Make Time for This - GSPN's Podcast for Pop Culture and Other Things · GSPN, Blue Wire

Ranking our all-time top 10 Martin Scorsese films

·1 hr 37 min·5 clips

Andrew calls Bringing Out the Dead the most underrated film in Scorsese's filmography.

Adam and Andrew start from unfinished business. Killers of the Flower Moon was last week's subject, so they follow it with a full top-ten run through Martin Scorsese's filmography. The job sounds miserable in the best way. Picking favorites here is less about trivia and more about showing your work, which gives the conversation plenty of room to turn from list-making into argument. The Departed gets the biggest reaction. One of them has it at nine, the other at seven, close enough to nod along but far enough to reveal different limits. They take its popularity seriously instead of waving it away. Why is this the Scorsese movie so many people point to when they want the clearest example of his craft and reach? The praise is real, but it never gets too cozy. They keep the movie's roots in view: Andrew Lau's Infernal Affairs trilogy, the Boston Winter Hill gang, and the way those pieces give The Departed something sturdier than pure movie-star swagger. The cast comes up fast. They talk about A-list performers in their prime, with Nicholson as the older all-time presence who can still take over this kind of film just by leaning into it. Then they start picking at the choices that bother them. The final rat shot gets called the worst shot of Scorsese's career, which lands harder because they have already made the case for what the movie does well. Vera Farmiga gets a more mixed read: strong overall, with a few choices noticeable enough to matter in a ranking. Even the music enters the count. The Departed does not fall apart for them, but its good parts and bad calls sit unusually close together. Boston adds another wrinkle. They wonder whether a director so tied to New York can move that sensibility into some cities more cleanly than others, and whether Boston resists him a little. By the end, the conversation is already pointing forward. Andrew may catch The Killer in theaters, Netflix may be how many people meet it, and David Fincher looks like the next filmmaker whose old takes are due for another pass.

As heard by us

A Scorsese ranking that keeps its case tied to specific scenes and choices.

Ranking Martin Scorsese's top ten films gives the conversation a clear frame, and it uses that frame to make a case for why The Departed sits so comfortably inside his broad appeal.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

If you want a top-ten Scorsese ranking that keeps arguing with itself, press play.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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