Mabuse

1970s Boxcar Bertha (1972) ·Mean Streets (1973) ·Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) ·Taxi Driver (1976) ·New York, New York (1977)

1980s Raging Bull (1980) ·The King of Comedy (1983) ·After Hours (1985) ·The Color of Money (1986) ·The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) ·New York Stories (segment "Life Lessons", 1989)

1990s Goodfellas (1990) ·Cape Fear (1991) ·The Age of Innocence (1993) ·Casino (1995) ·Kundun (1997) ·Bringing Out the Dead (1999)

2000s Gangs of New York (2002) ·The Aviator (2004) ·The Departed (2006)

2010s Shutter Island (2010) ·Hugo (2011) ·The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

While Goodfellas and Taxi Driver are my favorite of his films the output of the 1980s is phenomenal, experimental, fearless.

Ash Ketchum

This is a good one to ponder. While GOODFELLAS is arguably his best movie and he had a good run there in the '90s with CAPE FEAR, AGE OF INNOCENCE and KUNDUN, the 1970s stand out for the sheer creative genius of MEAN STREETS and TAXI DRIVER and the boldness and audacity of those films and his other '70s movies. From MEAN STREETS on, those movies really meant something to audiences and spurred a lot of discussion, even ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE and NEW YORK, NEW YORK. His first feature to get a major release, BOXCAR BERTHA, didn't strike the same sparks because it wasn't as widely seen or covered by the major critics and no one knew who Scorsese was yet, but for me, since I saw that one first, it marked Scorsese as someone to keep an eye on. And then MEAN STREETS came out a few months later. Other than GOODFELLAS, the '90s films, while good, didn't have the same kind of impact. So I voted for the '70s.

TomOpus

70's

inri222

1970s for 2 of his best : Mean Streets & Taxi Driver

PopcornTreeCt

Whichever decade had Taxi Driver.

jfoobar

1980s for me. Raging Bull may be his finest film and my personal favorite of his, as in if I could only have one Scorsese DVD on a deserted island, is The Color of Money.

Jules Winfield

I think it's 80's for me also. Love Raging Bull but two of my favorite films from Scorsese come from the 80's: The King of Comedy and After Hours. I think I would choose those movies over any others of his besides Taxi Driver and Goodfellas.

P.S.-Still haven't seen The Color of Money.

dekker

This is a tough choice. I really like Taxi Driver and Mean Streets. But I have to vote for the eighties. Scorcese had a great run there- Raging Bull, King of Comedy, After Hours, Color of Money...even Last Temptation of Christ had its moments. And Life Lessons was the best segment of New York Stories.

Mondo Kane

I was about to pick 70's based mostly on my love for Taxi Driver,Mean Streets and even ADLHA (Very underrated, IMO) But NY,NY is such a big blemish. Hated that movie.

Ended up going with the 80's.

IIG

The 1990s. Scorsese has the greatest resume ever though, bar none. It's even more incredible when listed out by decade like that.

cleaver

I thought Raging Bull was 70s and Goodfellas 80s, this is so tough. Went 80s preferring the non Raging Bull movies to the non Goodfellas movies, with Raging Bull and Goodfellas canceling each other out.

RagingBull80

This is a tough one.

My three favorite Scorsese films (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull & Goodfellas) are all from three different decades. Had two of them come out in the same decade I would have chosen whichever period it would have been.

I'm going to have to think on this one.

Hokeyboy

Harder than one might think, isn't it? TAXI DRIVER is his masterpiece (IMO) and one of my Top 10 favorite movies, and MEAN STREETS ain't no slouch either. But the 80s has RAGING BULL, THE KING OF COMEDY, and THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST. Even if AFTER HOURS is a lesser film, it's a damn good one. Plus it has Cheech & Chong in it.

I think I might have to give it to the 80s based on consistency alone.

superdeluxe

Close but I went with 90's. Goodfellas and Cape Fear are two of my favorite movies.

inri222

Yes it is.

BambooLounge

This is tough, but for me, two of my three favorite Scorsese films happened in the 70s and while, it's not one of them, I think New York, New York is grossly underrated and probably the most daring film of Scorsese's career.

I think after Gangs of New York there has been a clear break in the type of director Scorsese is choosing to be. He has often mentioned in interviews how he admires the way directors in old Hollywood would work, being able to make genre pictures in different genres.

I think post-Gangs of New York, he has begun to try to have a career in that mold. The Aviator is very much an old school big Hollywood biopic, The Departed is the closest we've seen to a 30s WB Gangster flick since the 30s, Shutter Island is a very Val Lewton-esque gothic horror. He had dabbled with this in the past with his remake of Cape Fear and the costume drama Age of Innocence.

Hugo, in what I view to be a glorious return to personal filmmaking for Scorsese, broke this trend as he found another subject as personal to him as his story of growing up (Mean Streets) or the allegory for his personal and professional failure around the time of New York, New York (Raging Bull), to get him to make a personal film again...the subject being film preservation and film history.

Obviously, I worship at the altar of Scorsese, so this was really hard, but I always enjoy his personal and more inventive work slightly more than the rest and the 70s has more than one work of this kind whereas the other decades generally have only 1 such work, if that.

lamphorn

I honestly don't know which way to go. The contrarian in me wants to go with 2000's for The Aviator and Gangs of New York because I did like them a lot.. but other favorites of mine are Taxi Driver, The Age of Innocence, and Goodfellas. The sad thing I'm realizing is that I haven't seen most of his 80's output. Never saw King of Comedy, NYNY, Color of Money, After Hours... Hmmmmmmmm... hm. Yeah, don't know. What I do know is I need to see more Scorsese movies.

dhmac

1976 thru 1985

(technically speaking, given that a decade is any 10-year span of time)

inri222

EddieMoney

I picked the '70s, but they're all good. What a beast.

zekeburger1979

1970's for me since it's the only decade where he directed two masterpieces (Mean Streets and Taxi Driver). The 1980's, 1990's, and 2000's have one masterpiece each (Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and The Departed respectively). None so far this decade.

Oliver Clothesoff

this is what I would say too. 70s overall is his best decade, but After Hours/King of Comedy are my top 2 Scorsese movies.

bunkaroo

I had to say 90s just because of GoodFellas. That is THE Scorsese film for me. I am also a big fan of the Cape Fear remake. Casino seems like GoodFellas warmed over but it's not without some good points.

I am embarrassed to admit I have still never seen Raging Bull. I have the Blu-ray and have had it for sometime - just haven't gotten around to it.

JumpCutz

I have to disagree with your assessment of The Departed. It's far from a masterpiece.

CloverClover

90s is the best without a doubt, it is where his talent, power in hollywood and growth as an artist all came together. Everything he did was a masterpiece.