Make sure you’re comfy before you ask Martin Scorsese for film recommendations. He’s a big fan of them, generally speaking, and is more than willing to reel off his century-spanning favourites at a moment’s notice.
Which is why Mental Floss decided to root through various interviews with the legendary auteur to stockpile his 125 essential movies.
There aren’t any entries from the past 18 years of filmmaking, which could be partly due to the dates of interviews, and partly due to the possibility that he just hasn’t got around to watching Bee Movie yet.
It's a predictable eclectic and deep-cut list, but the popular classics are all there, with Nosferatu (1922), Metropolis (1922), Citizen Kane (1941), 8½ (1963), Vertigo (1958), Cape Fear (1962) The Godfather (1972) and Apocalypse Now (1979) amongst them.
You can check out all 125 here, but below are ten gems that you've quite likely never seen nor heard of:
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Paisan (1946)
Night and the City (1950)
Ikiru (1952)
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Shock Corridor (1963)
Before the Revolution (1964)
Klute (1971)
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)
The Player (1992)
Nick Pope is the Site Director of Esquire, overseeing digital strategy for the brand.
