career boost. Independently produced, The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) broke box office records and revived the film franchise. Clouseau's boss Dreyfus (Charles Lom) was again obsessed with destroying his underling, the Pink Panther diamond was still at large, and audiences were again rocking theaters with laughter. Edwards and Sellers repeated their success with two more sequels, The Panther Strikes Again (1976) and Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978). Making his recent success even sweeter, in 1979, Edwards returned triumphantly to the Hollywood fold with the stunning box office and critical success of 10. In the first of a number of autobiographical films, Edwards' adult comedy explored middle-aged angst in an era of changing sexual mores. Edwards' insightful study was one of the biggest box office hits of the year and earned Golden Globe nominations for stars Julie Andrews, Dudley Moore and Bo Derek - who created a sensation, running on a beach in a flesh-colored bathing suit, cornrows blowing in the breeze - and another Oscar for composer Mancini.

Edwards was back in Hollywood, but he was no longer playing the Hollywood games. He next wrote and directed a biting satire of his experiences with big studio brass, S.O.B. (1981) that remained one of the best send-ups of the film business. He went on create one of the artistic triumphs of his and Andrews' careers with Victor/Victoria (1982), a musical adaptation of a 1933 German film about a woman masquerading as a man in drag. The film earned eight Oscar nominations including one for Edwards' adapted screenplay. The same year however, Edwards' received some flak for The Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), which used old footage of the now deceased Sellers to piece together a story. The following year's Curse of the Pink Panther (1983) revolved around a new bumbling American detective (Ted Wass) and failed to attract movie audiences.

The remainder of Edwards' work throughout 1980s seemed to emanate from his own psyche and ran the risk of being labeled self-obsessed. The Man Who Loved Women (1983) was a weak remake of the 1977 Francois Truffaut film and starred a womanizing Burt Reynolds, and That's Life! (1986) focused on a man (Jack Lemmon) and his fear of turning 60, while his wife (Andrews) worries whether or not she has cancer. It was perhaps Edwards' most personal film, shot at his and Andrews' Malibu home, with much of the dialogue improvised. It was met with mixed critical reception and indifference from audiences. Edwards made a second attempt to pay homage to Laurel and Hardy with a remake of their 1932 short The Music Box called A Fine Mess (1986). Again Edwards was plagued by studio interference and unwanted editing, which rendered the film a forgettable flop. Switch (1991), in which a macho man awakens as a woman (Ellen Barkin), was resoundingly panned by critics, and Edwards attempted to resurrect his comedy success with Son of the Pink Panther (1993), in which Roberto Benigni stepped in as Clouseau's son. Reviews unfavorably compared this effort with the originals and it sank at the box office.

In 1995, Edwards fulfilled a long-held dream of writing and directing a stage musical adaptation of Victor/Victoria for Andrews. After a bumpy start in Chicago, the show arrived on Broadway with a score by Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse. Many reviews faulted Edwards' direction and musical book, however Andrews received personal raves and the show went on to become a box office success, due in no small part to her presence. Edwards never received an Academy Award during his film career, but in 2004 the Academy of Motion Pictures gave him an honorary award for his lifetime contributions to the film world.

Information provided by TCMdb


Martin Scorsese Profile

Arguably one of the greatest directors to ever work in and out of Hollywood, Martin Scorsese has made some of the most daring and memorable films of all time. His impressive body of work - which spanned several decades from the mid-1960s on - was a meditation on the visceral nature of violence and male relationships that, more often than not, reflected his own personal angst growing up in the violent streets of Manhattan's Lower East Side under the cloud of a strict Italian Catholic upbringing. Starting with Mean Streets (1973), a gritty look at life on the streets in Little Italy, Scorsese made his mark upon Hollywood, while at the same time, discarding many of its traditional conventions. With his seminal films Taxi Driver (1976) and Raging Bull (1980), Scorsese firmly established himself as a top director of his generation. Though he hit a brief creative lull in the 1980s, films like After Hours (1985), The Color of Money (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) would have been welcome additions on any director's resume. He returned to top form with the hyperkinetic mob tale, Goodfellas (1990), widely considered by fans to be among his best films. With each passing film - Casino (1995), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004) - Scorsese cemented his legendary status, but failed to win the recognition of his peers. Five times nominated for Best Director, he failed to win an Academy Award until 2007, when he finally won for his exceptional Irish gangster thriller, The Departed (2006), giving him the recognition he deserved, unlike all-time greats Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock and Howard Hawks who unbelievably never won a competitive Oscar for helming their many masterpieces.

Born Nov. 17, 1942 in Flushing, NY, Scorsese grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in Little Italy. Both his parents, Catherine and Charles, worked in New York's famous Garment District, which afforded them a life lived in tenements, surrounded by winos and vagrants, some of whom left an indelible impression upon Scorsese for the rest his life. He grew up a sickly child, suffering from asthma that kept him indoors while the other neighborhood kids played stickball or ran through the gushing water of an opened fire hydrant. To make their son feel better, his parents took him to the movies, unwittingly fostering what would become a lifelong obsession. When he was eight, he began sketching elaborate shot-by-shot retellings of movies he had seen in the theater. By the time he reached 12, the sketches became originals; often titled "Directed and Produced by Martin Scorsese." An outsider to most because of his asthma, Scorsese nonetheless took part in the coming-of-age rituals for kids growing up in a rough-and-tumble neighborhood - namely helping set up kids for a beating, since he could not partake in the fisticuffs himself.

Also present throughout his youth was the Catholic Church, which led him to initially aspire to be a priest. He attended seminary during his adolescence, but discovering girls brought to light other possibilities on how to go about life.After leaving seminary, Scorsese attended Cardinal Hayes High School in The Bronx, before attending New York University, where he earned his bachelor's in English. As an undergrad, he directed his first short film, What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (1963), a nine-minute short about an obsessive compulsive writer (Zeph Michaels) who becomes so fixated on a photograph of a man in a boat that he can concentrate on nothing else. Early traces of his experimental style - obviously heavily influenced by Federico Fellini - were evident throughout, including rapid-fire editing and first-person narration. After directing a second short, It's Not Just You, Murray! (1964), Scorsese graduated with his bachelor's, quickly moving into NYU's master's program for filmmaking in 1966. He made another short, The Big Shave (1967), which depicted a man shaving his hair and the skin on his head, creating a bloody mess in the bathroom, evidence of Scorsese's unflinching use of violence to underscore a deeper truth - in this case, self-mutilation as a metaphor for the increasingly-destructive Vietnam War. With three short films under his belt, Scorsese was ready to take the next bigger step.

While pursuing his master's, Scorsese made his directorial debut with Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967), starring a baby-faced Harvey Keitel as working-class Italian-American from Little Italy who starts dating an educated, uptown girl (Zina Bethune), only to learn she is not a virgin, which clashes with his Catholic upbringing. First developed as a short, then filmed on and off for four years, Who's That Knocking displayed many of the elements that would eventually become Scorsese trademarks - fluid camera movements, a pulsating soundtrack and a visceral portrayal of violence. Despite its showing at the 1967 Chicago Film Festival, the film waited another two years for a theatrical release. Meanwhile, Scorsese began teaching at NYU, where he helped fellow student, Michael Wadleigh, as an assistant director and editing supervisor on Woodstock (1969), which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary. In 1971, Scorsese moved to Los Angeles, CA, where he took a work-for-hire gig with Roger Corman, directing the Depression-era crime thriller, Boxcar Bertha (1972) - all in order to gain more professional experience. Upon seeing a rough cut of the film, friend John Cassavetes chided the young director for "making a piece of shit" and pushed him to do something personal.

Scorsese took Cassavetes' words to heart, going to work on what would become his breakthrough film, Mean Streets (1973), a gritty, semi-autobiographical tale that marked the first of many landmark collaborations with actor Robert De Niro. Scorsese returned to the rough-and-tumble neighborhood of Little Italy, where he explored the struggles of a young hood (Keitel) who tries to save the neck of his hotheaded best friend (De Niro) from the wrath of a local loan shark, while at the same time, struggling to reconcile his Catholic guilt triggered by his reckless lifestyle. Though shot in Los Angeles, Mean Streets brilliantly conveyed the teeming violence and despair of Manhattan's Lower East Side, as well as turning De Niro and Keitel into overnight stars. Meanwhile, Scorsese put on full, dynamic display many of the conventions he only hinted at in his previous work, especially the kinetic pool hall fight scene set to the tune of The Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman" that became the first of many of Scorsese's landmark cinematic moments. After a showing at the New York Film Festival, Mean Streets was released to wide critical acclaim, earning a spot on The New York Times' list for "Ten Best Films" in 1973.

He followed up with what ultimately became his only female-centric film, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), a bittersweet tale about a Southwest housewife (Ellen Burstyn) who goes on the road to fulfill her dream of being a lounge singer after her husband's sudden death, only to flee her new, abusive boyfriend (Keitel) and take a job as a waitress at a diner ran by a loudmouth cook (Vic Tayback). His first bone fide studio movie, Alice wound up becoming a critical and box-office success that netted Burstyn an Oscar for Best Actress and spawned a long-running CBS sitcom. Scorsese was on much more familiar ground with the testosterone-laden Taxi Driver (1976). An iconographic street opera penned by Paul Schrader, the film marked Scorsese's second collaboration with De Niro, who delivered a tour-de-force performance as Travis Bickle, a lone-nut New York City cab driver whose revulsion towards the scumbags on the streets leads him to try to save a teenage prostitute (Jodie Foster) from her pimp (Keitel), unleashing holy hell along the way. While the film garnered a share of controversy for its bloody finale - a sustained, hallucinatory, brilliantly-staged set piece - Taxi Driver went on to earn four Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture, and eventually went down in cinema history as one of the more iconic films of Hollywood's second Golden Age.

Firmly established as one of the top directors of his generation - which included friends Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas - Scorsese was hailed for being a great practitioner of experimental films, despite working within the studio system. Since he was also a renowned film historian, it was only natural for him to want to make an old-school Hollywood movie. With his next film, New York, New York (1977), Scorsese tried to create a nostalgic look at the movie musical, but shifted gears during filming to shape the story around the deteriorating relationship between a jazz saxophonist (De Niro) and a big band singer (Liza Minnelli, in a performance loosely based on her own mother, Judy Garland). The result was an uneven film that audiences - especially those fond of musicals - found woefully depressing. Realizing he was no Busby Berkeley, Scorsese returned to documentary filmmaking with The Last Waltz (1978) - a film hailed as one of the finest rock concert movies of all time. Filmed in 1976, the documentary showcased The Band's farewell performance at San Francisco's Winterland Arena, bringing audiences both behind the scenes and upfront for a close look at an exceptional concert highlighted by guest performances by Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell and many others.

At the time of filming The Last Waltz, Scorsese was living with Band drummer and lead singer Robbie Robertson. Though he never liked talking much about it after the fact, Scorsese was doing heavy amounts of drugs, which led to complete exhaustion and a stay in the hospital in the late 1970s. Meanwhile, other commitments and re-editing of The Last Waltz - which included removing via rotoscoping, a large chunk of cocaine from Neil Young's nose during his performance of "Helpless" - kept the film from being released for two years. Meanwhile, friend De Niro was concerned enough with Scorsese's own cocaine use that he convinced the director to kick the habit. Thankfully for De Niro - to say nothing of generations of moviegoers the world over - the director kicked drugs, got back on track, and went on to direct what many considered his masterpiece, Raging Bull (1980). A searing and unyielding look in black & white at former middleweight boxer Jake LaMotta, who - after becoming the 1948 champ - loses everything due to his self-destructive, violent nature, Raging Bull was later regarded as one of the top movies ever made of any decade. Scorsese was passed over at the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture, despite De Niro winning a much-deserved Oscar for Best Actor. It would not be the last time Scorsese would go home empty-handed.

For his next film, Scorsese examined the effects of fame in the underrated The King of Comedy (1983), which cast De Niro as Rupert Pupkin, a wannabe stand-up comic living in his mother's basement who becomes so desperate for a break, he hatches a plan to kidnap a famous late-night talk show host (Jerry Lewis) in order to get a spot on his show. The King of Comedy proved to be Scorsese's third financial flop in a row; something that would have shaken the mettle of most other directors, but not Scorsese. He next attempted to make his dream project, The Last Temptation of Christ, but Paramount withdrew funding at the last minute due to a ballooning budget and outrage from Evangelicals. In reaction, Scorsese made After Hours (1985), a cheaply made dark comedy set in Manhattan about a slightly nerdy yuppie (Griffin Dunne) who goes on a bizarre one-night adventure with a Soho woman (Rosanna Arquette) he meets at a café. He moved on to Chicago for The Color of Money (1986) - a sequel to The Hustler (1961) - with Paul Newman reprising his role of pool shark 'Fast' Eddie Felsen and Tom Cruise as his protégé. Perhaps the one film lacking Scorsese's distinct style, The Color of Money nonetheless earned wide critical praise and an Oscar for Newman.

Returning to his childhood dream of making a movie about Jesus, Scorsese finally made The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), an adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis' novel. Much to the dismay of religious groups once again up in arms, the film depicted a very human spiritual leader (Willem Dafoe) who was a social outcast, wavering between good and evil while battling the desires of the flesh and ultimately choosing a path to redemption. It was the culmination of Scorsese's filmic theses. Though superbly shot, using exotic locations and a galvanizing world music score, the film somehow lacked the emotional power and cohesion of Scorsese's earlier, smaller-scale productions. Clearly an intensely personal project for Scorsese and writer Paul Schrader, the film generated controversy, with religious forces accusing Scorsese of blasphemy, and causing some theater and video chains to refuse to carry the film. Scorsese next joined forces with two other famous New York filmmakers, Woody Allen and Francis Ford Coppola, for New York Stories (1989), which showcased three separate films that reflected various aspects of life in the Big Apple. Life Lessons, a drama about an indulgent artist who can not bear to tell his lover (Rosanna Arquette) how he really feels about her art, was often considered the best of the three.

Though Scorsese made several films throughout the 1980s that were widely praised, nothing he did at that time reached the heights of Mean Streets, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. That all changed with Goodfellas (1990), his long-awaited and most-welcomed reunion with Robert De Niro. In what many felt was the director's best work, Scorsese adapted Nicholas Pileggi's novel, Wiseguys, about small-time gangster-turned-Federal witness Henry Hill (Ray Liotta). As a young, half-Irish kid, Hill is taken under the wing of Jimmy Conway (De Niro), a mid-level mobster who shows him the gangster life. Along with a hot-tempered Sicilian (Joe Pesci) quick to pull the trigger, the three embark on a decades-long spree of robbing and killing that eventually leads to a breakdown of their once strictly-held moral code to each other and their bosses. The film captures both the undeniable excitement - as well as the tawdry - details of life on the fringes of the Mafia, pushing audience manipulation to the extreme by juxtaposing moments of graphic violence with dark humor. The film also boasted superb camerawork, including several extended tracking shots, a vibrating soundtrack and sterling performances. While some critics ranked Goodfellas among Scorsese's finest achievements, others were put off by the film's violent excesses.

After hitting his stride again with GoodFellas, Scorsese knocked himself back a notch with his next film Cape Fear (1991), a slick, pretentious and excessive remake of the 1962 original that starred Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum. The performances in Scorsese's version were notably strong - particularly from Nick Nolte and Juliette Lewis, while the camerawork and editing were impressive. On the other hand, De Niro's over-the-top performance as Max Cady, a deranged ex-convict who seeks revenge on the attorney (Nolte) who improperly defended him, was the height of bombast, while the film's climactic scenes were more suitable to low-budget horror films. Nonetheless, Cape Fear turned out to be a significant box office hit; one of the few commercial successes in his career. His next film, The Age of Innocence (1993), a Victorian romance based on Edith Wharton's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, seemed an unlikely direction for Scorsese to take. A subtle drama of manners set among the high society of 19th century New York, Scorsese used a careening camera, sumptuous color and decor to tell the story of an aristocratic lawyer (Daniel Day-Lewis) struggling with his passion for the beautiful cousin (Michelle Pfeiffer) of his fiancé (Winona Ryder). For inspiration, Scorsese turned to such masters as James Whale, William Wyler, Max Ophuls and Luchino Visconti, helping The Age of Innocence earn respectful reviews and healthy box office totals.

Scorsese was back in typical fashion with Casino (1995), his eighth - and possibly final - collaboration with De Niro. Set in the 1970s and 1980s and focused on the mafia, Casino was a vibrant, albeit uneven look at a corrupt Las Vegas casino owner (De Niro) who lives and breathes the odds for gambling, but has trouble figuring out his hustler wife (Sharon Stone) and trusting his best friend (Joe Pesci). Featuring swirling camera movements, a pumping soundtrack and confiding voiceover from De Niro, Casino was a flawed allegory of America's loss of innocence - ground most reviewers felt was covered to better effect in GoodFellas. With Kundun (1997), Scorsese once again defied categorization, turning his attention to another unlikely subject, the Dalai Lama. The story of a child spiritual leader of a non-violent movement of Tibetan monks, Kundun showed the audience a rarely seen world. Filled with gorgeous saffrons and deep maroons, the film was a visual and aural feast, with the Philip Glass score among its strongest components. The sequences covering the Dalai Lama's early life and training were compelling, but Scorsese and screenwriter Melissa Mathison seemed lost with how to end their film. Following on the heels of the Brad Pitt vehicle Seven Years in Tibet (1997), Kundun struggled at the box office despite critical kudos.

Scorsese next directed Nicolas Cage as a fast-living EMT in the morbid, psychotropic drama Bringing Out the Dead (1999), which yielded little by way of critical acclaim or box office success, ultimately ending up one of Scorsese's weakest films. Returning to documentaries, he made My Voyages to Italy (2001), a look at the history of the Italian cinema that deeply influenced his style and career. Meanwhile, Scorsese spent a few years working on the epic The Gangs of New York (2002), a sweeping look at the New York immigrant riots of the late 19th century. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis and Cameron Diaz, Gangs went through a series of setbacks, budget problems and delays that resulted from haggling between Scorsese and Miramax head Harvey Weinstein over various details. Upon its release, Gangs was hailed as a mighty achievement, lavishly staged and photographed and featuring a powerhouse performance from Day-Lewis as the delightfully savage Bill the Butcher. While some marveled at the world Scorsese created, others were dissatisfied with the overall story, which lacked the urgency and captivation of his previous top-shelf fare. Nevertheless, Scorsese took home a Golden Globe, but earned his fourth Academy Award nod without a win for Best Director.

Defying the hype surrounding the difficulties of bringing Gangs to the screen, Scorsese reunited with DiCaprio for The Aviator (2004), a lavish biopic of the legendary billionaire Howard Hughes, which DiCaprio first developed with screenwriter John Logan and director Michael Mann. Feeling a certain kinship with the obsessive-compulsive Hughes and impressed with the way the script zeroed in on a specific era of Hughes' life, covering his early days as a Hollywood studio head to his bitter battle with the U.S. government over his airline, Scorsese delivered his grandest, most enthralling film since Casino. Thanks to an increasingly fruitful collaboration with an impressive DiCaprio, Scorsese presented a sumptuous era which captured much of the exotic glamour of old Hollywood, while underscoring Hughes' rapidly deteriorating and desperate inner world. Powered by the legendary promotional muscle of Miramax Films, The Aviator won the Golden Globe award for Best Motion Picture - Drama. It also led the pack with 11 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, Scorsese's fifth nod in the directing category. Once again, however, the director failed to bring home either the DGA honor or the long-awaited Oscar.

In 2006, Scorsese made a triumphant return to form with his next film, The Departed, a slick crime thriller loosely based on the excellent Hong Kong actioner, Infernal Affairs (2002). The film focused on Billy Costigan, a young undercover cop (DiCaprio) assigned to infiltrate a mob syndicate run by deviant gangland chief Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson in his first-ever collaboration with Scorsese). As Costigan gains Costello's confidence, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), a member of the boss' gang, has managed to infiltrate the Boston police department. Each man becomes consumed by his double life, gathering information for their employers, while it becomes clear to both that they are in danger of being exposed to the enemy - the two moles must race to uncover the identity of the other man before blowing their own cover. Scorsese's return to the organized crime thriller was hailed by fans and critics alike - he had studiously avoided the genre since Casino in order to explore other avenues. This time, however, he chose to eschew his Italian heritage to explore the Irish-run mob in Boston, a slight departure that was a fresh take on an old convention.

Meanwhile, The Departed earned huge helpings of critical kudos prior to its early October 2006 release, positioning the film for a strong opening weekend. The film did have a substantial box office take - over $120 million all told - while earning the director another win at the Golden Globe Awards for Best Director - Motion Picture, setting the stage for an Oscar nomination for Best Director at the 79th Annual Academy Awards. To the delight of everyone in attendance and those watching at home, Scorsese finally won the coveted Oscar for Best Director, an honor made that much sweeter when he received a standing ovation and was handed the award by his longtime friends and peers, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Meanwhile, in 2007, he formed the World Cinema Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving neglected films for posterity and restoring others that had been damaged by the ravages of time and poor storage. Aside from his place in the pantheon of filmmakers, Scorsese was a deeply knowledgeable and astute film historian, having long been a champion of film preservation and an ardent foe of colorizing classic black-and-white movies.

After a rare television crossover to direct No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (PBS, 2005-06), his Emmy-winning look at Dylan's influential early years spanning 1961-66, Scorsese gathered 18 cameras and shot the footage for what eventually became Shine a Light (2008). Echoing his extraordinary achievement with The Last Waltz, Scorsese spent two nights filming the Rolling Stones at the legendary Beacon Theater in New York in the fall of 2006. The result was an impressive and intimate look at an aging band - Scorsese feared not displaying Mick Jagger's sagging face or Keith Richard's shriveled arms - that had, through the years, somehow managed to discover the Fountain of Youth. Shine a Light received a strong wave of critical admiration, though its limited release kept the documentary from reaping large box office returns. Back in the world of feature films, Scorsese joined forces a fourth time with Leonardo DiCaprio - a working relationship many likened to the director's collaborations with De Niro - for Shutter Island (2009), a period mystery set in the 1950s about two U.S. Marshalls sent to a federal institution for the criminally insane in order to capture a violent female escapee.

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