Video Greetings to the Cherry Blossom Gala attendees from Martin Scorsese, one of America's Top Directors

Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese's films about mobsters, mean streets and the violence of modern life made him one of America's most respected modern filmmakers. After directing Roger Corman's Boxcar Bertha (1972), Scorsese was able to make the more personal Mean Streets the next year. He had further success with Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) and then Taxi Driver (1976). Taxi Driver, with DeNiro as crazed assassin-wannabe Travis Bickle, became an iconic film of the 1970s and put DeNiro on the map for good. Following in the distant footsteps of Coppola's Godfather films, Scorsese has made a number of films exploring the rush and despair of organized crime, including Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), Gangs of New York (2002), and the Boston undercover drama The Departed (2006). His many other movies include Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), The Color of Money (1986), and The Aviator (2004). The Departed won the Academy Award as the best picture of 2006, with Scorsese also winning the Oscar as the year's best director.