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WeirdMartin Scorsese’s Obsession With The Color Red
By Olivia Armstrong
@itslivarmstrong
Published
Nov. 16, 2015, 11:00 a.m. ET
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Photo: Everett Collection
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FILM: The Big Shave (1968)
While attending NYU Film School, Scorsese visualized his anxieties and depression with The Big Shave; a bloodied, fantasy of his morning routine.
[Where to stream The Big Shave]
While attending NYU Film School, Scorsese visualized his anxieties and depression with The Big Shave; a bloodied, fantasy of his morning routine.
[Where to stream The Big Shave]
Photo: McGraw Hill Filmes
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FILM: Mean Streets (1973)
After film school and Boxcar Bertha, the director aimed to reimagine his childhood growing up on the "mean streets" of Little Italy in Manhattan.
After film school and Boxcar Bertha, the director aimed to reimagine his childhood growing up on the "mean streets" of Little Italy in Manhattan.
Photo: Everett Collection
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Mean Streets is basked in red throughout large portions of the film, including nearly all of the scenes that take place in the bar...
Photo: Warner Bros.
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This is a way of symbolizing how hellish or sinful morals run a mafia-populated neighborhood despite Charlie's (Harvey Keitel) and Johnny Boy's (Robert De Niro) devout Catholicism.
Photo: Everett Collection
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FILM: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
Sometimes the motive behind Scorsese's use of red is far more simple; as an easy but powerful way to draw attention to a singular character. In the case of Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, red is used to project the importance and vulnerability of Ellen Burstyn's newly widowed character.
[Where to stream Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore]
Sometimes the motive behind Scorsese's use of red is far more simple; as an easy but powerful way to draw attention to a singular character. In the case of Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, red is used to project the importance and vulnerability of Ellen Burstyn's newly widowed character.
[Where to stream Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore]
Photo: Everett Collection
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FILM: Taxi Driver (1976)
Red takes on a character all its own in Taxi Driver, particularly as a way to convey how the filth and sin of New York City's (now shuttered) Red Light District can spill out of its confined blocks and into the lives of those who pass through.
Red takes on a character all its own in Taxi Driver, particularly as a way to convey how the filth and sin of New York City's (now shuttered) Red Light District can spill out of its confined blocks and into the lives of those who pass through.
Photo: Colombia Pictures
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FILM: New York, New York (1977)
Bold red hues can be seen all over Scorsese's Liza Minnelli-Robert De Niro musical, but particularly as an indicator of power and success.
[Where to stream New York, New York]
Bold red hues can be seen all over Scorsese's Liza Minnelli-Robert De Niro musical, but particularly as an indicator of power and success.
[Where to stream New York, New York]
Photo: Everett Collection
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FILM: The Last Waltz (1978)
Even in documentary, the director manages to capture moments amplified by his favorite primary color.
[Where to stream The Last Waltz]
Even in documentary, the director manages to capture moments amplified by his favorite primary color.
[Where to stream The Last Waltz]
Photo: Everett Collection
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FILM: Goodfellas (1990)
Scorsese's perennial crime drama is saturated in red from beginning to end. The hue even kicks off Henry Hill's (Ray Liotta) infamous story of, "As fas back as I could remember, I always wanted to be a gangster."
Scorsese's perennial crime drama is saturated in red from beginning to end. The hue even kicks off Henry Hill's (Ray Liotta) infamous story of, "As fas back as I could remember, I always wanted to be a gangster."
Photo: Warner Bros.
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Red is unavoidable in Goodfellas, where we see it characterized in everything from table clothes, to marinara sauce, and, of course: artful pools of blood.
Photo: Everett Collection
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FILM: Cape Fear (1991)
Red is peppered sporadically throughout Scorsese's stalker tale, but when it's featured as part of Max Cady's (De Niro) attire and tattoos; it takes on an almost menacing quality.
[Where to stream Cape Fear]
Red is peppered sporadically throughout Scorsese's stalker tale, but when it's featured as part of Max Cady's (De Niro) attire and tattoos; it takes on an almost menacing quality.
[Where to stream Cape Fear]
Photo: Everett Collection
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FILM: The Age of Innocence (1993)
Scorsese's sweeping period drama uses red as a signifier of social class and royalty: a shade that quite literally sets his female characters above the rest.
Scorsese's sweeping period drama uses red as a signifier of social class and royalty: a shade that quite literally sets his female characters above the rest.
Photo: Everett Collection
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FILM: Casino (1994)
Red used as a way to portray looming guilt and sin is a dominant creative choice in the director's Las Vegas tale.
[Where to stream Casino]
Red used as a way to portray looming guilt and sin is a dominant creative choice in the director's Las Vegas tale.
[Where to stream Casino]
Photo: Everett Collection
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FILM: The Aviator (2004)
When Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio) confined himself to his home theater for months at a time, the flashing red light was a way to show how truly petrified he was of the outside world.
[Where to stream The Aviator]
When Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio) confined himself to his home theater for months at a time, the flashing red light was a way to show how truly petrified he was of the outside world.
[Where to stream The Aviator]
Photo: Forward Pass/Appian Way
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FILM: The Departed (2006)
The Best Picture-winner stands as one of the few Scorsese films without his excessive motifs; but occasionally throughout we're graced with eerie shades of red to help portray the pure evil of Jack Nicholson's Frank Costello.
[Where to stream The Departed]
The Best Picture-winner stands as one of the few Scorsese films without his excessive motifs; but occasionally throughout we're graced with eerie shades of red to help portray the pure evil of Jack Nicholson's Frank Costello.
[Where to stream The Departed]
Photo: Warner Bros.
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FILM: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Even in a film where red takes a backseat to blues and greens (to hammer home themes of confidence, freedom, and greed), Scorsese juxtaposes red to show Jordan Belfort's (DiCaprio) living embodiment of a modern American dream.
[Where to stream The Wolf of Wall Street]
Even in a film where red takes a backseat to blues and greens (to hammer home themes of confidence, freedom, and greed), Scorsese juxtaposes red to show Jordan Belfort's (DiCaprio) living embodiment of a modern American dream.
[Where to stream The Wolf of Wall Street]
Photo: Everett Collection
