Every Martin Scorsese Movie, Ranked
Updated May 2023 to add Killers of the Flower Moon and Personality Crisis.
Is Martin Scorsese the greatest living director? He's certainly one of the very few who has a perfect record of green Metascores, receiving positive reviews for every single film he has directed—even though that film count has now surpassed 30. The average Metascore for films he has directed is above 78, another impressive mark.
In the gallery above, we rank every full-length feature that Scorsese has directed in his career by Metascore, ordered from worst (i.e., least terrific) to best.
Note: Short films are excluded, as are the 1970 documentary rarity Street Scenes (considered by many to be a short, though it's nearly feature length) and 1995's longform doc A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (which aired as a portion of an even longer miniseries).
Scorsese's underrated 1982 black comedy thriller—written by film critic Paul Zimmerman and originally set up for director Bob Fosse, who dropped out to direct Star 80—was perhaps ahead of its time. Robert DeNiro plays a struggling (and mentally unhinged) stand-up comedian who is rejected for a spot on a late night talk show. Rather than take no for an answer, he stalks the show's host (Jerry Lewis, successfully playing against type) and kidnaps him—a move that indeed launches him to fame.
“The King of Comedy ... brilliantly keeps viewers unmoored, the result of its consistently off-kilter tone. Though filled with sight gags and corny jokes, the movie is also darkened by genuine menace.” —Melissa Anderson, Village Voice