SCORSESE ON SCORSESE (2004) B/W & C widescreen 90m dir: Richard Schickel

From Now Playing: A Viewer's Guide to Turner Classic Movies, an article by Roger Fristoe: "TCM presents the world premiere of Scorsese on Scorsese (2004), a feature-length documentary by acclaimed critic and film historian Richard Schickel in which producer-director Martin Scorsese reflects upon his life and career. Developed from an in-depth, five-hour interview conducted by Schickel, the documentary uses family photos and home movies to explore Scorsese's Italian-American heritage and his formative years in New York's Little Italy. Most importantly, Scorsese discusses his work on many of his signature films, with generous clips from each movie.

"After establishing himself by vividly creating the macho world of Mean Streets (1973), Scorsese notes, that he turned to Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) to prove that he could direct a story told from a female perspective. He reveals that it was 'the anger, the rage, the loneliness' of the Robert De Niro character that drew him to Taxi Driver (1976), while a desire to escape from the 'pageant' formula of Hollywood's typical Biblical spectacle led him to direct The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), which portrays a Jesus who 'lived in the real world.'

"All of his films, Scorsese says, reveal a struggle to define the nature of heroism. With this insightful new documentary and three full-length Scorsese masterworks --- The Last Waltz (1978), Raging Bull (1980) and New York, New York (1977) --- TCM offers an intimate overview of the career of an outstanding American filmmaker."