To be as accomplished and prolific a filmmaker as Martin Scorsese, you’d have to be as accomplished and prolific a filmgoer as Martin Scorsese. The Oscar-winning director would be the first to tell you that he is as much a student of movies as he is a creator, and he regularly shares his ever-growing list of essential films that he believes any true movie fan should see.
In 2012, Fast Company published an extensive interview with Scorsese in which he talked about his 85 movies “you need to see to know anything about film.” Meanwhile, in 2006, a young filmmaker named Colin Levy wrote to the filmmaker, asking for recommendations on where to start an education on foreign films. Scorsese responded with a list of almost 40 suggestions. And, of course, Scorsese shared even more of his favorite films with Sight & Sound magazine.
Each film he has mentioned is listed below, chronologically, so you can start your education at the Scorsese Film School as soon as possible.
1. The Infernal Cakewalk (1903)
2. Secrets of the Soul (1912)
3. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
4. Nosferatu (1922)
5. Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922)
6. Metropolis (1927)
7. Napoleon (1927)
8. The Power and the Glory (1933)
9. It Happened One Night (1934)
10. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
11. La Grande Illusion (1937)
12. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
13. Stagecoach (1939)
14. The Roaring Twenties (1939)
15. The Rules Of The Game (1939)
16. Citizen Kane (1941)
17. How Green Was My Valley (1941)
18. Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
19. Cat People (1942)
20. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
21. Rome, Open City (1945)
22. Children Of Paradise (1945)
23. Duel in the Sun (1946)
24. Gilda (1946)
25. A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
26. Paisan (1946)
27. Beauty & The Beast (1946)
28. The Lady From Shanghai (1947)
29. T-Men (1947)
30. I Walk Alone (1947)
31. The Red Shoes (1948)
32. Germany Year Zero (1948)
33. Force of Evil (1948)
34. La Terra Trema (1948)
35. Macbeth (1948)
36. Raw Deal (1948)
37. Bicycle Thieves (1948)
38. Caught (1949)
39. The Third Man (1949)
40. Stromboli (1950)
41. The Flowers of St. Francis (1950)
42. Gun Crazy (1950)
43. Night and the City (1950)
44. An American in Paris (1951)
45. The River (1951)
46. Ace in the Hole (1951)
47. The Magic Box (1951)
48. The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
49. Europa ’51 (1952)
50. Othello (1952)
51. Umberto D. (1952)
52. Ikiru (1952)
53. The Band Wagon (1953)
54. House of Wax (1953)
55. Julius Caesar (1953)
56. Pickup on South Street (1953)
57. Ugetsu (1953)
58. Tokyo Story (1953)
59. Dial M for Murder (1954)
60. Journey to Italy (1954)
61. Senso (1954)
62. Seven Samurai (1954)
63. Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
64. All that Heaven Allows (1955)
65. Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
66. The Searchers (1956)
67. Forty Guns (1957)
68. Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
69. Some Came Running (1958)
70. Touch of Evil (1958)
71. Vertigo (1958)
72. Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
73. Big Deal On Madonna Street (1958)
74. Shadows (1959)
75. The 400 Blows (1959)
76. Peeping Tom (1960)
77. Rocco and His Brothers (1960)
78. Shoot the Piano Player (1960)
79. Breathless (1960)
80. L’Avventura (1960)
81. The Hustler (1961)
82. One, Two, Three (1961)
83. Cape Fear (1962)
84. The Trial (1962)
85. Two Weeks in Another Town (1962)
86. Salvatore Giuliano (1962)
87. Il Sorpasso (1962)
88. America, America (1963)
89. Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
90. The Leopard (1963)
91. Shock Corridor (1963)
92. High and Low (1963)
93. 8½ (1963)
94. The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
95. Band of Outsiders (1964)
96. Before the Revolution (1964)
97. The Rise of Louis XIV (1966)
98. Blow-Up (1966)
99. Weekend (1967)
100. Faces (1968)
101. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
102. Death by Hanging (1968)
103. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
104. The Butcher (1970)
105. The American Friend (1970)
106. Klute (1971)
107. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
108. The Merchant of Four Seasons (1971)
109. The Godfather (1972)
110. M*A*S*H (1972)
111. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
112. The Conversation (1974)
113. Ali: Fear Eats The Soul (1974)
114. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)
115. The Messiah (1975)
116. Nashville (1975)
117. Kings of the Road (1976)
118. Apocalypse Now (1979)
119. The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
120. Health (1980)
121. Heaven’s Gate (1980)
122. Mishima (1985)
123. Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
124. Do the Right Thing (1989)
125. The Player (1992)
