Italianamerican

1974 film directed by Martin Scorsese

This article is about the documentary film. For Italians and their descendants living in the United States, see Italian Americans.

Italianamerican

2000 VHS cover, coupled with Scorsese's 1967 short film The Big Shave

Directed by| Martin Scorsese
Written by| Lawrence D. Cohen
Mardik Martin
Produced by| Elaine Attias
Bert Lovitt
Saul Rubin
Starring| Catherine Scorsese
Charles Scorsese
Martin Scorsese (uncredited)
Cinematography| Alec Hirschfeld
Edited by| Bert Lovitt

Running time

| 49 mins
Country| United States
Language| English

Italianamerican is a 1974 American documentary film directed by Martin Scorsese and featuring his parents Catherine and Charles, who reflect on their experiences as the children of Italian immigrants to New York City.

## Synopsis

[edit]

Over dinner at their New York apartment on Elizabeth Street, Martin engages his parents in a lively and candid discussion about their lives, discussing such topics as their upbringing, family, religion, marriage, their Italian ancestors, post-war life in Italy, and the hardships of poor Sicilian immigrants striving to succeed in America.[1][2] Catherine also demonstrates her technique for cooking meatballs, a recipe later printed in the end credits of the film.[3]

## Production

[edit]

Martin Scorsese came up with the idea for Italianamerican after returning from his presentation of Mean Streets at the Cannes Film Festival. A script was written by Larry Cohen in order to receive funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, but it was not used for the actual film. Six hours of footage was shot, three hours on two days.[4]

Scorsese edited Italianamerican alongside Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.[4]

## Reception

[edit]

Italianamerican was received positively after its screening at the 1974 New York Film Festival, with the New York Daily News reporting the film "completely charmed" the "usually blase festival audience."[5]

## Home video

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On May 26, 2020, the Criterion Collection released Scorsese Shorts, a compilation of five early short films directed by Scorsese: Italianamerican, American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince, The Big Shave, What's a Nice Girl like You Doing in a Place like This? and It's Not Just You, Murray![6]

## See also

[edit]

* List of American films of 1974

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Garrett, Robert (June 2, 1990). "A Self-Portrait of Martin Scorsese at ICA". The Boston Globe. p. 10.
2. ^ "Scorsese Is at Home with Personal Films". The Detroit Free Press. September 7, 1990. p. 4C.
3. ^ "Catherine Scorsese's pasta & meatballs recipe". Retrieved May 27, 2018.
4. ^ a b Wilson 2011, p. 88.
5. ^ Carroll, Kathleen (August 17, 1975). "A Director in the Family". The New York Daily News. p. L7.
6. ^ "Scorsese Shorts". Retrieved May 26, 2020.

## Works cited

[edit]

* Wilson, Michael (2011). Scorsese on Scorsese. Cahiers du Cinéma. ISBN 9782866427023.

## External links

[edit]

* Italianamerican at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Martin Scorsese

* Awards and nominations
* Filmography
* Bibliography
* Unrealized projects

Narrative feature films|

* Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967)
* Boxcar Bertha (1972)
* Mean Streets (1973)
* Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
* Taxi Driver (1976)
* New York, New York (1977)
* Raging Bull (1980)
* The King of Comedy (1982)
* After Hours (1985)
* The Color of Money (1986)
* The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
* Goodfellas (1990)
* Cape Fear (1991)
* The Age of Innocence (1993)
* Casino (1995)
* Kundun (1997)
* Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
* Gangs of New York (2002)
* The Aviator (2004)
* The Departed (2006)
* Shutter Island (2010)
* Hugo (2011)
* The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
* Silence (2016)
* The Irishman (2019)
* Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

Short films|

* What's a Nice Girl like You Doing in a Place like This? (1963)
* It's Not Just You, Murray! (1964)
* The Big Shave (1967)
* "Bad" (1987)
* New York Stories (segment "Life Lessons", 1989)
* Made in Milan (1990)
* The Key to Reserva (2007)
* The Audition (2015)

Produced only|

* The Grifters (1990)
* Mad Dog and Glory (1993)
* Clockers (1995)
* The Hi-Lo Country (1998)
* The Young Victoria (2009)
* Maestro (2023)
* Die, My Love (TBA)

Television|

* "Boardwalk Empire" (2010)
* Vinyl (2016)
* Pretend It's a City (2021)
* Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints (2024)
* An Afternoon with SCTV (TBA)

Documentaries|

* Street Scenes 1970 (1970)
* Italianamerican (1974)
* American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince (1978)
* The Last Waltz (1978)
* A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995)
* My Voyage to Italy (1999)
* The Blues: Feel Like Going Home (2003)
* No Direction Home (2005)
* Shine a Light (2008)
* A Letter to Elia (2010)
* Public Speaking (2010)
* George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011)
* The 50 Year Argument (2014)
* Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (2019)

Related|

* Collaborations
* Robert De Niro
* Leonardo DiCaprio
* "Scorsese Baby Daddy"
* Sikelia Productions
* Goncharov

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