Steven Spielberg Calls ‘Goodfellas’ Scorsese’s Best Film

Steven Spielberg has called “Goodfellas” his favourite Martin Scorsese movie. Maybe it’s my favourite as well, I don’t really know, but I have never been able to decide what’s Scorsese’s magnum opus. He has too many great ones.

If you had a gun pointed to my head, I still wouldn’t be able to tell you what’s Scorsese’s ultimate masterpiece: maybe it is in fact “Goodfellas,” or “Taxi Driver” or maybe “Raging Bull.” However, Spielberg clearly knows his.

“I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve experienced this epic cinematic masterpiece,” Spielberg wrote in a new essay for Variety. “It’s no longer a guilty pleasure to sit for 2 hours and 26 minutes,” Spielberg continued, “but rather a master class for any aspiring filmmaker who wants to see a breathtaking balancing act of multiple storylines, timelines, shocking violence and violent humour.”

I must have already mentioned this in a previous post, or maybe not, but in my world there are 10 essential Scorsese films that should be seen by every cinephile worth his meat: “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” “Goodfellas,” “Mean Streets,” “Casino,” “The King of Comedy,” “After Hours,” “The Age of Innocence,” “The Last Temptation of Christ,” “The Departed,” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.” That’s not even counting another ten or so great movies that I can add from his filmography.

Back in November, On the eve of his 80th birthday, The Guardian interviewed filmmakers to talk about Scorsese: the man, the myth, the legend. They also, in the process, decided to call him the “greatest director alive.” A bold statement, when bestowed on, really, any filmmaker. Maybe Scorsese does maybe deserve that title. Oddly enough, in the article, Woody Allen gets interviewed and also mentions “Goodfellas” as his favourite Scorsese.

The recent BFI Sight and Sound poll had “Taxi Driver” (#29) ranked as the highest Scorsese, followed closely behind by “Goodfellas” (#63). For some sacrilege reason, “Raging Bull” didn’t crack the top 100.