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.

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.

3 titles · ranked by IQ Score

1

Mean Streets

Masterclass crime, drama, indie

Scorsese's 1973 Little Italy film that defined his American-Catholic moral architecture for the next half-century. Harvey Keitel's Charlie and De Niro's Johnny Boy operate inside the religious-guilt-as-criminal-economy r…

162/200
2

Taxi Driver

Stimulating drama, thriller

A Vietnam vet drives a taxi in New York and becomes obsessed with rescuing a prostitute. Educational about PTSD and urban alienation. Cognitive engagement from the protagonist's descent into violence. Entertainment from…

158/200
3

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Stimulating drama, indie

Scorsese's 1974 Ellen Burstyn vehicle — she won the Oscar for the role of a recently-widowed mother taking her son cross-country in search of her old singing career. Scorsese's most direct engagement with female-protagon…

153/200

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