A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies

"Film is a disease," admits director Martin Scorsese and no one working in Hollywood today is more happily infected. From the opening story, when Scorsese recounts his trip to see Duel in the Sun (popularly known as "Lust in the Dust") with his mother to his assessment of Barry Lyndon as "one of the most profoundly emotional" films he's ever seen, this personal journey is a fascinating study of iconoclastic directors from D.W. Griffith to Stanley Kubrick. Of particular note is Scorsese's superb examination of the evolution of three distinctly American film genres (westerns, gangster films and musicals) and how they gradually lost their innocence (much like America herself) exposing darker undercurrents which often mirrored societal concerns and contradictions. Filled with wonderful clips from the masters of American film (Wellman, Hawks, Penn, Wilder, Minnelli) as well as lesser known but highly influential filmmakers (such as Ida Lupino, Budd Boetticher, and Abraham Polonsky), this made-for-British television production is funny, nostalgic, insightful and endearing. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)