Review by C.J. Bunce
Apparently it takes three people to create an enormous chronicle of one of cinema’s most popular directors. That’s the authors of Steven Spielberg: All the Films, film journalist/historians Olivier Bousquet, Arnaud Devillard, and Nicolas Schaller, who are shining the spotlight on Martin Scorsese for their next exhaustive look at a movie director. The result is the giant new hardcover, Martin Scorsese: All the Films—The Story Behind Every Movie, Episode, and Short, available for pre-order now here at Amazon. At 502 pages nobody has dug into the works of the director of Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Age of Innocence, Casino, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island, Hugo, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Irishman, and Killers of the Flower Moon.
In 1995 I stumbled upon a three-VHS boxed set called Martin Scorsese: A Personal Journey Through American Movies (still available at Amazon here). I don’t know why I had to check it out but I was glad I did. In it Scorsese showed that he was one of us. First he demonstrated that he knew his craft. Martin Scorsese: All the Films documents his early days watching movies in the theater, forming his world view with the movies as his guidepost from both a storytelling standpoint and a visual design standpoint. Second, Scorsese demonstrated that he loves movies–probably many of the same ones you consider classics or favorites. As time went on, even if I didn’t think highly of his choices in all his movies, I knew the guy was a worker and a believer trying to convey something to the masses the best way he could.
Martin Scorsese: All the Films has it all: How he met Al Pacino and propelled the unknown talent into the award-winning actor we know today. It digs into the big films while also looking at the lesser known works during his tryout phase of filmmaking, films that, like the works of Quentin Tarantino, showed a dangerous side, a side looking to shock and stun audiences, and an eye toward conveying violent themes.
Just as we learned in the similar book on Wes Anderson (details below) these auteurs carry with them recurring themes, recurring actors, and recurring production partners, along with an interconnected relationship with other famous auteurs. The book is structured with sections that dig into his key themes or motifs, like blondes and mothers, hell and demons, identity and mirrors, blood and violence, food and the dinner table, drugs, martyrs, and imprisonment. Of course New York, Italian Americans, and the mafia are inextricably linked throughout his films, and the narrative of the book.
Even diehard fans of Scorsese may be surprised to see his long-time association with Harvey Keitel goes back earlier than the other actors in Scorsese’s acting theater, to Scorsese and Keitel’s first feature film, the 1969 little known movie Who’s That Knocking at My Door? Scorsese has done it all from a drama standpoint, although you can’t look to him for genre films. He’s done the obligatory remake–Cape Fear. He’s explored the music industry with his documentary on George Harrison. And add to his movies with Pacino and Keitel his repeat projects with Joe Pesci and Leonardo DiCaprio.
My favorite entry came as a surprise–I forgot he had directed The Color of Money. This is Scorsese creating a sequel to someone else’s movie (director Robert Rossen’s The Hustler), a further exploration of characters created by Walter Tevis (The Queen’s Gambit). To me it’s Scorsese’s best work. The writers tell the story of how it was the great Paul Newman who sought out Scorsese to direct the further adventures of “Fast Eddie” Felson. The Color of Money was Scorsese’s brush with greatness–here he got to work with a Hollywood legend of the older generation, beyond all the new Hollywood actors and creators of the era Scorsese is known for, led by Francis Ford Coppola. The result was the closest thing moviegoers can imagine to Newman revisiting the kind of lead he mastered with Robert Redford in The Sting one last time.
Martin Scorsese: All the Films is filled with more than 250 full color and black and white photographs of Scorsese in his personal and public life, including screen images, artistic cinema frames, and movie and other marketing posters. Chapters include a short feature called “For Scorsese Addicts” which homes in on lesser known trivia about Scorsese, and another called “Where’s Marty?” Like Alfred Hitchcock, Scorsese has placed himself in the background of his movie projects. If you don’t understand one of his films, this book helps explain what Scorsese was shooting for. And as an encyclopedic resource, each project begins with a key cast and crew list.
The book covers each of the director’s 26 feature films, 17 documentary films, 7 short films, and 4 television episodes–well-researched with interesting behind the scenes stories.
But don’t stop with Martin Scorsese. Publishers Black Dog & Leventhal have several recent books documenting the works of your favorite auteurs: Alfred Hitchcock: All the Films, Wes Anderson: All the Films (reviewed here), and by the same authors as this forthcoming book on Scorsese, Steven Spielberg: All the Films.
This one is for fans of Scorsese and his films. Authoritative, comprehensive, intriguing–don’t miss Martin Scorsese: All the Films, now available for pre-order here at Amazon, arriving in bookstores March 3, 2026.
