A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies

The documentary is structured in segments:

• Part I
  • The director's dilemma
  • The director as storyteller
    • The Western
    • The Gangster film
    • The Musical
• Part II
  • The director as illusionist
  • The director as smuggler I
• Part III
  • The director as smuggler II
  • The director as iconoclast ^[6]

It was originally shown on television in the UK in 1995.^[7]

(Roughly in the order of the appearance.)

• The Bad and the Beautiful, 1952, directed by Vincente Minnelli
• Duel in the Sun, nicknamed "Lust in the Dust", 1946 Western film directed by King Vidor, William Dieterle and others
• The Girl Can't Help It, 1956 Musical film directed by Frank Tashlin
• Bigger Than Life, 1956 directed by Nicholas Ray
• Vertigo, 1958 psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• The Naked Kiss, 1964 neo-noir film written and directed by Samuel Fuller
• Murder by Contract, 1958 film noir directed by Irving Lerner
• The Red House, 1947 psychological thriller directed by Delmer Daves
• The Phenix City Story, 1955 film noir directed by Phil Karlson
• Sullivan's Travels, 1941 comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges
• The Crowd, 1928 silent film directed by King Vidor
• The Big Parade, 1925 silent film directed by King Vidor
• Shadow of a Doubt, 1943 thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939, directed by Frank Capra

The Western

• The Great Train Robbery, 1903 Western film written, produced, and directed by Edwin S. Porter
• The Musketeers of Pig Alley, 1912, directed by D. W. Griffith
• High Sierra, 1941, directed by Raoul Walsh
• Colorado Territory, 1949 western film directed by Raoul Walsh (a remake of the 1941 High Sierra)
• Stagecoach, 1939 western film directed by John Ford
• She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, 1949 western film directed by John Ford
• The Searchers, 1956 western film directed by John Ford
• The Furies, 1950 American Western film directed by Anthony Mann
• The Naked Spur, 1953 American Western film directed by Anthony Mann
• The Tall T, 1957 Western film directed by Budd Boetticher
• The Left Handed Gun, 1958 American western film and the film directorial debut of Arthur Penn
• Unforgiven, 1992 American Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood
• Directed by John Ford 1971 documentary directed by Peter Bogdanovich

The Gangster Film

• The Public Enemy, 1931 American Pre-Code crime film directed by William A. Wellman
• Regeneration, 1915, directed by Raoul Walsh
• Scarface, 1932 American gangster film directed by Howard Hawks (and Richard Rosson)
• The Roaring Twenties, 1939 crime thriller directed by Raoul Walsh
• I Walk Alone, 1948 film noir directed by Byron Haskin.
• Force of Evil, 1948 film noir directed by Abraham Polonsky
• Point Blank, 1967 American crime film directed by John Boorman

The Musical

• Gold Diggers of 1935, 1935 musical film directed and choreographed by Busby Berkeley
• Gold Diggers of 1933, 1933 musical film directed by Mervyn LeRoy, staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley
• 42nd Street, 1933 musical film directed by Lloyd Bacon with choreography by Busby Berkeley
• Footlight Parade, 1933 musical film directed by Lloyd Bacon with choreography by Busby Berkeley
• Meet Me in St. Louis, 1944 musical film directed by Vincente Minnelli
• My Dream Is Yours, 1949 musical and comedy film directed by Michael Curtiz
  • New York, New York, 1977 musical directed by Martin Scorsese (film mentioned in connection with My Dream Is Yours)
• The Band Wagon, 1953 musical film directed by Vincente Minnelli
• A Star Is Born, 1954 musical film directed by George Cukor
• All That Jazz, 1979 musical film directed by Bob Fosse

• The Cameraman, 1928 silent comedy directed by Edward Sedgwick and an uncredited Buster Keaton
• The Birth of a Nation, 1915 silent film directed by D. W. Griffith
• Death's Marathon, 1913 silent film directed by D. W. Griffith
• Cabiria, 1914 Italian silent film directed by Giovanni Pastrone
• Intolerance, 1916 silent film directed by D. W. Griffith
• The Ten Commandments (1923), 1923 silent film directed by Cecil B. DeMille
• Samson and Delilah, 1949, directed by Cecil B. DeMille
• The Ten Commandments (1956), 1956, directed by Cecil B. DeMille
• Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, 1927 silent film directed by F. W. Murnau
• Seventh Heaven, 1927 silent film directed by Frank Borzage
• Anna Christie, 1930, directed by Clarence Brown
• Her Man, 1930, directed by Tay Garnett
• The Big House, 1930, directed by George W. Hill
• Leave Her to Heaven, 1945 film noir directed by John M. Stahl
• Johnny Guitar, 1954 Western film directed by Nicholas Ray
• The Robe, 1953 Biblical epic film directed by Henry Koster
• East of Eden, 1955, directed by Elia Kazan
• Some Came Running, 1958, directed by Vincente Minnelli
• Land of the Pharaohs, 1955, directed and produced by Howard Hawks
• The Fall of the Roman Empire, 1964, directed by Anthony Mann
• The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, American television series from 4 March 1992 to 24 July 1993, created and executive produced by George Lucas, directed by various directors
• 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968 science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick

• Cat People, 1942 horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur
• I Walked with a Zombie, 1943 horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur
• Letter from an Unknown Woman, 1948 film directed by Max Ophüls, based on the novella written by Stefan Zweig
• Scarlet Street, 1945 American film noir directed by Fritz Lang
• Detour, 1945, directed by Edgar G. Ulmer
• Double Indemnity, 1944 film noir directed by Billy Wilder
• Crime Wave, 1954 film noir directed by André De Toth
• Outrage, 1950, directed by noted film noir actress and pioneering female director Ida Lupino
• Gun Crazy, 1950 film noir directed by Joseph H. Lewis
• T-Men, 1947 film noir directed by Anthony Mann
• Raw Deal, 1948 film noir directed by Anthony Mann
• Kiss Me Deadly, 1955 film noir directed by Robert Aldrich

• Silver Lode, 1954, directed by Allan Dwan
• All That Heaven Allows, 1955, directed by Douglas Sirk
• Bigger Than Life, 1956, directed by Nicholas Ray
• Forty Guns, 1957 western film directed by Samuel Fuller
• Pickup on South Street, 1953 film noir directed by Samuel Fuller
• Shock Corridor, 1963, directed by Samuel Fuller
• Two Weeks in Another Town, 1962, directed by Vincente Minnelli

• Broken Blossoms, 1919 silent film directed by D. W. Griffith
• The Wedding March, 1928 silent film directed by Erich von Stroheim
• I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, 1932, directed by Mervyn LeRoy
• Hell's Highway, 1932, directed by Rowland Brown
• Wild Boys of the Road, 1933, directed by William Wellman
• Heroes for Sale, 1933, directed by William Wellman
• The Scarlet Empress, 1934, directed and produced by Josef von Sternberg
• Citizen Kane, 1941, directed by and starring Orson Welles
• The Magnificent Ambersons, 1942, directed and written by Orson Welles
• The Great Dictator, 1940, directed by Charlie Chaplin
• A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951, directed by Elia Kazan
• On the Waterfront, 1954, directed by Elia Kazan
• Apache, 1954, directed by Robert Aldrich
• Blackboard Jungle, 1955, directed by Richard Brooks
• The Wild One, 1953, Directed by László Benedek
• Advise & Consent, 1962, directed by Otto Preminger
• Paths of Glory, 1957, directed by Stanley Kubrick
• I Want to Live!, 1958 film noir directed by Robert Wise
• The Man with the Golden Arm, 1955, directed by Otto Preminger
• Sweet Smell of Success, 1957 film noir directed by Alexander Mackendrick
• One, Two, Three, 1961 comedy directed by Billy Wilder
• Bonnie and Clyde, 1967, directed by Arthur Penn
• Lolita, 1962, directed by Stanley Kubrick
• Barry Lyndon, 1975, directed by Stanley Kubrick
• Faces, 1968, directed by John Cassavetes
• America America, 1963, directed by Elia Kazan
• The Grapes of Wrath, 1940, directed by John Ford

^[8][9][10]

• The Story of Film: An Odyssey, a 2011 documentary film by Mark Cousins similar in content
• New Hollywood
• Classical Hollywood cinema