Martin Scorsese Collection
with Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty
(MGM)
by Eric Johnson
Pain!!! PAAAIN!!! The Martin Scorsese Collection is a huge lie. Scorsese is one of America’s most beloved directors, both in and out of film school. In spite of the buckets of respect people have towards Marty, the guy’s resume has some real clunkers in it, and several of them are in this collection. Can you comprehend the agony of purchasing a collection of films by the director of Taxi Driver, and discovering a musical starring Liza Minelli and Robert DeNiro?
The collection concentrates on a series of films Marty made for MGM in the ’70s. It includes the immortal Raging Bull, the incomprehensible horror of New York, New York, the shrug-worthy concert film, The Last Waltz, and the b-movie throwaway, Boxcar Bertha. This is a very convenient selection, as it means you only have to purchase The Age of Innocence, After Hours, and Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore to have the full-on “Scorsese films you don’t give a fuck about” marathon.
He probably feels guilty about it, but Scorsese is his most gifted when depicting individuals surrounded by violence. Whether or not that violence is psychological or physical is irrelevant. Jake La Motta inarticulately seeks trust in a world where his greatest skill lies in the distribution and absorption of pain. Raging Bull is a beautiful but meandering film, and like many of his pre-Goodfellas works, it favors psychological honesty over story. It has the distinction of being the only film besides Elephant Man that I remember adults having extensive discussions about when I was a kid. I would’ve liked to’ve seen it packaged with Casino (his most cruelly underated film), Goodfellas (his secret best), and Taxi Driver, but that would make life too easy. If you’re interested in a REAL Scorsese collection, you still have to buy the works separately.
(www.mgm.com)