I just have one edit on this compilation by Nelson Carvahal, which I love, is that it not open with Sharon Stone, and that during the Jessica Lange clip he linger a bit longer on her monologue to hear her say “not with her.” That’s the key to that scene – she’s trying so hard to be brave but when she refers to her daughter, protecting her daughter from the potential rape, that is what that scene is all about – this cuts too soon. Nonetheless, a small complaint. There are so many great female characters in Marty’s films. I think the women in King of Comedy might be my favorite, though – Sandra Bernhard, Shelly Hack and Diahnne Abbot.
Video after the cut.
There’s obviously nothing wrong with a film centred more around male characters – and it’s definitely Scorsese’s strong point.
I think the editors of this site place waaay too much attention on a ‘lead’ and toss aside the impact supporting characters have – whether they be male or female.
Lead characters are cool and all, their gender is completely irrelevant to most people. But I just don’t like how most supporting actors/actresses are disregarded on this site just for being supporting.
Heck Margot Robbie was supporting but she stole the fucking show. She was amazing! And her last scene with Leo definitely made an impact.
And as much as you criticise women characters who have husbands or want husbands and a boyfriend – whoop-ti-doo believe it or not the majority of women are like that, and they shouldn’t be forgotten just because they choose to lead a traditional lifestyle.
Scorsese has brought many amazing leads to screen – Robert DeNiro, Leonardo DiCaprio, etc. But I have always felt like the way he makes supporting actors shine…it’s amazing. Most of his films are made at such a large scale that you have SO many actors and actresses in supporting roles but they are always put in a balance with the leads.
The roles are great, but the movies are always about men.
By “*more* … roles for women,” I mean quantity, sheer numbers. None of those names comes close to Woody Allen except for Bergman. It would be interesting to tally up the numbers.
“no single filmmaker in the history of cinema (that I can think of) has provided *more* interesting complicated deep and varied roles for women than Woody Allen.”
Who said that?
Bergman, Almodovar, Lars von Trier, Mike Nichols, Darren Aronofsky, Kar Wai Wong, Francois Ozon, Stephen Daldry. Todd Haynes…etc
no single filmmaker in the history of cinema (that I can think of) has provided *more* interesting complicated deep and varied roles for women than Woody Allen.
Not one? In the entire history of film? Go and watch some Bergman. Or Dreyer. Or Fellini. Or Mike Leigh. Or Tarantino. Or… why do I bother?
Scorsese is a master filmmaker, but it’s stretching the truth to say that he’s friendly toward actresses. He mostly uses them to plug supporting roles, such as the girlfriend/wife/arm-candy, or as the script necessitates, such as in a biopic when there is a part for the girlfriend/wife/arm-candy.
If it’s not obvious, he’s not into women’s stories, only how they relate to his male leads.
The “recent” crop of Hall-of-Fame directors mostly disdain women characters (think Scorsese, Spielberg, Kubrick). There’s no denying they have submitted some of the most iconic movies, even a smattering in which actresses dominate their films. But NONE of them are defined by these offerings like the Old Guard directors could be with theirs (Wyler: Roman Holiday, Funny Girl, The Heiress, The Little Foxes, Jezebel, The Letter; Hitchcock: Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, The Birds, Lifeboat, Notorious, Rebecca; Cuckor: Dinner at Eight, My Fair Lady, Gaslight, The Philadelphia Story, The Women, Adam’s Rib). Hollywood took a big hit when these actress-friendly stalwarts were succeeded by Scorsese, Spielberg, Kubrick, Lucas. These icons/moneymakers that came up through the 60’s and 70’s have helped to provide a blueprint for most of the directors that currently dominate Hollywood.
There seem to now be a handful of prolific, moneymaking directors that embrace their actresses, like David O. Russell, Ang Lee, and Tarantino, but there aren’t a lot and their movies do modest business compared to the blockbusters of yore like GWTW, Cleopatra, The Sound of Music, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?, She Done Him Wrong, The Red Shoes, and many others.
The bright side of it all is that effects laden movies are now encompassing actresses too, especially the live action fantasy flicks like Alice in Wonderland, Snow White and the Huntsman, and the upcoming Maleficent. Sure, they are as vapid as the actor-led summer action flick, but at least there appears to be somewhat of a balance that is occurring and actresses are rejoining the ranks of surefire box office gold. There’s a missing generation of actresses and their adoring directors since this has occurred with any regularity.
Jerry Grant – Bergman?
Bernhard crawling on the table singing to Jerry Lewis. That was epic.
roles for women is not something scorsese has excelled at… this was awful… excited to see “the men of martin scorsese films” whenever that comes out
Michelle Pfeiffer and Winona Ryder were foolishly missing. I give this video a C-
Ellen Burstyn, Jodie Foster, Lorraine Bracco, and Cate Blanchett are the highlights for me.
Even with all these great performances, this compilation nonetheless indicates (to me anyway) the _relatively_ small part for women in Marty’s oeuvre. It’s nice to see the compilation, but for me, the exceptions bring out the obvious. Not that that’s a sore point for me–but truth is, Scorsese is certainly one of the most male-centric filmmakers I can think of.
It is awkward to point this out now, but we need only compare the work of Scorsese with that of Woody Allen. For all the justified outcry over Woody recently, at some point and time, people will eventually have to reckon with the fact that his movies have not been predominantly _predatory_ about women (as some recent articles have been claiming), but in fact, more wholly interested in telling stories by women, about women, in myriad complicated ways, than those of any other filmmaker I can think of. Let’s put it this way: no single filmmaker in the history of cinema (that I can think of) has provided *more* interesting complicated deep and varied roles for women than Woody Allen. These observations do not serve as apologies or defenses of Woody the man, who (probably) did the things he was accused of.
I too have a couple of edits. One is that more focus is placed on his female-led films, like Boxcar Bertha and Alice Doesn’t Live Here Any More – there’s plenty of Alice at the end, but no Diane Ladd? Nelson seems a little more interested in Scorsese’s fiery supporting females – the hot pieces of ass whom he elevates by honing in on their emotions and their POV when they’re on screen. Lorraine Bracco, Sandra Bernhard (not such a good fit for the ‘hot piece of ass’ mould, granted), Margot Robbie – Scorsese does such a terrific job with women like these in roles like those, but are they rly worthy of more screentime than Diane Ladd? Also, he has missed one major factor about Scorsese’s casting of females: only three female actors have ever secured more than one prominent role in a Martin Scorsese film: Jodie Foster, Barbara Hershey and Emily Mortimer. Jodie is featured here, though only for one of her roles and for not long enough, Barbara is too, but she is afforded no dialogue in the clip, and Emily is ignored altogether. I’m disappointed by that.
Thanks Jon C. I just looked that up. Turns out not only Wyler but Elia Kazan too.
@koles sorry, stupid spellcheck
@jokes yes, William Wyler: Jezebel, mrs miniver, the best years of our lives, and Ben-hur
Quick question. Is there any other director besides Marty who directed 4 different actors in 4 different movies who won oscars in 4 different categories?
Male Lead – DeNiro “Raging Bull”
Female Lead – Burstyn “Alice doesn’t live here anymore”
Male Supporting – Pesci “Goodfellas”
Female Supporting – Blanchett “Aviator”
Is there any other?
God, he made love to Liza with that camera…
Great video. I would have loved to have seen Ellen Burstyn and Diane Ladd interacting together from Alice – (from my memory) it is one of the rare Scorsese films that portrays friendship between women.
I might have missed it, but no Cybill Shepherd? Anyway, I enjoyed the montage!