Martin Scorsese

No American film director has probed the heart and soul of violence like Martin Scorsese. In films of unbearable intensity, from his breakthrough Mean Streets (1973) through The Age of Innocence (1992), Scorsese has developed as an unflinching observer of twentieth-century America. With this book, film scholar Les Keyser undertakes the first full-scale analysis and appreciation of Scorsese's life and films, assessing his emergence as America's preeminent filmmaker. Controversial and difficult, dark and opaque, Scorsese's films have followed an erratic course in the commercial market, including both blockbusters and box-office duds. But he is always honing his craft and deepening his vision. Even in his huge hit Cape Fear (1991), Scorsese successfully gives the commercial Hollywood formula movie a sharp new edge. Martin Scorsese bursts with fascinating movie lore about the Hollywood scene, including extensive background notes on how the script for the classic Raging Bull (1980) was developed by Scorsese and actor friend Robert de Niro. The full canon of the director's work is studied carefully, including a film that represents a radical departure for the director, a cinematic version of Edith Wharton's turn-of-the-century novel of manners, The Age of Innocence.