The Film Threat audience voted, and 78% feel that this is the year Martin Scorsese finally wins that Academy Award. Instead of the standard retrospective of his well-known features, Film Threat looks back at Scorses’s short films from early in his career.
First up is “What’s a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?” This Scorsese short from 1963 tells the tale of Harry the writer, a single guy who moves into a new apartment and, in the course of decorating, gets himself a framed picture that he slowly becomes obsessive over.
Next up is his 1964 NYU short film, “It’s Not Just You, Murray.” Showcasing his power to set up and deliver memorable characters, the short wound up winning the 1964 Edward L. Kingsley Filmmaking Award. While strongly Scorsese, the ending is strictly Fellini, but see for yourself.
Ending our mini Martin Scorsese film festival is the more well-known, and for you color snobs, non-black and white 1967 short “The Big Shave,” in which a normal morning of shaving goes disgustingly off (if you can’t stand the sight of blood, fake or otherwise, don’t watch this film). Alternatively titled “Viet ’67,” the short was Martin Scorsese’s visceral reaction to the United States involvement in Vietnam. While the other shorts were all about character development, this one really highlights the more violent symbolism that would surface in Scorsese’s later feature films.
So there you have it, Film Threat’s Look Back at the Short Films of Martin Scorsese. Will “The Departed” finally bring him the Oscar gold he’s been deserving of for decades, or are we all going to be throwing furniture, food and other toss-able objects at our televisions when the 2007 Best Director Academy Award is announced? Dammit, Academy, give it to Marty. Eastwood doesn’t have much time left on this Earth, and he can’t take those trophies with him anyway…
