The Last Shot For Scorsese?

He’s one of the most well respected figures in the history of film

He’s won or been nominated for almost every possible award a director can garner.

He’s got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Still, there is one notable omission on Martin Scorsese’s legendary resume, one dusty void on his mantle. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has yet to recognize him with an Academy Award for Best Director.

Come February 25, Oscar needs to do the right thing and give Scorsese a statue. 

How is it possible that one of Hollywood most celebrated directors has never been given his industry’s top honor? At first glance, this is nothing short of a travesty. This is the man who introduced us to John Civello, Travis Bickle, Vince Lauria, Tommy DeVito, Max Cady and Nicky Santoro. In 2006, “The Departed” gave us Frank Costello, a ruthless South Boston gang lord brought to life with unapologetic cruelty by Jack Nicholson. With his latest, Scorsese is chasing gold for the sixth time.

His five previous nominations have come for “The Last Temptation of Christ”, “Gangs of New York”, “The Aviator”, “Raging Bull”, and “Goodfellas”, the last two already bona fide American classics. Of those five nominations, the biggest travesty came in 1990 with “Goodfellas”, the true story of mobster Henry Hill’s rise and fall. Unfortunately for Scorsese, “Dances With Wolves” steamrolled the competition taking seven statues, including a nod for director Kevin Costner. Yes, that’s right, Kevin Costner has an Oscar and Martin Scorsese doesn’t. In the other years he was nominated, Scorsese faced notably stronger competition in the category, going up against celebrated films like “Ordinary People”, “Rain Man”, “The Pianist” and “Million Dollar Baby”.

It should be noted that Scorsese is by no means the only famous director never to win a Best Director Oscar. Cecille B. DeMille (one nomination), Alfred Hitchcock (five), Robert Altman (five) and Stanley Kubrick (four) are just a few of the legendary auteurs snubbed by the Academy on multiple occasions. Even Orson Welles, who directed what is widely considered to be the greatest motion picture of all time, “Citizen Kane,” passed away without a gold statue.

Of course, when a director’s career spans over 40 years, there are going to be some duds along the way. “The King of Comedy” was the weakest of his collaborations with Robert DeNiro, and “Bringing Out The Dead” marked a career low. His last two efforts, “Gangs of New York” and “The Aviator” were critical successes, but felt pretentious, bloated and too long-winded for this critic. His risky projects also haven’t helped his chances with Oscar. “The Last Temptation of Christ” was rated the sixth most controversial movie of all time by Entertainment Weekly. And prior to the release of “Kundun”, which documented political oppression in Tibet, the Chinese government threatened to block ban all future Walt Disney Films if the movie was released.

Make no mistake, “The Departed” clearly marks Scorsese’s last, best shot at Best Director. With an A-list cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg and Nicholson, and local screenwriter William Monahan adding street cred, the movie arrived with sky-high expectations. But the film, which was partly filmed in Boston and clearly had the bloody fingerprints of Whitey Bulger all over it, was an unmitigated box office and critical victory for Scorsese. With a budget of $90M, the film took in a strong $26M during its opening weekend and went on to gross over $120M in North America, making it the top grossing movie of the director’s career. Scorsese also garnered some of his best reviews in years. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone deemed the movie “a new American crime classic,” while the Boston Globe’s Ty Burr, who I rarely agree with, called it“a relentlessly violent, breathtakingly assured piece of mean-streets filmmaking.”

Although there is stiff competition this year, there is no real clear-cut favorite heading into the ceremony. Other nominees this year include Clint Eastwood (“Letters from Iwo Jima”, two past Best Director Oscars), Stephen Frears (“The Queen”), Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu ("Babel"), and Paul Greengrass ("United 93”). The conventional wisdom is that Scorsese will go toe-to-toe with Inarritu for the honor. Frears may also put up a challenge for his insider’s account of the tension between Tony Blair and Queen Elizabeth II following the death of Princess Diana. Luckily for Scorsese the Academy is dying to award this movie, and with Helen Mirren looking like a lock for Best Actress, it won’t go home empty handed.

At press time, Scorsese is building some healthy momentum. He’s already taken best director honors from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globes), National Broadcast Critics Association, National Board of Review, and several regional film critic societies, including Boston. The most promising bellwether came last week, when the Directors Guild of America gave its top honor to Scorsese for the first time. The winner has gone on to get the Oscar the last three years. If Scorsese were to take the DGA and not the Oscar, something’s just not right.

Maybe, just maybe, the wind is blowing in the right direction for Scorsese to break through this year. This past Fall we saw Democrats finally take control of congress after 12 years of futility. Hell, even Peyton Manning got that ever-nagging monkey off his back by vanquishing the Patriots in the AFC Championship. After creating a modern mob classic that will likely stand the test of time, here’s hoping the Academy doesn’t wack Marty.

By Michael R. Ratty

michael_ratty@hotmail.com