(1974) Director: Martin Scorsese
Available on DVD
SUMMARY:
In this warm, funny, and illuminating documentary, filmmaker Martin Scorsese interviews his parents, Catherine and Charles Scorsese, in their modest apartment in New York's Little Italy. The casual and relaxed atmosphere of the film makes viewers feel as if they are eavesdropping on an intimate family evening. Catherine prepares tomato sauce and meatballs while explaining how she learned to cook from her mother and mother-in-law as a young woman. After looking at vacation photos while sitting on the plastic-slip-covered living-room sofa, the family shares dinner together. Much is revealed as son Marty gently guides the conversation with questions revolving around what life was once like for Catherine and Charles and their parents, and contemporary street scenes, archive shots, and family photos are interspersed among the responses. What emerges is a vivid personal view of history, a slice of life as it was lived during the first half of the 20th century in New York and in Italy. The film also indirectly sheds some light on the environment and the influences that shaped the creative vision of Martin Scorsese, a passionate, intense, and original filmmaker. The film's end credits include the recipe for Catherine Scorsese's tomato sauce.
VIDEO:
First 10 minutes of ITALIANAMERICAN
REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS, CREDITS:
- Interview with Jim Jarmusch:
Jim Jarmusch: I really love your first documentary, ITALIAN-AMERICAN. How did that project come about?
Martin Scorsese: The film was made as part of a series on different ethnic groups in New York as part of the Bicentennial celebrations in 1976. I was assigned to do a film on the Italian-American experience, but I told the producers that I did not want to make the standard historical film, using film clips and narration. So, I just decided to have dinner with my mother and father in their tenement apartment in Little Italy. The film was shot over two weekends, and was really just a response to a series of questions that I posed to my parents. Their on-screen bickering was not planned, but was certainly realistic. I think the film showed off my parents deep love for each other, in spite of all the arguing.
Jarmusch: How did your experience on this documentary effect your later narrative work?
Scorsese: Well, it was very free form and just concentrated on the faces, speech and movement of the two main characters, my parents. This informed my later films RAGING BULL and GOODFELLAS, where so much is expressed in the way characters look and talk at one another. I also realized while making ITALIAN AMERICAN my deep interest in the films of Elia Kazan, particularly EAST OF EDEN and ON THE WATERFRONT, which are stories of the inability of family members to communicate their true feelings to one another. This theme has come up many times in almost all of my films.
NOTES:
- Scorsese about ITALIANAMERICAN: “the best film I ever made; it really freed me in style”
- Occasional actress, legendary cook, and the mother of distinguished filmmaker Martin Scorsese, Catherine Scorsese was a first generation Italian-American and grew up in New York's Little Italy. After marrying and having two boys, Catherine went to work in the garment district. Scorsese gave his mother tiny roles in his films such as Mean Streets, Goodfellas, and Casino. When not appearing before the camera, Scorsese was cooking enormous meals for the cast and crew. Later, her son used her and her husband, Charles, as the subjects of his documentary Italianamerican. Catherine Scorsese has also appeared in a couple of other films, including Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, Pt. 3. Shortly before her death, she published The Scorsese Family Cookbook. Mrs. Scorsese died of complications from Alzheimer's disease at the age of 81. - Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Other Martin Scorsese documentaries: 'Shine a Light', 'No Direction Home: Bob Dylan', 'Lady by the Sea: The Statue of Liberty', 'My Voyage to Italy', 'A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies', 'The Last Waltz', 'American Boy: A Profile of: Steven Prince'
- Catherine Scorsese’s recipe for spaghetti sauce
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