Marty Without THE MOB

Killers of the Flower Moon is part of a rich but often overlooked strain of Scorsese's storied career

Vanities /Screen Study

David Canfield

MARTIN SCORSESE ISN'T afraid ofwhat he doesn't know. "He's the gutsiest director I've ever met in my life," says Irwin Winkler, who's produced Scorsese films for more than three decades. Scorsese may be best known for iconic crime stories inspired by his own Italian American upbringing in New York, but this is also the man who delivered Hollywood's best Edith Wharton adaptation, darted from The Color of Money's modern setting to The Last Temptation of Christ, and helmed a Liza Minnelli musical being revived nearly 50 years later. His range is on display again in this fall's Killers of the Flower Moon, a haunting, real-life tragedy set in the Osage Nation of Oklahoma. "His fierce determination to do what he feels is the right thing for a movie is really unique," says Winkler. That's no more evident than when it comes to Scorsese's non-mob hits—a remarkable catalog unto itself.

1.KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (2023) The movie is adapted from David Grann's book about the century-old murders of Osage Native Americans, but Scorsese greatly expanded the Indigenous perspective. He worked with Rodrigo Prieto, cinematographer on his last four movies, filming at the sites of the violence and choosing rich, naturalistic colors. "Most Osage rituals have to do with the elements—sun, water," Prieto says. "It's always an interpretation. That's part of art. But we really tried for authenticity."

2.SILENCE (2016)

This drama, following 17th-century Jesuit priests in Japan, may be Scorsese's most underrated faith-driven film, as it confronts the unknowns of spirituality. The Taiwan set presented unwieldy conditions, with weather changing wildly by the hour. Scorsese called Silence a passion project more than 25 years in the making.

3.THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (2013)

Scorsese wrestled with whether this kinetic, drug-fueled Wall Street epic was the right movie for him to make at the time, but Winkler nudged him. "To do this the right way, you had to really go out and push yourself, and Marty's great at that," Winkler says. "I don't think another director could do it."

4.THE AGE OF INNOCENCE (1993)

While Scorsese had made a number of New York classics by 1993, he entered uncharted territory with this Gilded Age romantic drama based on the novel. Its sumptuous brilliance can be credited to Scorsese's famous attention to detail. "Perfection of the period," as Oscarnominated hairstylist Alan D'Angerio describes the design team's mantra. "It was all Marty. All we did was follow his lead."

5.RAGING BULL(1980) Early in development, the brilliant boxing drama starring Robert De Niro seemed doomed. The executives hated it. Scorsese lacked interest. But after a drug overdose sent him to the hospital, the director felt newly, intensely connected to the visceral character study. "Bob visited him in the hospital," Winkler says. "They sat down and talked, and Marty found himself in the story."

6. NEW YORK,

NEW YORK (1977) Gearing up to make this starry big-band musical, Winkler wanted Gene Kelly to direct at first but decided that the hotshot behind Mean Streets and Taxi Driver would be a more unexpected choice. "I knew he would bring grittiness to the story," Winkler says. The movie bombed, but it became a Broadway musical this year and there are rumors of a miniseries adaptation. Like its director, it has stood the test of time.