Let's Party with Marty: A Martin Scorsese Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

This week, Sarah and MJ begin the long and winding road that leads to Raging Bull with On the Waterfront! They are joined by Matthew Germenis for this super-sized episode where they unpack everything from the location shooting and brilliant performances to the way Scorsese was influenced by this film in several ways, and of course, the perceived apologism for Kazan and Schulberg testifying to the HUAC.

This podcast should be played loud!

This week we're talking about 1978's The Last Waltz, the concert film of The Band's final show directed by Martin Scorsese. We chat about the perils of trying to capture the moments as they happen, the cult that follows this film, and get into our favourite performances from the show.

Arguably one of the films that most influenced Martin Scorsese — particularly Taxi Driver but also further across his career — 1958's Murder By Contract is a great lesson in "less is more." Sarah and MJ discuss the great score, why it's okay for bad guys to be good at what they do, and then go on a fun tangent about the films that affected them when they were 16.

This week we're joined by Lewis Wride, to talk about 1974's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. We get into the incredible performance from Ellen Burstyn, further Wizard of Oz parallels, why Vera is who we all aspire to be, and continue the discussion on why Martin Scorsese is actually a feminist.

This week we're back on the companion film list talking about 1951's Take Care of My Little Girl. Paired with Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, this obscurity has much to say about the American upper crust and the evils of sororities and fraternities that are hiding in plain sight ... and so do we!

This week Sarah and MJ are joined by the man who quite literally wrote the book on New York movies, Jason Bailey, to talk about Martin Scorsese's loving portrait of his parents. Italianamerican gets to the heart of the special sauce (quite literally) that inspires Marty to make movies and offers a fascinating glimpse into the immigrant experience.

In this week's episode, Sarah and MJ dive into Shirley Clarke's 1967 "documentary," Portrait of Jason. This episode is a real rollercoaster as we discover something of the truth behind the making of this fascinating snapshot, and have a small existential crisis about what even is real anyway. This film was chosen by Scorsese as the companion film to his 1974 portrait of his family, Italianamerican on his Letterboxd list.

On our latest episode Sarah & MJ discuss 1973's Mean Streets, the film many fans see as the true beginning of Martin Scorsese's career. We talk about the incredible chemistry between Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel, the pros and cons of needle drops in films, and why it is impossible to ignore the religious aspects of Scorsese's pictures.

On this week's episode Sarah and MJ talk about Bernardo Bertolucci's 1964 movie, Before the Revolution. Chosen by Martin Scorsese as the companion film for Mean Streets, there's plenty to unpack here and lots of important historical context that makes this an incredibly interesting film.

This week Sarah and MJ discuss Scorsese's sophomore feature, 1972's Boxcar Bertha. They get into "the Roger Corman of it all," the crucial ingredient missing from this Marty picture and why tonally this film has more in common with Looney Tunes ...