Authors: Roger Ebert, Martin Scorsese
ISBN-13: 9780226182025, ISBN-10: 0226182029
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date Published: October 2008
Edition: (Non-applicable)
Roger Ebert is the Pulitzer Prize–winning film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times. Starting in 1975, he cohosted a long-running weekly movie review program on television, first with Gene Siskel and then with Richard Roeper. He is the author of numerous books on film, including The Great Movies, The Great Movies II, and Awake in the Dark: The Best of Roger Ebert, the last published by the University of Chicago Press.
Roger Ebert wrote the first film review that director Martin Scorsese ever received—for 1967’s I Call First, later renamed Who’s That Knocking at My Door—creating a lasting bond that made him one of Scorsese’s most appreciative and perceptive commentators. Scorsese by Ebert offers the first record of America’s most respected film critic’s engagement with the works of America’s greatest living director, chronicling every single feature film in Scorsese’s considerable oeuvre, from his aforementioned debut to his 2008 release, the Rolling Stones documentary Shine a Light.
In the course of eleven interviews done over almost forty years, the book also includes Scorsese’s own insights on both his accomplishments and disappointments. Ebert has also written and included six new reconsiderations of the director’s less commented upon films, as well as a substantial introduction that provides a framework for understanding both Scorsese and his profound impact on American cinema.
"Given their career-long back-and-forth, this collection makes perfect sense. . . . In these reconsiderations, Ebert invites us into his thought processes, letting us see not just what he thinks, but how he forms his opinions. Ebert’s insights into Scorsese are terrific, but this book offers the bonus of further insights into Ebert himself."—Time Out Chicago
"Ebert, film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, is an unabashed fan of Scorsese, whom he considers ‘the most gifted director of his generation.’ . . . Of special note are interviews with Scorsese over a 25-year period, in which the director candidly discusses his body of work."—Publishers Weekly
Ebert, film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, is an unabashed fan of Scorsese, whom he considers "the most gifted director of his generation." To prove it, he's compiled his reviews of every Scorsese film-beginning with I Call First in 1967 to his latest, Shine a Light. Along the way, Ebert pays special tribute to five "masterpieces," including Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Mean Streets, which he calls "one of the source points of modern movies." These three films in particular, Ebert argues, reflect Scorsese's ongoing preoccupation with sex and guilt, themes fueled by a Catholic upbringing and his childhood in New York City's Little Italy. Citing the director's strong collaboration with actor Robert De Niro and screenwriter Paul Schrader, Ebert says all three men seem "fascinated by the lives of tortured, violent, guilt-ridden characters," usually men who cannot relate to women, such as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver or Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull. Of special note are interviews with Scorsese over a 25-year period, in which the director candidly discusses his body of work. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Foreword Martin Scorsese Scorsese, Martin
Introduction 1
Pt. 1 Beginning
Introduction 11
I Call First 16
Who's That Knocking at My Door 18
Reconsideration 21
Woodstock: An Interview with Martin Scorsese & Company 25
Boxcar Bertha 32
Mean Streets 34
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore 36
Taxi Driver 39
An Interview With Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader 42
New York, New York 48
Reconsideration 51
The Last Waltz 55
Pt. 2 Achieving
Introduction 61
Raging Bull 65
The King of Comedy 68
Scorsese: King of Romantic Pain 71
Reconsideration 77
After Hours 82
Reconsideration 85
The Color of Money 89
The Last Temptation of Christ 93
Scorsese's Last Temptation 96
Reconsideration 100
New York Stories: "Life Lessons" 105
Martin Scorsese and His "New York" Story 107
Pt. 3 Establishing
Introduction 115
GoodFellas 120
Why Goodfellas Was the Best Film of 1990 124
Cape Fear 129
The Age of Innocence 132
The Innocence of Martin Scorsese 136
Casino 143
De Niro, Pesci, Scorsese Tell a Shocking Mob Story in Casino 147
Pt. 4 Reflecting
Introduction 157
Wexner Center for the Arts Interview 158
Pt. 5 Venturing
Introduction 209
Kundun 215
Scorsese Learns from Those Who Went Before Him 218
Reconsideration 224
Bringing Out the Dead 228
Bringing Out Scorsese 231
Gangs of New York 235
Gangs All Here for Scorsese 239
The Aviator 243
Howard's End: Scorsese and the Aviator 247
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan 251
The Departed 256
Shine a Light 260
Pt. 6 Masterpieces
Introduction 265
Mean Streets 268
Taxi Driver 272
Raging Bull 277
GoodFellas 281
The Age of Innocence 286
Index 307