I had to get my Dad to take me to the cinema to see this as I was only 16 when it was released and the local ABC was being extra vigilant about kids sneaking in to see the film.
The film wasn’t a disappointment when I went to see it (and my Dad loved it too). This is one of the greatest celebrations of director’s cinema since the time of Orson Welles. Every great cinematic trick is here, the cutting is fast and furious, the camera swoops and twirls.
The performances are brilliant, the script is great and the photography is amongst the best ever done. However, this is Scorsese’s film and it’s the film he’d been leading up to his whole career. More than a film about mobsters, this is a film about mobsters and movies.
Scorsese is high on cinematic art while his characters are high coke, violence and treachery. The film is modern classic, a masterpiece, it’s also a musical.
Sadly, Scorsese has never reached this high again, or found a subject that so fitted his vicious, magic, cinematic eye.
So, 90 films to go!
Matthew Cooper has written for Emmerdale, Eastenders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs. He was winner of the first ever Lloyds Bank Channel Four Film Challenge and the Oscar Moore Screenplay Prize. His first short film starred a then unknown Ewan McGregor and was picked up by Channel Four when Matthew was 19 years old. He’s been a script writer for hire and filmmaker for hire for over 20 years.