The Films of Martin Scorsese, 1978-99 : Authorship and Context II

A detailed, theoretically attuned analysis of all of the Scorsese-directed features from The Last Waltz to Bringing Out the Dead. Grist illuminates Scorsese's authorship, but also reflects back upon a range of informing contexts. Martin Scorsese is one of the world's great filmmakers, and a genuine auteur. A follow up to The Films of Martin Scorsese, 1963-77, this book covers his work from The Last Waltz to Bringing Out the Dead. Central is the detailed, theoretically informed discussion of all of the Scorsese-directed features released during this period, which, for Scorsese, was marked by both considerable artistic achievement and a shifting and at times uncertain relationship with the Hollywood film industry. Filmic discussion is correspondingly situated in relation to a range of forces and developments - institutional, but also of larger historical reference - that shape the films and Scorsese's authorial discourse. Another stimulating demonstration of sustained textual analysis, The Films of Martin Scorsese, 1978-99 presents an extended critical affirmation of the continuing pertinence of the concept of film authorship and illuminates Hollywood cinema from the late 1970s to the turn of the millennium. Like its predecessor, the book is about authorship and context. Discussion of the films is founded upon a combination of formal, psychoanalytic, and ideological approaches Front Matter....Pages i-viii Evolving Authorship, Developing Contexts: ‘Life Lessons’....Pages 1-20 Scorsese and Documentary: The Last Waltz....Pages 21-38 Masculinity, Violence, Resistance: Raging Bull....Pages 39-67 Back to Travis #1: The King of Comedy....Pages 68-89 Adventures in Reagan and Bush Sr’s USA: The Color of Money and GoodFellas....Pages 90-121 Yuppies in Peril: After Hours and Cape Fear....Pages 122-152 Religion, Blasphemy and the Hollywood Institution: The Last Temptation of Christ....Pages 153-182 Style, Narrative, Adaptation: The Age of Innocence....Pages 183-211 Power and the Look: Casino....Pages 212-242 Cinema of Transcendence, Cinema as Transcendence: Kundun....Pages 243-271 Back to Travis #2: Bringing Out the Dead....Pages 272-300 Conclusion: ‘Of course, there’s less time ...’....Pages 301-310 Back Matter....Pages 311-357