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Scorsese Shorts



This compilation of five early short films by Martin Scorsese offers a fascinating window onto his artistic development. Spanning the years from Scorsese's time at NYU in the mid-1960s to the late '70s, when he was emerging as one of the era's most electrifying talents, Scorsese Shorts centers on the intimate home movie Italianamerican—a loving snapshot of the director's parents—and American Boy, a freewheeling portrait of a larger-than-life raconteur. Also included are The Big Shave, a daringly visceral response to America's involvement in Vietnam, and the bracing student films What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? and It's Not Just You, Murray! Touching on many of Scorsese's key themes—Italian American identity, family, his beloved New York City—these are hilarious, candid, and illuminating works from the preeminent American filmmaker of our time.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New 4K digital restorations of all five films, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-ray
• New conversation between director Martin Scorsese and film critic Farran Smith Nehme
• New discussion among filmmakers Ari Aster and Josh and Benny Safdie
• More!
• PLUS: An essay by film critic Bilge Ebiri and various materials from Scorsese's archive

LightBulbFilm wrote:Well it has been mentioned by Turrel as being in the works. What are some of the possible shorts that could be included? We know of ItalianAmerican and The Big Shave already. Do you think Criterion will just release those like on the HVE VHS, or do you think they might release all of the short films they can get their hands on and pull something like the Brakhage set off?

I assume they'll wait to get their hands on another Scorsese film and release these as extras.

justeleblanc wrote:

LightBulbFilm wrote:Well it has been mentioned by Turrel as being in the works. What are some of the possible shorts that could be included? We know of ItalianAmerican and The Big Shave already. Do you think Criterion will just release those like on the HVE VHS, or do you think they might release all of the short films they can get their hands on and pull something like the Brakhage set off?

I assume they'll wait to get their hands on another Scorsese film and release these as extras.

Now why would you say that? Italianamerican runs 49 minutes, American Boy runs 55 minutes, Street Scenes runs 75 minutes... Of course some of these titles are just speculation, but if Criterion were to release Scorsese's shorts, they would release them seperately, especially Italianamerican. Not only was Italianamerican available on VHS with the big shave, but it really deserves it's own DVD. It's important enough to have a seperate release. I don't think Criterion would release multiple shorts on another Scorsese release as extras anyway.

Street Scenes would be a great bonus, but it's a stretch to consider it a short. Even without it, there's the potential for a very solid set built around Italian American and American Boy, plus the three 60s shorts, mile-a-minute commentaries and an interview about his very early filmmaking. This material fits together far better than it fits with any features they might acquire (in fact, is there anything that isn't already spoken for?).

What's the deal with these shorts listed on IMDB?

It's Not Just You, Murray! (1964)
What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (1963)
Vesuvius VI (1959)

patrick wrote:What's the deal with these shorts listed on IMDB?

It's Not Just You, Murray! (1964)
What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (1963)
Vesuvius VI (1959)

Those are student films. You can view What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? at YouTube as well as The Big Shave. They used to have It's Not Just You, Murray!, but Wild Side Films claims to own the copyright.

This wild side films seems to own a lot of films in the Criterion Collection. Can we expect to see all the Scorses they list on their DVD release come to the Criterion collection? American Boy, Italianamerican, What's a Nice Girl, The Big Shave, Murray....

It would be cool if Criterion were able to compile the various commercials and music videos (Michael Jackson's BAD), Scorsese has made over the years, even just for completists' sake.

Derek Estes wrote:It would be cool if Criterion were able to compile the various commercials and music videos (Michael Jackson's BAD), Scorsese has made over the years, even just for completists' sake.

What other videos did he do?

flyonthewall2983 wrote:What other videos did he do?

Just a couple of things for his pal Robbie Robertson. You can see a list of the videos and commercials he has done here. Here's his own AmEx commercial, and the DeNiro one he directed.

I imagine the content of the Criterion set will be very similar to the Wild Side set.

Does anyone think these will come from Eclipse?

Cinephrenic wrote:Does anyone think these will come from Eclipse?

I think Scorsese's too big of a name for them to put it on Eclipse. Yes, Ozu, Bergman, etc., are big names, too, but there's only one Scorsese in the collection thus far. His name alone will sell it, and if they can use his name to sell it, why not make more money?

Cinephrenic wrote:Does anyone think these will come from Eclipse?

I think, more than Scorsese's stature as a director, the fact that he's alive and willing to participate in some supplemental material will keep this in the Criterion line. I would be very surprised if Criterion didn't ask him to record commentaries or at least introductions for the films.

Besides that, I'm betting that, like the Wild Side set, it will include Italianamerican, American Boy, What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This, It's Not Just You Murray, and The Big Shave. That's only about two hours and fifteen minutes total. Even with a Scorsese introduction, it would easily fit on one disc, which precludes the possibility of it being an Eclipse title.

Jeff wrote:

Cinephrenic wrote:Does anyone think these will come from Eclipse?

I think, more than Scorsese's stature as a director, the fact that he's alive and willing to participate in some supplemental material will keep this in the Criterion line. I would be very surprised if Criterion didn't ask him to record commentaries or at least introductions for the films.

Besides that, I'm betting that, like the Wild Side set, it will include Italianamerican, American Boy, What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This, It's Not Just You Murray, and The Big Shave. That's only about two hours and fifteen minutes total. Even with a Scorsese introduction, it would easily fit on one disc, which precludes the possibility of it being an Eclipse title.

If Criterion were to release THE KING OF COMEDY, these could easily become bonus material.

justeleblanc wrote:If Criterion were to release THE KING OF COMEDY, these could easily become bonus material.

I don't see it happening. Criterion hasn't had anything to do with Fox for quite some time now. I suppose that they could have picked up Bringing Out the Dead from Paramount, but even if they did, I don't think that they would include these. The features they would fit best with are Who's that Knocking at My Door?, Boxcar Bertha, and Mean Streets, but none of those are available to Criterion. They could release Street Scenes as the main feature film, and include these on a second disc, but that doesn't seem likely to me either. Really, the five films that I mentioned earlier would sit kind of nicely together on their own, and I believe they would sell well, so why not release them that way. I'd call the set Italianamerican Boy: The Short Films of Martin Scorsese.

I think it'll probably be the stuff that's on the Wild Side release with (I hope) commentaries and maybe intros or something.

It would be amazing if it has Street Scenes as I've never seen it and it seems to be probably the rarest Scorsese film other than maybe Vesuvius VI (but I doubt that counts). Having something like Made in Milan would also be great (another Scorsese film I haven't seen).

perhaps Age of Innocence?

I like Jeff's idea a lot. His short films alone would make a terrific Criterion. Wouldn't commentaries by Marty on them make great features too, especially on The Big Shave?

2 other movies that could be included are It's Not Just You, Murray! and What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?

oldsheperd wrote:perhaps Age of Innocence?

Or the Color of Money, though I doubt it's possible with Cruise involved. Maybe Bringing Out the Dead?

I have to disagree in having these films alongside a feature. I think that to do this is to sideline the importance of Scorsese's shorts. Whilst it may make commercial sense I think that for Scorsese fans this will be an easy sell and there isn't that much in the way of features available to Criterion anyway.

What I would love to see are a few of the early shorts (pre-Big Shave). I have not had the chance to see any of these and would be fascinated to see their form and content.

A line up of something like this:

Vesuvius VI
What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?
It's Not Just You, Murray!
The Big Shave
Street Scenes
Italian American
American Boy: A profile of: Steve Prince
Michael Jackson's Bad
New York Stories segment: Life Lessons
Made in Milan

Ok, so, Bad and New York Stories (-which I found to be a bit bland) aren't really necessary but I think would make a nice addition for the completists. What I think Criterion will have over the Wild Side release is (hopefully) input from Scorsese himself, even if it is a short featurette on his early years and college filmmaking etc. plus I imagine there will be beaucoup essays.

On a side note I have collected a few short films here which includes two shorts by Scorsese.

FSimeoni wrote:I have to disagree in having these films alongside a feature. I think that to do this is to sideline the importance of Scorsese's shorts. Whilst it may make commercial sense I think that for Scorsese fans this will be an easy sell and there isn't that much in the way of features available to Criterion anyway.

I would buy them either way.

Life Lessons would be a great addition, unless the powers to be finally release New York Stories on DVD not in fullscreen.

Just for interest, apparently Kino (!) International is releasing 5 short films of Scorsese at the New Beverly Cinema here in L.A. Shorts are Italian American, American Boy, Big Shave, What's a Nice Girl Doing in a Place Like This?, and It's Not You, Murray!

Does this mean Criterion lost hope on these? Here's hoping no!

First Battleship Potemkin and now this? I never figured out Kino-Criterion's relationship. Are they just friends with benefits or what???