Scorsese 1970s · Ranked
Best Scorsese Films of the 1970s, Ranked by IQ Score
The decade Scorsese became Scorsese. Every 1970s Scorsese film, ranked.
The 1970s is the decade Martin Scorsese established the canonical American auteur catalog he extended for the next 50 years. Mean Streets (1973) was the breakthrough. Taxi Driver (1976) made him a major filmmaker. Raging Bull (released 1980 but technically 1970s production) closed the decade with what's widely cited as his canonical masterwork.
Anchor picks: Taxi Driver (1976), Travis Bickle, Bernard Herrmann's final score, the canonical Scorsese-De Niro collaboration. Mean Streets (1973), the founding text of the catalog. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), the rare female-protagonist Scorsese.
4 titles · ranked by IQ Score
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Questions about this ranking
What is the best Scorsese film of the 1970s?
By IQ Score on TV Intelligentsia, Taxi Driver (1976, 158) is the canonical 1970s Scorsese entry. Mean Streets (1973, 162) was the breakthrough. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974, 153) is the rare female-protagonist work.
Why is the 1970s considered Scorsese's foundational decade?
The 1970s is when Scorsese established every structural commitment that would define his catalog for the next 50 years: Catholic-moral cognitive architecture, rock-soundtrack-as-narrative engine, De Niro collaboration, New York-cinematic specificity, working-class-and-criminal moral material taken seriously.
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