A PERSONAL JOURNEY WITH MARTIN SCORSESE THROUGH AMERICAN MOVIES (1995) B/W & C - 3 episodes of 75 minutes each - dirs: Martin Scorsese, Michael Henry Wilson

w/Martin Scorsese, John Ford, Gregory Peck, George Lucas, Fritz Lang, Nicholas Ray, Sam Fuller

Three-part documentary in which Scorsese, the famed director of such modern classics as TAXI DRIVER and RAGING BULL, discusses the films that impacted his life and influenced his work.

From the TCM Viewer's Guide, Now Playing:

"Part 1, The Director's Dilemma ... Scorsese discusses the challenges faced by filmmakers who struggle to sustain their artistic integrity while accommodating the studios' commercial demands. He considers Vincente Minnelli's The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) 'the best drama about Hollywood's creative battle' and lauds the ingenuity of director King Vidor, who 'somehow found a way to do one for the studio and one for himself.' In the latter category is Vidor's classic silent The Crowd (1928), a powerful study of alienation in big-city life.

"Part 2, The Director As Illusionist ... offers Scorsese's take on the magic created by directors like Minnelli who suggest situations and emotions through use of dramatic imagery, rather than presenting them literally. An outstanding example is Jacques Tourneur's Cat People (1942), a subtle yet terrifying horror film about a woman who fears she will turn into a raging feline when her passions are aroused. Scorsese points out that, with a remarkably low budget and none of today's technology, 'Tourneur conjured up an ominous shadow play.'

"Part 3, The Director As Iconoclast ... Scorsese examines those filmmakers who dare to bring their own vision, however controversial, to the screen. Among those mavericks was Orson Welles, who outraged many by presenting a thinly veiled portrait of publisher William Randolph Hearst in Citizen Kane (1941). The truly audacious thing about Welles, however, was his highly personalized filmmaking style. 'The most revolutionary aspect of Citizen Kane was its self-consciousness,' observes Scorsese. 'The style drew attention to itself.' Another of Scorsese's 'iconoclasts' is William 'Wild Bill' Wellman, whose identification with outsiders was expressed in such films as Wild Boys of the Road (1933). As Scorsese notes, Wellman's 'sympathy lay with the outcasts, or with the rebels.'"