Martin Scorseseis one of the greatest living filmmakers, with an inimitable style that’s entirely his own, but some of his imitators have come surprisingly close to creating their own Scorsese movie. Whenever a director comes along with their own unique style, a lot of copycats tend to follow. The emergence of Quentin Tarantino led to a slew of ultraviolent crime thrillers throughout the ‘90s, fromDobermanntoThings to Do in Denver When You’re Dead. The popularity of Judd Apatow’s comedies in the 2000s led to an overuse of improvisation across all of film comedy.
Scorsese’s stylish, energetic approach to crime films— with dark humor, voiceover narration, and zippy nonlinear editing — has been emulated by countless movies in the half a century he’s been a renowned voice in cinema. The most recent gangster movie to mimic Scorsese’s style is Barry Levinson’sThe Alto Knights, which castsScorsese’s go-to leading man Robert De Niroin not one, but two roles, and it comes pretty close to recapturing the unmistakable feel of a Scorsese movie. And it’s not the only Scorsese imitator to do so; movies likeBoogie NightsandAmerican Madehave pulled it off, too.
10Donnie Brasco
Before Scorsese came along, mafia movies tended to follow the tradition ofThe Godfather. They revolved around the head honchos at the top of the pile and told their stories in a classy manner. ButGoodfellasushered in a new era of street-level gangster movies that revolved around mid-tier mobsters who have to do the dirty work for the guys at the top of the pile. One of the best Scorsese imitators in this tradition is Mike Newell’sDonnie Brasco. Much like Scorsese’s crime films, it’s a contemplative character study disguised as a violent gangster movie.
9American Hustle
David O. Russell tried his hand at a Scorsese-style crime film withAmerican Hustle. Inspired by the FBI’s Abscam operation of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s,American Hustlestars Christian Bale and Amy Adams as a pair of fraudsters who reluctantly team up with an FBI agent played by Bradley Cooper to run a convoluted sting on crooked politicians.American Hustlehas all the makings of a Scorsese movie: a complicated crime saga, a pitch-black comedic sensibility, a gray approach to morality, a soundtrack full of classic rock — it even has a cameo appearance by De Niro.
8Joker
Todd Phillips’ record-breaking billion-dollar blockbusterJokeris essentially a mashup ofTaxi DriverandThe King of Comedy. It’s a gritty urban vigilante movie, likeTaxi Driver, and it’s a psychological study of an aspiring comedian who lives with his mother,likeThe King of Comedy.Joker’s exploration of its themes is much shallower than Scorsese’s masterpieces, but cinematographer Lawrence Sher perfectly captures the seedy underbelly of a crime-ridden city, like Michael Chapman, and Joaquin Phoenix perfectly captures the dark mental gymnastics that lead an ordinary man to become a killer, like De Niro.
7Lord Of War
Andrew Niccol’sLord of Waris essentially a version ofGoodfellasthat switches out drug trafficking for arms trafficking. It sharesGoodfellas’ manic cinematic energy and bleak sense of humor, but it revolves around a criminal who gets rich off the sale of weapons around the dissolution of the Soviet Union, not one who gets rich off the cocaine trade.Lord of Warexplores a very different illicit industry thanGoodfellas, but it explores it in just as much depth and with just as much stylistic verve. It has one of the most memorable opening sequences in movie history.
6The Alto Knights
The Alto Knightshas all the hallmarks of a Scorsese gangster film: freeze frames, voiceover narration, nonlinear storytelling, contemporary needle-drops on the soundtrack, De Niro in the lead role(s), a screenplay by Nicholas Pileggi, and a fascinating true-crime tale from the mean streets of New York. De Niro plays dual roles as childhood friends who grew up to become rival mob bosses, one of whom ordered a botched hit on the other.The Alto Knightsdoesn’t have the thoughtful introspection or brutal honesty that make Scorsese’s mob movies so great, but it is just as entertaining, well-shot, and darkly hilarious.
5American Made
Doug Liman’sAmerican Madeplays like a more action-packed version of a Scorsese crime biopic. Tom Cruise plays Barry Seal, a pilot who became a drug smuggler for the Medellín Cartel and an informant for the DEA.Much likeGoodfellas,American Madeuses its larger-than-life true story to explore both sides of the law, and the fine line between good and evil. And, much likeGoodfellas, it’s a wildly entertaining ride that doesn’t leave its audience bored for a second. It takes some liberties with the historical events it depicts, but it’s a real capital-M movie.
4I, Tonya
Craig Gillespie made the ingenious decision to dramatize Tonya Harding’s involvement in the assault on Nancy Kerrigan in the style of a Scorsese gangster movie. Similar toGoodfellas,I, Tonyahas rapid-paced editing and a healthy dose of dark humor. Harding tells the story as an unreliable narrator who breaks the fourth wall.I, Tonyacould’ve easily fallen into the trap of being a dull, serious true-crime drama, but Gillespie and producer/star Margot Robbie took a much more daring approach that made the movie a lot more memorable and a lot more entertaining.
3City Of God
The way Scorsese captures the criminal underworld of New York inMean Streets, Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund capture the criminal underworld of Rio de Janeiro inCity of God. Where Scorsese focused on Little Italy inMean Streets,City of Godfocuses on Rio’s Cidade de Deus suburb. Much like Scorsese, they don’t bring the world of organized crime to the screen through tired genre archetypes; their characters are real, three-dimensional human beings. In chronicling an epic crime saga spanning decades, Meirelles and Lund use Scorsese’s signature fast pacing and energetic editing to keep the narrative momentum going.
2A Bronx Tale
When De Niro made his directorial debut, he took a lot of inspiration from his collaborations with Scorsese. Based on Chazz Palminteri’s autobiographical play of the same name,A Bronx Taletells the coming-of-age story of a young Italian-American man who’s torn between the mentorship of his hard-working blue-collar dad and a local mob boss who takes a shine to him. Much like Scorsese’s crime films,A Bronx Talecaptures the lifestyle of the mafia and the atmosphere of New York with raw authenticity, and it chronicles city-wide tensions and organized crime from a deeply personal place.
1Boogie Nights
After his low-budget indie debutHard Eight, Paul Thomas Anderson got much more ambitious with his second movie.Boogie Nightsis a mega-scale three-hour epic set in the adult film industry of the 1970s. It has a sprawling ensemble cast, a complex web of plotlines, and a well-rounded world.
Anderson heavily channels Scorsese in his direction ofBoogie Nights. The filmmaking has the fidgety pacing, sweeping camera movements, ever-changing soundtrack, and all-over-the-place editing ofGoodfellasandCasino, but the rise and fall of Mark Wahlberg’s pornstar character Dirk Diggler mirrors that of boxer Jake LaMotta inRaging Bull. In the final scene ofBoogie Nights, Anderson even includes a direct homage tothe ending ofRaging Bull. Of all the copycats that have tried to mimicMartin Scorsese’s style,Boogie Nightshas come the closest to matching Scorsese’s raw intensity, thought-provoking themes, and absolute cinema.
