Sit Back and Enjoy the Show

“Better to be a king for a night than a schmuck for a lifetime.” 

- Rupert Pumpkin 

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Due to his level of importance, I was more than willing to forego my player comparison for Scorsese. He is a legend that obviously is still producing things at a high level. He is dangerously protective of his art form and not only has a signature style, but one that has evolved and influenced throughout his career (more influential at the early stages though). He also has a history of getting to the upper echelon of a given year and either being slighted or, sometimes martyred for his film. Except that one time when he won. Not for his best, but for a good movie nonetheless. However, unlike players, when this happened, he didn’t leave/retire, he just stopped caring about what you thought. 

For a bit, it was going to be Greg Maddox. His pinpoint control and utter dominance of a decade with the one title had me thinking that he might be the call. However, he doesn’t have the mystique or the personality behind the discipline to really pull it off. I then shifted to Pedro Martinez who was equally innovative and dominant. He also won a title when it wasn’t really about him but more about timing. But Pedro wasn’t as disciplined as Marty and he didn’t care as much when he was finished with the state of the discipline. I even went back to Wade Boggs who personified the old school nature, especially when it was said he would put back 30 beers a night but go on and do it again the next night. He was disciplined in his pregame meal and had the old school feel. He even had to sell his soul a bit for his title, which isn’t exactly how The Departed won, but it did represent that his best wasn’t ever fully recognized. (The Canadian in me also considered Ray Bourque for a similar thing - odd that it used to be that Boston’s best had to leave town for their title.)

I’m sure I will be sitting on a beach in Thailand in a few months when the real answer will hit me - but I’ll save that article for then. Because one of the things that Scorcese has that none of those do is the selfish fact that I got to watch them all and make my own opinions in a safe space. I can’t say the same about Scorcese. 

When you are first getting into Film (and I meant the capital letter), there are certain cliches that seem to have to exist. You have to have already loved movies and be curious about how they are made. You have to have a hook that gets you into being obsessive that later on you justify by saying things like “sure, it’s not a great movie/series, but when I first watched it I was young and…” to clarify to others that you don’t ACTUALLY think it’s good, even though you also super secretly will defend it until you die. But the facet of film nerdom that is also essential, is you have to dip back to some classics. Both classic films, and classical eras. This is dangerous as your palette is still very much forming and you don’t really know what you like yet (or you can’t articulate it), you just know you want to see “the best”. The issue is that often the best is repeated, mimicked and dissected so that by the time you get there - you already know if you’re supposed to like it, love it, or revere it as the best thing you have seen. The tropes have been pulled and you feel as though you know the movie as you are watching it. This is the worst possible way to see a movie. And this is how I first watched Goodfellas. 

To be fair, I had seen scenes on TBS that had more bleeps or plot holes that I never got through more than ten minutes. I had also watched Animaniacs enough that I had a full understanding of the PG version of these kinds of stories. So when I watched it, I knew some of the key scenes. I knew Joe Pesci wasn’t a clown who was meant to amuse me (even though no one straddles the line between amusing me and striking me with realistic and off putting fear like he does), I knew that it was hard (and a big deal) to have one camera shot go a long time and weave between inner workings of the back of house of a restaurant, and I knew that Henry Hill always wanted to be a gangster. So when I watched it on VHS (yes - I’m that old) I was a cocky know it all that didn’t want to let on to my friends that I hadn’t actually watched it all the way through before. I also didn’t know some of the key plot twists (mainly involving life lessons about walking first into a room with a tarp already down), so I feel like they eventually figured it out. But that doesn’t matter. To a teen - perception isn’t just reality, it’s literally your entire life. 

To be clear - Goodfellas is a great movie and one of my favorites. BUT it isn’t my favorite. And a lot of that has to do with how I watched it for the first time. I left thinking…. Sure. It was fine. I “figured out the plot” right away (I put that in air quotes as one of the other things you have to start doing if you want to be a film nerd is not just be obsessed with plot all the time…. But as a teen… it’s kinda hard not to), I knew the iconic lines and, like most Scorcese movies, it didn’t make me feel great about myself. I pretended that it was the greatest movie of its time and talked about camera angles, needle drops and framing to anyone who would listen to me (or… maybe just to myself). But just like many of the pivotal moments you look forward to in your life - I was left unsatisfied and thought something might be wrong with me. 

This was my relationship with Marty’s movies for much longer than I care to admit. I always knew they were good - but I didn’t always like watching them. In fact, I can say that it took me a while to start enjoying them. Part of that relates to his ability to show us at our worst in a way that actually makes it feel normal. The other part is that I would walk into his movie already thinking that I had to like or I was wrong. This would eventually change, but it’s also why rewatching movies like Taxi Driver or King of Comedy is a much more enjoyable experience now than it was during my “education” period. I know that what he is communicating is so intertwined with his “how” and his “why” that you really just need to let it sit with you as you digest. He also just puts really cool shit up there with loud and awesome music - which is … fun.. And kinda why movies are great. Oddly enough, even though he is so sophisticated and takes on the discipline and its history with such purpose and conviction - it’s once you stop taking him so seriously that you can actually not only enjoy it - but actually begin to appreciate him and his work. 

So .. ya. I didn’t have a player who mimicked that very personal response in me. I suppose it would be like if I was suddenly able to watch Mays or Ruth play now. I would have to pretend I hadn’t seen anyone make a diving catch or hit home runs before - but then get over myself - and just enjoy watching someone who changes their medium by doing things in such a way that everyone else wants to be like them for generations to come. THEN I would hopefully have the awareness to just sit down and watch them play. Allow myself to enjoy the excellence and the simplicity mesh together without overthinking it. Because that’s why I love baseball - and why I love movies. 

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If you want to listen to the podcast that helped me fuel by revisiting of Scorsese movies, go to the podcast section or just click here for the Spotify link.

Other Media Consumed:

Rewatchables: The Departed, The Re-Departed, The Color of Money, 

The Wolf of Wall Street, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Casino, Cape Fear. 

Movies Watched Within Three Months of Podcast (I’m changing up and going Letterbox… eventually)

The Departed, The Color of Money, Kings of Comedy, Taxi Driver, Italianamerican, Casino, Cape Fear