The best Martin Scorsese movies comprise one of the greatest filmographies in history. Fellow "movie brat" Steven Spielberg may be the greater crowd-pleaser – and considerably more successful at the box office – but the director of GoodFellas, Raging Bull, The Departed, Taxi Driver and The Wolf of Wall Street has cemented his reputation as one of the greatest storytellers of his generation.
Now, with the director's latest movie, Killers of the Flower Moon, freshly arrived on Apple TV Plus, we've looked back through the 26 movies of his career so far, and ranked the best Martin Scorsese movies from worst to best. We've also explained where you can stream the films in the US, the UK and Australia.
It's an eclectic selection, featuring historical dramas, thrillers, musicals, and a single excursion into family-friendly territory. But again and again, his most memorable works have tended to put the spotlight on flawed men navigating morally ambiguous, criminal worlds – often in his native New York. The question is, which of this unique filmmaker's classics have we ranked number one? Read on to find out...
26. Boxcar Bertha (1972)
Where to stream: Pluto TV (with ads), Frevee (with ads) (US); available to rent and/or buy on select platforms, including Apple TV Plus, Amazon and YouTube (UK and Australia)
One of Scorsese’s earliest movies, Boxcar Bertha is the Bonnie and Clyde-esque story of a pair of train robbers-slash-lovers (played by Barbara Hershey and David Carradine) as they go on the run. Although it pre-dates Mean Streets (widely regarded as the director's first classic), this Roger Corman-produced outing shows off some of the talents that Scorsese would later hone to spectacular effect.
That said, watching Boxcar Bertha half a century after its original release, it's clear he hadn't yet found his directing mojo. So – while there's not really a weak link when it comes to Martin Scorsese movies – this is definitely one to file among the lesser entries in the director's filmography.
25. Kundun (1997)
Where to stream: N/A
We don’t really talk about Kundun… Scorsese’s depiction of the 14th Dalai Lama (the one we all know) and the plight of Tibet threw him into some hot water politically, and almost led to ties being severed between Disney and China’s leaders. Scorsese was banned from ever entering the country again, while Disney reportedly did a deal to open Shanghai Disneyland to patch things up.
Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner came to regret the whole affair. “The bad news is that the film was made," he said. "The good news is that nobody watched it.”
24. Who’s That Knocking at My Door (1967)
Where to stream: Available to rent and/or buy on select platforms, including Apple TV Plus, Amazon and YouTube (US, UK and Australia)
Part of Scorsese’s student project at NYU and his first ever movie, Who’s That Knocking at My Door was shot in 1967 in gritty black-and-white.
A young Harvey Keitel fronts the movie as J.R., a man who shuns his girlfriend when he learns she isn't a virgin as he'd previously believed. It's set in the Italian-American communities Scorsese grew up in, and the director explores the themes of Catholic guilt that have been a hallmark of his long career.
23. New York, New York (1977)
Where to stream: N/A
After the dark, bleak brilliance of Taxi Driver, few would have predicted where Scorsese went next. New York, New York stars Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro as a singer and saxophonist who embark on a romance as they chase fame, and was a considerable shift from the stony realism the director had become known for.
Scorsese had wanted to pay homage to the musical side of Hollywood, but the results drew mixed reviews from critics. The making of New York, New York coincided with the sharp end of Scorsese's troubles with cocaine, and production was a mess. The movie subsequently ran over budget and flopped at the box office.
22. Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
Where to stream: Paramount Plus (US); available to rent and/or buy on select platforms, including Apple TV Plus, Amazon and YouTube (UK); Disney Plus (Aus)
In the mid- to late-’90s, Nicolas Cage followed up Oscar-winning arthouse success on Leaving Las Vegas by turning action hero in The Rock, Con Air and Face/Off. This 1999 collaboration with Scorsese brought the actor back into more serious, dramatic territory – albeit with a supernatural edge.
In Bringing Out the Dead, Cage stars as Frank Pierce, an ambulance paramedic haunted by the patients he couldn’t save. As Pierce struggles to retain his sanity over three tumultuous and nightmarish evenings, Scorsese creates some epic shots depicting the paramedic's hallucinations, against the murky backdrop of New York’s Hell’s Kitchen.
21. The Color Of Money (1986)
Where to stream: Available to rent and/or buy on select platforms, including Apple TV Plus, Amazon and YouTube (US and UK); Disney Plus (Aus)
The Color of Money brings two screen icons together, as Paul Newman and Tom Cruise share the screen in the only sequel of Scorsese's career, a belated follow-up to 1961 Newman classic The Hustler. It's the tale of ageing pool wizard "Fast" Eddie Felson passing on his knowledge to a young pretender, though it's easy to see the real-world parallels as Hollywood legend Newman passes the baton on to Cruise.
Set in a pool hall, it’s all about learning the tips and tricks of the hustle. Scorsese is arguably more focussed on on potting balls than popping bad guys, but it's very ’80s, very hammy and very fun.
20. After Hours (1985)
Where to stream: Available to rent and/or buy on select platforms, including Apple TV Plus, Amazon and YouTube (US, UK and Aus)
Scorsese spent most of the 1980s working in New York, the city where he has made his finest work. After Hours, shot in the city’s SoHo district, has become known for being an integral part of cinema’s ‘yuppie nightmare’ genre. In simple terms, a yuppie nightmare is when a young professional comes under threat.
In this case, ordinary data entry worker Paul Hackett (An American Werewolf in London's Griffin Dunne) finds himself embroiled in a horror evening strung together by a series of unfortunate events. He’s invited to visit a girl he meets in a coffee shop and there lies the last normal part of his evening. The timeline quickly turns into one full of threats, assault, and kidnapping.
19. Hugo (2011)
Where to stream: Paramount Plus (US); available to rent and/or buy on select platforms, including Apple TV Plus, Amazon and YouTube (UK); Stan (Aus)
Martin Scorsese has never been known for making family movies, but Hugo is the exception – and a wonderful excuse for the director to express his love for the dawn of cinema.
Set in Paris in 1931, Hugo tells the story of the titular orphan (played by Asa Butterfield, who'd go on to star in Sex Education) living secretly in the Gare Montparnasse. While servicing the railroad station’s clocks, he uncovers a mystery regarding his late father (Jude Law) and discovers a mechanical automaton that sends him on a quest involving silent movie pioneer Georges Méliès (Ben Kingsley). It’s lightyears away from Scorsese’s usual style, as well as being his first foray into 3D, which was all the rage back in 2011 after the colossal success of the original Avatar.
18. The Age of Innocence (1993)
Where to stream: Mubi (US); available to rent and/or buy on select platforms, including Apple TV Plus, Amazon and YouTube (UK and Aus)
When it comes to Scorsese movies set in New York, we’re used to seeing the mean streets, mobs, and crime of the lower classes. With The Age of Innocence, Scorsese shows that whatever his protagonists' position in society, the Big Apple remains his playground.
The Age of Innocence is a tale of 19th century high society adapted from the novel of the same name by Edith Wharton. The story follows Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis), who – after marrying the safe but uninspiring May Welland (Winona Ryder) – becomes infatuated with the mysterious Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer). It's a movie that proves Scorsese’s ability to direct love as well as hate.
17. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
Where to stream: Netflix (US); available to rent and/or buy on select platforms, including Apple TV Plus, Amazon and YouTube (UK); Binge, Foxtel Now (Aus)
Following on from her iconic role in The Exorcist, Scorsese cast Ellen Burstyn in the titular role of Alice Hyatt. She clearly did a stellar job, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1975.
Alice is a widowed, single mother who embarks on a journey across the southwest US with her young son, in the hopes of becoming a famous singer, and winds up falling in love with a local rancher (Kris Kristofferson). The pace is slowed down and the emotion turned up as Scorsese steps away from his trademark stylistic violence. The result is a simple tale of a mother and her son trying to move on as best they can.
16. Silence (2016)
Where to stream: Paramount Plus, Fubo TV (US); StudioCanal Presents (UK); Foxtel Now (Aus)
Scorsese developed Silence for over 25 years, finally committing to make the movie after filming on The Wolf of Wall Street in 2013. Up to this point, Scorsese had also worked on The Last Temptation of Christ and Kundun, taking on themes of religion and struggles of faith.
In Silence, two Jesuit priests (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) travel to Japan to spread the Catholic faith in a time where such acts were punished. Scorsese clearly made the most of the quarter-century he spent developing the movie, and that's reflected as the film unfolds across nearly three hours of considered storytelling.
15. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
Where to stream: Available to rent and/or buy on select platforms, including Apple TV Plus, Amazon and YouTube (US, UK and Aus)
It's the gospel according to Martin, as Scorsese adapts the New Testament for the big screen. With Willem Defoe as Jesus and Harvey Keitel as Judas, it stirs up plenty of controversy along the way.
Indeed, Scorsese took some big risks with The Last Temptation of Christ, and was hit with plenty of criticism for depicting the Gospel in the way that he saw fit, depicting Jesus as a flawed man struggling to spread his teachings.
14. The Aviator (2004)
Where to stream: Fubo TV (US); available to rent and/or buy on select platforms, including Apple TV Plus, Amazon and YouTube (UK); Binge (Aus)
You’ll start to notice a trend as we head into to the upper echelons of our list of the best Martin Scorsese movies, as Leonardo DiCaprio becomes his most frequent collaborator – much as Robert De Niro was in the first half of the director's career.
In DiCaprio's second Scorsese outing (after Gangs of New York), the Titanic star plays infamous filmmaker, businessman, aviator and – eventually – recluse Howard Hughes, in a sumptuous biopic set during Hollywood's golden age.
Lauded for being an honest representation of a man struggling to cope with his meteoric rise in fame, and affected by his own mental health issues, The Aviator is a great representation of why Scorsese and DiCaprio have become one of Hollywood's most reliable partnerships.
13. Shutter Island (2010)
Where to stream: MGM Plus, Paramount Plus, MGM Plus; Netflix (UK); Stan (Aus)
You won’t know whether you’re up or down once you’ve visited the remote asylum of Shutter Island in this impressive adaptation of Dennis Lehane's 2003 novel.
US Marshall Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) travels to the eponymous hospital for the criminally insane to investigate the escape of a woman who drowned her own children. Scorsese keeps you wondering what's real and what's not throughout, in a neo-noir psychological thriller that frequently teeters on the brink of full-on horror.
12. Cape Fear (1991)
Where to stream: Starz (US); BBC iPlayer (UK); Paramount Plus, Foxtel Now (Aus)
Scorsese remakes a 1962 crime classic, with Robert De Niro and Nick Nolte taking on roles originally played by Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck – both of whom cameo here.
De Niro plays convicted rapist Max Cady, released from prison after 14 years and out to avenge himself on Sam Bowden (Nolte), the lawyer who defended him in court. De Niro is utterly chilling as Cady terrorises Bowden and his family, in a gripping and taut thriller. The film was memorably homaged in "Cape Feare", one of our best Simpsons episodes, in which a vengeful Sideshow Bob sets out to kill Bart.
11. The King of Comedy (1982)
Where to stream: Hulu (US); Disney Plus (UK); Disney Plus, Mubi (Aus)
Once again, Robert De Niro takes on the lead role for Scorsese, but he'd never before played anyone quite like desperate stand-up comedian Rupert Pupkin, a man totally obsessed with fame and the idea of appearing on a late night TV talk show.
More than four decades after its original release, The King of Comedy remains a remarkably prescient satire on fandom, celebrity culture and the quest for fame at all costs. As Pupkin plots with fellow fan Masha (Sandra Bernhard) to kidnap TV star Jerry Langford (played by real-life comedian Jerry Lewis), he sets himself on an unstoppable descent into chaos. The result is a movie that's sometimes painful to watch, but masterful in its execution.
The King of Comedy was also a major influence on Joker, one of our best superhero movies.
10. The Irishman (2019)
Where to stream: Netflix (US, UK and Aus)
Financed to the tune of a whopping $160 million budget by Netflix, Scorsese was finally able to shoot a movie he’d been planning for more than a decade. The director used the cash to tell the story of hitman Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) and his decades working within the Buffalino crime family, and for teamster union boss Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino).
That mega-budget allowed Scorsese to unite regular collaborators De Niro, Joe Pesci and Harvey Keitel with The Godfather legend Pacino, as (sometimes questionable) de-ageing VFX allowed them to play their respective characters at different stages of their lives. Not as great as the standout Scorsese mafia classics that top our list, perhaps, but The Irishman is still a hugely impressive piece of work.
9. Gangs of New York (2002)
Where to stream: Max (US); Lionsgate Plus, Starz (UK); Foxtel Now (Aus)
It’s 1862 and the roost that is New York is ruled by warring gangs, Irish Catholics, and American Protestants hell-bent on taking each other out in some incredibly gory ways. After his father is stabbed to death, Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio) swears revenge on the killer – Bill ‘The Butcher’ Cutting.
Still fresh off Titanic, DiCaprio was king of the world when Scorsese cast him for the first time, but the standout performance in Gangs of New York belongs to The Age of Innocence star Daniel Day-Lewis as the chaotic, terrifying and unbelievably violent Cutting.
8. Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
Where to stream: Apple TV Plus (US, UK and Aus)
For the second film in a row, Scorsese is bankrolled by one of the best streaming services, with Apple TV Plus picking up the tab for a powerful adaptation of David Grann's non-fiction book of the same name. Telling the true story of the Osage people murdered for their oil in 1920s Oklahoma, Scorsese puts the spotlight on a shameful moment in American history, directing with sensitivity and restraint.
With a running time just short of three-and-a-half hours, Killers of the Flower Moon is a long, sprawling affair, but also gripping from start to finish. The film's notable for bringing Scorsese mainstays Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio together on screen, but the movie is stolen from under their noses by a memorable and heartbreaking performance from Golden Globe-winner Lily Gladstone.
7. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Where to stream: Paramount Plus, Peacock Premium (US); Netflix (UK); Prime Video (Aus)
Scorsese teams up with Leonardo DiCaprio for the fifth time, and this dramatisation of the true story of stockbroker and financial criminal Jordan Belfort may just be the best of their collaborations
Coming in at almost three hours long, The Wolf of Wall Street follows a similar structure to Casino and GoodFellas, as Scorsese has fun with Belfort's excessive lifestyle and rise to the top, before bringing everything crashing down to earth with a massive, drug-fuelled thud. It's also the movie that launched Barbie’s Margot Robbie on the path to Hollywood stardom.
6. Casino (1995)
Where to stream: Paramount Plus, Starz (US); Prime Video (UK); Prime Video (Aus)
What happens in Vegas? Scorsese reunites his GoodFellas dream team of Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, and also takes Sharon Stone and James Wood on this memorable trip to Sin City.
Casino operator Sam Rothstein (De Niro) does his best to manage a gambling empire while falling for former prostitute Ginger McKenna (Stone), and negotiating a complicated friendship with mobster Nicky Santoro (Pesci). Despite some obvious narrative similarities it's not quite as good as GoodFellas itself – but hey, what is?
5. The Departed (2006)
Where to stream: Available to rent and/or buy on select platforms, including Apple TV Plus, Amazon and YouTube (US and UK); Netflix, Binge, Foxtel Now (Aus)
Scorsese remakes 2002 Hong Kong hit Infernal Affairs, and belatedly wins himself the Best Director Oscar he was denied for GoodFellas and Raging Bull. Even though The Departed isn't quite top-tier Scorsese, there's no question it's up there with the best crowd-pleasers of the director's glittering career.
In this high-concept cop drama, cop Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) goes undercover with the Boston mafia. Meanwhile, mob mole Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) works for the police while supplying information to his boss, Frank Costello (a wonderfully over-the-top Jack Nicholson). The result is a twisty, high stakes game of cat-and-mouse (or, rather, cat-and-cat) that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. It also features a brilliant, Academy Award-nominated performance from Mark Wahlberg as the angry – and very sweary – Staff Sergeant Dignam.
4. Mean Streets (1973)
Where to stream: Available to rent and/or buy on select platforms, including Apple TV Plus, Amazon and YouTube (US and UK); Paramount Plus (Aus)
Mean Streets is Scorsese's first classic and the film where his career started to build critical momentum. It's certainly a considerable step up from previous movies Boxcar Bertha and Who's That Knocking at My Door, though the director did take Harvey Keitel, his leading man from the latter, along from the ride. This is also the first film in his enduring partnership with Robert De Niro.
Mean Streets is a tale of mafiosos in Little Italy, where petty criminal Charlie (Keitel) fights to protect his friend, Johnny Boy (De Niro), after he finds himself in deep water with sinister loan sharks. Torn between his Catholic faith and working for his mob boss uncle, he struggles to find the balance between conflicting values – a theme that has cropped up repeatedly throughout Scorsese's career.
3. Taxi Driver (1976)
Where to stream: Available to rent and/or buy on select platforms, including Apple TV Plus, Amazon and YouTube (US and UK); Binge, Paramount Plus (Aus)
Disillusioned with society, Vietnam veteran Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) drives the dirty, violent streets of 1970s New York City, filled with a deep-set rage. His fury and hatred for the rich who ride in his cab leads him to assassination attempts on both a presidential candidate and a pimp.
Lead actors Robert De Niro and Cybill Shepherd both agreed to take pay cuts for this low-budget movie, and they deliver outstanding performances throughout. It's an uneasy, often brutal watch, but stands up as one of the best Martin Scorsese movies of them all.
2. Raging Bull (1980)
Where to stream: Prime Video, MGM Plus (US); MGM (Aus)
Yet another collaboration with Robert De Niro, sports biopic Raging Bull tells the true story of champion boxer Jake LaMotta, whose personal demons lead to the breakdown of his personal relationships, his arrest, and – bizarrely – a stand-up comedy career.
Scorsese was initially reluctant to work on the story, but after developing the script alongside De Niro and Taxi Driver screenwriter Paul Schrader, he crafted a bona fide classic. Shooting the film in gorgeous black-and-white and soundtracking key moments with opera classics, the director finds artistry in the most brutal of sports. De Niro also won an Oscar for his performance, for which he famously gained 60lbs to play the older, overweight LaMotta.
1. GoodFellas (1990)
Where to stream: Available to rent and/or buy on select platforms, including Apple TV Plus, Amazon and YouTube (US); Sky, Now (UK); Netflix, Foxtel Now, Stan (Aus)
“As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster…” Even as mobster Henry Hill watches his friends shoot and stab a soon-to-be corpse in the trunk of their car, Ray Liotta’s voiceover gives seedy organised crime a thrilling and entertaining edge.
Charting decades of mafia life through Hill’s eyes, Scorsese’s career-defining drama is a violent, sweary, frequently funny rollercoaster ride that finds the humanity in men who wouldn’t think twice about killing anyone who looks at them a bit funny. In a career packed with bona fide classics – he even recycled the GoodFellas formula in the nearly-as-good Casino and The Wolf of Wall Street – this crime drama is arguably the masterpiece in a career defined by classics. The best Martin Scorsese movie? We think so.
