With the mostly glowing reviews for Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, screened out of competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, putting a spotlight on the Hollywood legend, now is the perfect time as any for revisiting the films that have made him one of the most respected directors of the last fifty years.

Scorsese’s films have a timeless look to them. That’s because he is first and foremost a film buff whose understanding of film history permeates every frame of his films. It’s no coincidence that one of his closest collaborators is editor Thelma Schoonmaker, widow of the great British director Michael Powell (The Thief of Bagdad, Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes). His third wife from 1979-1982 was Isabella Rossellini, daughter of Ingrid Bergman whose films (Casablanca, The Bells of St. Mary’s, Notorious) informed his childhood.

Scorsese began making short films in 1959 while still in his teens. He directed his first feature in 1967 but it wasn’t until 1973 that he achieved his first critical success with Mean Streets, a gangster film set in his native Little Italy section of Manhattan in a teeming New York City. It made a star of Harvey Keitel, and along with John D. Hancock’s Bang the Drum Slowly released on the same day, helped make a star of Robert De Niro. It’s still a riveting film. His next would be 1974’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

The romantic drama of Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, filmed primarily in Tucson, Arizona, might seem like an odd choice for the urbane Scorsese, but his skillful direction earned an Oscar for Ellen Burstyn as a young widow trying to make something of life for herself and her young son in small town America. It also earned a nomination for Diane Ladd as the wisecracking waitress with whom Burstyn works in a diner.

Next up was 1976’s Taxi Driver, which won Oscar nominations, but no wins, for Best Picture as well as De Niro for Best Actor as a mentally unstable NYC cab driver, Jodie Foster for Best Supporting Actress as a 12-year-old prostitute, and Bernard Herrmann posthumously for Best Score. Then came 1977’s New York, New York, a De Niro-Liza Minnelli starrer that earned no Oscar nods but did give us a great title song immaculately warbled by Minnelli.

1980’s Raging Bull finally got Scorsese his first Oscar nomination for Best Director with De Niro winning Best Actor as boxer Jake LaMotta and Schoonmaker winning for her editing. 1983’s The King of Comedy and 1985’s After Hours were minor successes as was 1986’s The Color Money, which is remembered mainly as the film that finally won Paul Newman an Oscar reprising his Fast Eddie role from 1961’s The Hustler.

Scorsese received his second Oscar nomination for Best Director for 1987’s The Last Temptation of Christ, the sole nomination for the controversial film in which Willem Dafoe played Christ on the cross. 1990’s GoodFellas, his first gangster film since Mean Streets, was expected to earn him his first Oscar but he lost in an upset to Kevin Costner for Dances with Wolves, widely considered one of the great injustices in Oscar history.

1991’s Cape Fear was an inferior remake of a 1962 thriller that somehow managed to get De Diro and Juliette Lewis Oscar nods for their performances. 1993’s The Age of Innocence was an extravagant filming of Edith Wharton’s novel that received five Oscar nominations including one for Scorsese, who was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay along with co-writer Jay Cocks.

1995’s Casino, 1997’s Kundun, and 1999’s Bringing Out the Dead were fair to middling successes. 2002’s highly anticipated Gangs of New York brought Scorsese back into Oscar’s frame for the first time in nine years. Though the film received mixed reviews at best, its high profile was enough to get it ten Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Director, and Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), but no wins. It did, however, give Scorsese a new collaborative star in Leonardo DiCaprio.

DiCaprio was the star of four of Scorsese’s next five films.

2004’s The Aviator was nominated for eleven Oscars including Best Picture and Director and won five including one for Cate Blanchett as Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of four-time Oscar winner Katharine Hepburn. DiCaprio as Howard Hughes received his first nomination in eleven years, his only previous one being for Best Supporting Actor for 1993’s What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.

2006’s The Departed, a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, was nominated for five Oscars and won four including Best Picture, the first Scorsese film to win, and Best Director for which Scorsese finally received his own first Oscar. Ironically, the acclaimed performances of DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Jack Nicolson failed to garner Oscar nominations, but fourth billed Mark Wahlberg was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. DiCaprio was nominated for Ed Zwick’s Blood Diamond instead.

2010’s Shutter Island received no Oscar nominations but the DiCaprio-Mark Ruffalo mystery thriller is highly regarded by fans. 2011’s Hugo, sans DiCaprio, received eleven Oscar nominations and won five albeit none for Scorsese who was nominated for both Best Director and Best Picture as one of the film’s producers.

2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street received five Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Director, and Actor for DiCaprio but walked away empty-handed. 2016’s historical drama, Silence, received just one nomination for its cinematography. Andrew Garfield was passed over for his compelling lead performance as a 17th century missionary in favor of his performance in Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge.

Scorsese’s next film, the 2019 gangster epic The Irishman had a limited obligatory theatrical release before being shown to the public at large on Netflix. Nominated for ten Oscars, including Best Picture, Actor (Al Pacino), Supporting Actor (Joe Pesci), and Director, the lengthy gangster film failed to obtain a Best Actor nod for De Niro although he was nominated as one of the film’s producers along with Scorsese.

De Niro and DiCaprio finally appear together in a Scorsese film in Killers of the Flower Moon. They first appeared together in Michael Caton-Jones’ 1993 film This Boy’s Life in which De Niro played teenage DiCaprio’s abusive stepfather.

All films are available on home video except, of course, the yet to be released Killers of the Flower Moon

Happy viewing, everyone.