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Scorsese 1990s · Ranked

Best Scorsese Films of the 1990s, Ranked by IQ Score

The decade Scorsese's mature middle-career peaked. Every 1990s Scorsese film, ranked.

The 1990s is the decade Martin Scorsese's mature middle-career peaked. Goodfellas (1990) is widely cited as the canonical Scorsese gangster epic. The Age of Innocence (1993), Casino (1995), Cape Fear (1991), Bringing Out the Dead (1999) round out the decade.

Anchor picks: Goodfellas — the canonical Scorsese-De Niro-Pesci mob-epic. The Age of Innocence — Scorsese's most-disciplined non-gangster work and the film he repeatedly cited as his most-violent. Casino — Scorsese's most-formally-ambitious-late-period gangster epic.

5 titles · ranked by IQ Score

  1. 1
    Goodfellas poster — IQ Score 163/200 — Masterclass tier

    Goodfellas

    Masterclass crime, drama

    A mobster narrates his rise through organized crime. Educational about the mob structure. Cognitive engagement from the protagonist's charisma and self-awareness. Entertainment from the style and the violence.

    163/200
  2. 2
    The Age of Innocence poster — IQ Score 163/200 — Masterclass tier

    The Age of Innocence

    Masterclass drama, romance, period

    Scorsese's 1993 Edith Wharton adaptation — the film he repeatedly cited as his most violent because Gilded Age New York high society used social-exclusion mechanics rather than guns. Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer,…

    163/200
  3. 3
    Casino poster — IQ Score 161/200 — Masterclass tier

    Casino

    Masterclass crime, drama, epic

    Scorsese's 1995 Las Vegas crime epic that completes the trilogy Goodfellas and The Departed bracket. Robert De Niro's Sam 'Ace' Rothstein and Joe Pesci's Nicky Santoro renderings of mob-managed casino operations are stru…

    161/200
  4. 4
    Bringing Out the Dead poster — IQ Score 149/200 — Stimulating tier

    Bringing Out the Dead

    Stimulating drama, psychological

    Scorsese's 1999 Paul Schrader screenplay (their fourth collaboration after Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Last Temptation) anchored by Nicolas Cage as a burnt-out Manhattan paramedic. The film returns Schrader and Scorsese to…

    149/200
  5. 5
    Cape Fear poster — IQ Score 145/200 — Stimulating tier

    Cape Fear

    Stimulating thriller, drama

    Scorsese's 1991 remake of the 1962 J. Lee Thompson film, with Robert De Niro's Max Cady as one of the most fully-committed villain performances of the era. The film's IQ reflects pure craft (Freddie Francis cinematograph…

    145/200

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