Every fan of movies should have a copy of Conversations with Scorsese on their bookshelf. Through a series of interviews, Schickel and Scorsese manage to explore the details of each of Scorsese’s films: from classics like Taxi Driver and Raging Bull to not-quite-successful movies like Shutter Island. In addition, Conversations with Scorsese can be read as a verbal autobiography as Scorsese talks about his childhood and the motives that led him into film making. Both Schickel and Scorsese love movies so many of the conversations center around the classic films they both love. These discussions analyzing great movies can be read as both a film history and an education in film criticism. Conversations with Scorsese is one of those books you’ll return to again and again. There’s wonder on every page! GRADE: A
Saw this in the NYT and it looked good. I guess he would not talk about SHUTTER ISLAND. I don’t remember the reviews as that harsh.
SHUTTER ISLAND ran into plenty of problems, Patti. Various delays and production problems hampered it. But, the big problem was that it cost a lot of money to make and it didn’t earn that much at the U.S. box office.
I used to read Schickel years ago and this one sounds good. Marty has made a lot of good movies.
Does he talk about WOODSTOCK?
Schickel manages to get Scorsese to talk about ALL his movies, Jeff, and most of the movie classics. Schickel is very clever and crafty about getting Marty to reveal facts about his movie failures as well as his succeses. This is just a brilliant book!
Unlike, say, Bogdanovich, Scorcese is a consistently engaged and keen-eyed artist, and I really should take a look at this at least. Though I’ve heard it’s a bit disappointing, I’ve been meaning to read Simon’s book on Bergman…and I read the Truffaut interview with Hitchcock so many years ago that most of it has faded…
You will love the interplay between Scorsese and Schickel, Todd. Both guys really know their movies.