Gangs of New York (2002) - A movie by Martin Scorsese, and a big commercial success

With Gangs of New York (released in 2002), Martin Scorsese was back to where he makes his mark, the gritty streets of New York, with lots of hard violence, mafia and gangs, rock music based soundtrack, and people with an inclination for violence. However, with the movie, Scorsese starred a different set of characters, with the starring roles being taken up by Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz. The movie was set at the time of the American Civil War of the 1960's, and was based on a pretty old book by Herbert Asbury, with the same name "The Gangs of New York".
This was another movie that Scorsese had been wanting to make for a long time, but kept on getting put off for various reasons (over a period of greater than 2 decades); even when the movie was finally made in 2001, the release was delayed for a period of around an year while Scorsese and the producer Harvey Weinstein negotiated on the final cuts in the movie, and the actual length of the movie. The movie was finally released to a majority of critical acclaim, although many critics found the movie not as good as some of his better movies. The movie, made at a budget just under $100 million, went on to make approximately $200 million worldwide.



The movie is about a conflict between 2 warring gangs, led by their leaders. William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a White Protestant Anglo-Saxon and leads the gangs called 'The Natives', since they are already residing there; further, Bill has a hatred of immigrants and their attempts to muscle into the territory where he is the primary gang leader. He comes into conflict with a gang comprised of recent immigrants, with the gang called "Dead Rabbits," led by Priest Vallon (Liam Neeson). He has a young son called Amsterdam (who will later become Leonardo DiCaprio when he grows up). These 2 gangs have a bloody fight in which Bill kills Vallon, witnessed by Amsterdam. Amsterdam finds the knife with which his father is killed and buries it, and then is taken to an orphanage. This entire situation is set in the year 1946.
Change to 16 years later, when Amsterdam is now an adult, the Civil War between the North and the South is in full swing, and the draft is in commission. Amsterdam finds that his father's old gang members are mostly now part of Bill's gang. Amsterdam is introduced to Bill by an old friend, Johnny (without telling Bill who Amsterdam actually is). Amsterdam also meets a pickpocket called Jenny Everdeane (Cameron Diaz), and is attracted to her (although his friend Johnny is also attracted to her); Bill starts trusting Amsterdam more and Amsterdam keeps on gaining some amount of influence, and also saves Bill once in an assassination attempt.
Bill trusts Amsterdam enough to talk about Priest Vallon with him, including the fact that he respected Vallon, and it was that incident that gave him strength and character to fight all his enemies. The rest of the movie is about the final fight between Bill and Amsterdam, once Bill has learnt who Amsterdam actually is, while the Union Soldiers are quelling riots that have broken out in the city over the draft laws.

Bringing Out the Dead (1999), directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Nicholas Cage - movie did not do too well

After a couple of movies such as Casino and Kundun, Martin Scorsese returned to the same location that is a staple of his movie, the gritty New York areas where he takes people with deep emotional conflicts and shows up the progression of these conflicts. In 'Bringing Out the Dead', Scorsese made a movie where he depicts the life of a deeply traumatized paramedic working the night shift in a New York Hospital (he has been traumatized by some of the experiences that he has seen, especially that of a young homeless girl; and his job is one that exposes him to profound grief shown by others - typically the relatives of people who area admitted to emergency services and who often do not survive). He is what you would call a typical recipe for a person heading to a collapse, with his nerves and emotions driving him to a point of collapse.
He realizes that he is headed to towards burnout, already suffers from insomnia, and wonders whether he will, in his current condition, meet another victim whom he cannot save; and he attempts to try and get fired. And then he gets salvation.
The movie was based on a novel by Joe Connelly (screenplay for the movie by Paul Schrader); but even though the movie is now considered a pretty good movie, it was a disaster at the box office with the US box office collections only making half of the $32 million budget.



The movie is a frantic 3 days, where the main character has 3 different partners in terms of his work as a paramedic (and the 3 partners also portray their roles - with 3 entirely different types of characters, one being very engaging, the second being more of a stirring type of person, and the third being more crazy). The path to salvation for Frank Pierce (Nicholas Cage in a pretty fine performance) comes from his meeting with the daughter of a heart attack victim that Frank had helped save; he meets Mary (Patricia Arquette) when she often comes to visit her father in the hospital.
It is Mary who, in her interactions with Frank, passes on her compassion and her feelings of helping others, which finally takes Frank out of his depression; repair his feelings about the people he was not able to save, and finally cure his insomnia.

Casino (1995) - Directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Sharon Stone

Casino was a movie released in 1995, and ranked to be one of the best movies made by Martin Scorsese. The movie was somewhat of a departure from the traditional New York setting of many of his other movies, although the use of mafia, violence, and rough language was still common (in fact, the movie was somewhat controversial because of the use of the word 'fuck' for almost 400 uses in one movie). The movie was based on a book by Nicholas Pileggi, with the screenplay for the movie written by Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorsese. The movie was based on a some real incidents, including the fight between a mob guy named Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal (a real life person based from the 1970's and early 80's who used to oversee multiple casinos for the mob) and his wife Geri McGee, a former topless dancer).
This concept was the idea of Nicholas Pileggi, who approached Martin Scorsese for the movie, and Scorsese was an eager supported of this thought, and decided to make a movie. When the movie was released, Martin Scorsese also have a tremendous reception, and this movie continued the trend, with the movie having got an overall positive acclaim. However, the movie did not do anything great at the Academy Awards, with a single nomination for Sharon Stone.



Robert De Niro stars as Sam "Ace" Rothstein, called in by the mob to oversee the operations of the Tangiers (non-existent in real life) casino in Las Vegas. In addition, Nicky Santoro (played by Joe Pesci) is a mob enforcer sent in to ensure that money keeps on coming to the mob, and that the mob's investments in the casinos are kept safe. Sharon Stone plays the role of Ginger, a devious lady who is also the wife of Ace (the skillful portrayal of a woman on the edge did get her a Golden Globe award for Best Actress).
The movie starts with an explosion in the car of Sam 'Ace', but he survives, and then the movie starts in flashback, moving back to the time in 1973 when Ace is brought in to run the Casino Tangiers. Ace is good at his job, and in a short period of time, he doubles the profits of the casino; however, the mob takes its cut before reporting to the tax authorities. Nicky is sent in to ensure that Sam has protection as he does his work. However, not everything works as intended; since Nicky works out to be nuisance with his attitude, and is banned from many casinos. Sam meets Ginger McKenna, and marries her after they have a baby girl.
Their is a difference that starts growing between Sam and Nick, and he also draws public attention when he gets into a dispute with the County Commissioner, and getting public attention is something that is bad for the mob. Things reach a boil pretty quickly after that, when Sam gets into a dispute with Ginger, and soon after, also begins a sexual affair with Nicky (something very severely frowned upon in the mob). This dispute between Sam and Nicky gets the FBI involved when some loose comments are overhead, and things quickly reach a stage where the entire business starts to unravel. And then the mob bosses, who are now in trouble themselves, have to decide whom to silence to ensure their safety. What happens to Sam, Ginger and Nicky ?

The Age of Innocence (1993) - Directed by Martin Scorsese, and starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Winona Ryder

The Age of Innocence (released in 1993) was a movie directed by Martin Scorsese, that won one Academy Award (Oscar) and was nominated for a total of 5 awards, but not the top awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor or Actress). Winnona Ryder was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress role, but did not win. The movie eventually won the Oscar for Best Costume Design (Gabriella Pescucci). However, the movie won awards in other places such as the Golden Globe, BAFTA, National Board of Review Award. The movie was based on a novel with the same name, written by Edith Wharton (winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize). The novel is set in the 1870's in New York City, set in the upper class (the distinction of the prize was that this was the first Pulitzer Prize awarded to a woman, based on her accurate depiction of the life of the upper class in the 19th century New York).
The name of the novel / movie is ironic, given that while the upper class was all genteel and published on the outside, inside it was all conspiracies and controversy. The movie was filmed in New York, with some portions being shot in Paris and the opera scenes being shot in the Philadelphia Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The movie earned positive reviews from critics.
Like some of his other movies, Marin Scorsese did a cameo role in this movie, as a photographer in a wedding scene.



The movie was dedicated to Martin Scorsese's father (Charles Scorsese, who died before the movie got released); both his mother and father made cameo appearances in the movie. Another surprise about the movie is that the lead actors in the movie were all the first choices of Martin Scorsese.
The movie is a tale of passionate love, never being consummated because of society and its bonds. The story is that of a young rich lawyer, Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis), who is eager and happy about his forthcoming marriage with another member of society's elite, May Welland (Winona Ryder). However, his feelings start changing with the emergence on the scene of her cousin, 30 year old sophisticated Countess Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer). She is separated from her husband, who has cut her off, and to the horror of society and her relations, she wants a divorce (you can separate, but a divorce would be a huge scandal). Newland starts feeling a passionate attraction for her, and she for him, but because of the impact this would have on May, she backs off, deciding to keep a distance.
And then Newland finally marries May (he had asked May to get married sooner since he is not sure about his feelings for Ellen and whether they could make him change his mind); but his marriage is soon passionless, and he still longs for Ellen. Ellen finally agrees to have an affair with Newland, and Newland even decides to follow her for Europe, and then May tells him that they are having a baby; and now, because of the child, they again agree to not have an affair. But is this the end of their interactions ?

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) - a very controversial film directed by Martin Scorsese starring Willem Dafoe and Harvey Keitel

Religious issues tend to be very controversial, and if it concerns the founder of a religion, any depiction that deviates from the well-accepted view can provoke a number of feelings. And so it was with this movie, The Last Temptation of Christ (released in 1988), that sought to depict some events and theories that are not part of accepted Christian lore. For example, if a movie seeks to portray that Christ was not the son of God, or had a relationship with a woman and had a child, or did not die on the Christ, there can be a huge backlash. And so it was with this movie, which remains banned in some Christian dominated countries, and also provoked a backlash that was far more severe than the studio and the director (Martin Scorsese) expected. In recent years, there has been some acceptance of the movie's portrayal of Jesus as one who confronts all the human weaknesses and overcomes for his vision; the movie sought to explore all the sentiments that would have driver such a person. In the end, the movie did not too well at the box office.
Scorsese had been looking to make a movie on the life of Jesus for many years, and had taken the film rights of the 1960 novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, even getting a screenplay for the movie ready by the late 70's by Paul Schrader, and production was even planned in 1983 with Paramount as the studio. But by late 1983, the project was cancelled by the studio, and then Universal Studio took up the project again in 1986 with photography starting in 1987. The movie was entirely shot in the African country of Morocco.



The movie has many concepts that do not gel with standard Christian philosophy, such as the concept of Jesus making crosses used by the Romans to kill Jewish prisoners by crucifying them, by portraying Judas as a far more complex and positive character (obsessed with ensuring a revolution by the Jews against the Romans rather than the betrayer he is positioned in standard Christian philosophy).
The movie starts out with the internal conflict in Jesus, who realizes that God has some plan for him, but that he is also human. When he starts to make the crosses for the Roman army, he is branded a traitor by Jewish revolutionaries. Judas is sent to kill him, but he waits and watches Jesus's message about love, and joins his ministry. Jesus starts preaching to people, saving the life of Mary (a prostitute) from a mob. Jesus is still working his way through what his aim in life is, and starts attracting disciples. Satan tries to sway Jesus 3 times, but each time Jesus refuses to get swayed. More events happen in the life of Jesus, but which convince him that the path of violence is not for him. He has asked Judas to get the temple guards to take him away, which happens after the Last Supper.
And then Jesus is put on the cross by the Romans since he is deemed a security to their current rule; and then the most controversial part of the movie. He is convinced by an Angel (actually Satan) that he is not the Son of God, and he should lead a normal life; where he meets Mary, makes love to her and then has a family. In the end, he is found by Judas near his death, who calls him a traitor, and that the angel was actually Satan. Jesus goes back to the cross, and then it is revealed that all this was a dream, and dies on the cross.

The Color of Money (1986) - Directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Paul Newman and Tom Cruise

The Hustler was a film released in 1961, starring Paul Newman in the role of the pool hustler Edward "Fast Eddie" Felson. Then in 1984, a novel was published with the title of 'The Color of Money', based on the same character, and with the story of the continuation of the life of Felson. After a period of 20 years, he is back into the pool world; and like many such sequels, the only continuation of the story is in terms of the same character, without needing to watch the previous movie. The novel was written by author Walter Tevis; and he was hired to write a screenplay for a movie based on the novel; and then the screenplay was not used at all. Instead the movie finally used a new screenplay (written by Richard Price); and if you have seen the movie 'The Baltimore Bullet', you will find many sub-plots to be similar (The Baltimore Bullet was a pool comedy released in 1980). The Color of Money is an interesting title, and seems very logical if you consider that a dollar note is based on a green background, and so is the color of the cloth used to cover a pool table. The movie was directed by Martin Scorsese and also starred, besides Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Helen Shaver and John Turturro.



Scorsese also appears in 2 cameo instances in the movie, once while walking a dog, and playing pool in the other instance. The movie also included many real life top pool players from the 1980's with them having small roles. The movie is not only about pool, since pool is only the instrument, it is actually about human behavior and what drives people, and if you were to compare the pool shots with the earlier, "The Hustler", you would find the quality of pool shots to be much better in the previous movie.
Newman is no longer in the game, but at heart, remains connected to the game. He is now a liquor salesman; but then comes across a brash cocky young kid, Vincent (Tom Cruise), and decides to take him on the circuit, teaching him how to hustle money, which makes for interesting viewing, since you have 2 people with egos against each other and having to work with each other. And you have seen what happens after this in numerous movies, where the protege moves away the mentor (with his own brash confident manner combined with the influence of the girlfriend) and then they have a show-down with the game (you see this in the Rocky movie where Rocky promotes a kid who moves away from him and they have a final street fight); and then he learns that Vincent really did learn the full contours of making money, including when to fold and when to win.

After Hours (released in 1985) - A dark comedy film, directed by Martin Scorsese, the misadventures of a man

From viewing Martin Scorsese's movies, it would seem that Robert De Niro was a perpetual favorite of Scorsese, so when he would make a movie without De Niro, it was always a surprise, like the movie After Hours, which was the first movie in a decade by Scorsese that did not star De Niro. Martin Scorsese was not supposed to be the original director for this movie, which was based on a screenplay that Joseph Minion wrote (given that he was only 26 years old when the movie was made); the screenplay was wrote when Minion was doing an assignment as part of a film course at Columbia University. The movie also faced a court case after release since the radio host Joe Frank claimed that the screenplay and parts of the dialog were based on his radio monologue (and there was a settlement in which he must have got a good settlement). The movie was a fairly low budget movie, costing around $4.5 million to make, and made around $10 million; and of course, like many other movies, this was not very acclaimed when it was released, and only later was classified as a cult movie.



The movie deals with the sudden happenings in the life of Paul Hackett (although the night finally ends with everything turning out okay in the end). He meets a lady called Marcy Franklin (Rosanna Arquette) while in a cafe and they discover that they have a common interest in Henry Miller. They exchange phone numbers, and Paul also gets to know that Marcy lives with Kiki Bridges (Linda Fiorentino) - a person who sells Plaster of Paris paperweights. Paul is interested, and goes to meet Marcy, but he loses his $20, and has no money left to pay the cab, which of course means that Paul has to face the hostility of the cab driver. And then in the apartment, Paul comes across some photos of Marcy which imply that she has serious burns; he leaves soon after, with the would-be-relationship between them ending, and then he learns that those photos were not true.
No longer able to afford a cab, he tries to use the subway, but with a fare increase coming into effect just at the stroke of midnight, he no longer has enough money. He goes to a bar, but the owner does not have the keys to the cash register to help him, so he takes the keys to the apartment to get the keys to the cash register, but then things keep on happening .. which eventually ends with him being turned into a plaster of paris cast, which is then stolen and falls off at his place of work, and he is ready to start a fresh day. Interesting movie ..

New York, New York (released in 1977) - Directed by Martin Scorsese - a musical drama film starring Robert De Niro

Martin Scorsese is known for his movies about the seedier side of New York, with violence, emotional trauma, fast music; however, he has made a number of other movies with different tones. New York, New York is a musical drama, released in 1977, meant as a tribute from Martin Scorsese to his hometown of New York. The movie stars Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli in the lead roles (playing lovers who are musicians), and has songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb. However, the movie did not do well, earning less ($13 million) than the budget ($14 million), and the failure depressed Martin Scorsese, and sending him to drugs. The failure of the movie meant that the movie studio (United Artists) cut down the movie length by around 19 minutes, however, the deleted scenes were restored in a re-release in 1981. The Theme from the movie became famous when Frank Sinatra released a cover version in 1979. The movie opens on the day that the World War II ended in 1945, a time of glorious celebration.



During a celebration in a New York nightclub, with music provided by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, a smooth talking self-centered saxophone player Jimmy Doyle (Robert De Niro) bumps into an upcoming singer Francine Evans (Liza Minnelli). Jimmy wants to get Francine's number, but Francine wants to evade him. However, due to Jimmy's persistence and luck, they end up sharing up a cab the next morning and she also accompanies him to an audition. At the audition, their joint act impresses the owner, and he offers them a job. They also get into a relationship, but Jimmy is not ready for a deeper commitment, even when Francine gives birth to his baby, and he leaves. Separate, they prosper, and several years later, are both significant figures. But when Jimmy proposes that they reconcile, what does she do ?

Taxi Driver (released in 1976) - A movie directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, and Jodie Foster

Taxi Driver is an iconic movie, one of the earlier movies by Martin Scorsese that made him famous (starting with the reputation he had gained by Mean Streets), and stars some of the same people from the movie. The movie was nominated for 4 Academy Awards, although it did not win any (it did win a Palme d'Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival). The movie is also famous for another more nefarious reason, being linked to a Presidential assassination attempt (when John Hinckley, Jr. confessed that he was obsessed with Jodie Foster's role in the movie as the reason for his attempt to kill President Ronald Reagen in 1981). The movie was set in a now familiar location, the seedy parts and locations of New York, with the main character being tormented by various emotional issues, almost being self-destructive. In fact, the movie was shot during a heat wave in New York, and at the time of a strike by garbage workers. The movie won critical acclaim, but also became controversial due to the violence (and in fact, Scorsese changed the colors of the ending, making the colors desaturated to try and reduce the impact of the violence).



The movie is set in the year 1976, the same movie as the year of release, and set in the period after the Vietnam War, where there were a large number of veterans out from the war, suffering through all kinds of emotional trauma. This is the story of one emotionally distraught person, 26 year old Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), who lives in Mahattan; he is not gainfully employed and covers that with his parents by claiming that he works for a government agencies where a lot of secrecy is required. In reality, he is lonely, out of work, and drives taxis in New York at night to cover his insomnia, and spends the days in porn theaters. To anybody who asks, he claims that he was a Marine during the Vietnam War, with a large VietCong flag and a scar as evidence.
He falls for a volunteer (Betsy (Cybill Shepherd)) for the election campaign of Senator Charles Palantine (Leonard Harris), who is running for President. He gets into the campaign office by offering to volunteer, and manages to get a coffee and movie date with Betsy, but blows up the romance by taking her to see a sex education movie, which offends her. She rejects his attempts after that. At around the same time, Bickle is getting more disgusted with the street crime that he sees around him, and starts to develop his body intensely. He also thinks about assassinating Senator Palatine, but drops the attempt when Secret Service agents notice him. At around this time, Iris (Jodie Foster), a 12 year old sex worker tries to use his cab to escape her pimp, but fails. When Bickle encounters her again, he gets focused on trying to save her from the clutches of her pimp Sport, and back to her parents. He gets him into more violence, including gunfire in which Bickle kills Sport (Harvey Keitel) and another customer of Iris.

Mean Streets (1973) - Directed by Martin Scorsese, and starring Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro and David Proval

In the early 1970's, young director Martin Scorsese was still struggling to make his mark. At that time, just after the release of 'Boxcar Bertha', Scorsese had started displaying his talent, but it was the release of 'Mean Streets' in 1973 that moved the director much ahead in his career as a director. The movie, starring Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro and David Proval, was made with the encouragement of directors such as John Cassavetes, Samuel Fuller, and Jean-Luc Godard, and was released by Warner Brothers. Based on his experience with Boxcar Bertha, Scorsese had learned how to make movies at low cost, and Mean Streets was also a low budget movie, costing only around $500,000. This was one of the first movies that Scorsese made after being told to make movies in the style he wanted rather than make movies for somebody else, and the movie established his signature style (macho men, lots of violence, emotions based on Catholic notions of guilt, and a soundtrack based on rock). The movie is set in a gritty location in New York, again like many of his other movies. Scorsese was originally planning to make the movie called as 'Season of the Witch', but he later changed this to 'Mean Streets', based on a line from author Raymond Chandler's novel 'The Simple Art of Murder'.



The movie was very close to Martin Scorsese, since this was based on events that he used to see everyday in the areas of New York in which he lived. The end result was a movie that earned critical acclaim, with movie critic Pauline Kael being very enthusiastic in support. The movie also earned De Niro an award (not an Oscar though) as Best Supporting Actor for his role as the destructive guy who increasingly heads towards destruction inspite of the efforts his friend Charlie. Charlie in turns plays the role of an Italian-American who is a wannabe mafia member, and who acts as a debt collector for his uncle Giovanni. He also has an ongoing affair with Teresa, who is Johnny Boy's (De Niro) cousin.
The meat of the movie is about the conflict that Charlie faces, with his devout Catholic faith (with its concepts of good vs. bad, redemption, and guilt) versus his ambitions of making it big in the mafia (in direct conflict to his Catholic faith). How does Charlie resolve this dilemma ?

Boxcar Bertha - Directed by Martin Scorsese (1972) - an early movie about a young girl into robbery

The late 60's and early 70's was the time when Martin Scrocese was making his initial movies, the time when he started to develop a reputation. It was a lesson for the young director, imparted by producer Roger Corman, who had helped other directors such as Coppola and James Cameron to also start their careers. Corman used to be able to guide directors to make movies that cost very little movies, and the same was true of this movie, Boxcar Bertha, which was made with a very low amount of 600,000 (a very low amount of money for a movie), and was a good lesson for Martin Scorcese. The movie is apparently based on a book called 'Sister of the Road', a biography of Bertha Thomson, who went onto to do train robbery at a time of the 1930's (written by Dr. Ben L. Reitman). However, the movie and the book were certainly different in terms of the story; with the movie being made to capitalize on the ongoing craze for movies in the 'Bonnie and Clyde' style. The movie, being depicted in the American South of the 1930's, you get a look at the prevalent issues related to the situation regarding racial differences, as well as issues related to gender.



The movie has as the main characters, Bertha Thompson (played by Barbara Hershey) and "Big" Bill Shelly (played by David Carradine). Bertha is a typical character of the depression era, an orphan, who was also a robber, being a typically charming woman, accompanied by 3 other members of her team, a union organizer (Bill), a con man from New York (Barry Primus) and a mechanic fond of the blues (Bernie Casey). Even though the movie is set in the 30's, you get a feel for the early 70's environment in the movie, with characters tending to adventurous, free spirited and criminal, but not more so than the tie-striped bankers and lawyers. The movie was worth watching because of the effort put in by Martin Scorsese, and these efforts are visible in the movie.

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (directed by Martin Scorsese) (released in 1974)

Martin Scorsese is a very famous director, famous for his style of making movies. His movie style was a combination of bloody violence, a lot of macho stuff, guilt and redemption (inspired by the Catholic background of his subjects) and locales based primarily in New York. However, Scorsese also shot a number of other movies, such as this movie - "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore". Released in 1974, it is one of his earlier movies, given that he shot his first full length movie in 1967 (I Call First). In 1972, Scorsese released "Boxcar Bertha" and then released "Mean Streets" soon after, and started getting noticed. He was then selected to make the next movie for the actress Ellen Burstyn, and he came up with this story of a central female character. In fact, Scorsese was selected on the basis of Francis Coppola's recommendation, to whom Ellen had gone to find a young director.
The collaboration went well, with Ellen liking the experience, calling it one of her best experiences in Hollywood. The movie recent overall positive critical acclaim, although some critics found that the story had various shortcomings. The movie did win an award at the Academy Awards:
Academy Award for Best Actress - Ellen Burstyn (won)
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress - Diane Ladd (nominated)
Academy Award For Best Original Screenplay - Robert Getchell (nominated)



The movie is the story of the adventures of a widow in her thirties, along with that of her pre-teen son as they move from her married town in New Mexico to her hometown of Monterey, California. Life changes for housewife Alice Hyatt when her trucker husband Donald dies in an accident, and she decides to try and resume the singing career she gave up when she married. She decides to leave, has a garage sale, and heads off towards Monterey. However, she has to temporarily halt in Phoenix Arizona and take up a job as a lounge singer since she is out of money. She has an affair with a younger man named Ben, when she sees the violent nature of Ben; Ben beats up his wife when the wife confronts Alice. Alice quickly departs along with her son Tommy.
She is still out of money, so accepts a job as a waitress in Tuscon to earn more money for their trip. She starts warming to the diners where she is a waitress, and also meets the divorced rancher David, who soon realizes that getting to be with Alice means that he should try to get close to Tommy first. Does this relationship succeed ? What about her wishes for her singing career ?