John Carpenter: The director Martin Scorsese calls an “unashamed master craftsman”
Martin Scorsese rose to prominence in the mid-1970s following his major film debut, Mean Streets, in 1973. The movie sparked a lucrative career, bolstered by a long-standing working relationship with star actor Robert De Niro. Alongside Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas and John Milius, Martin Scorsese spearheaded New Hollywood in a filmmaking generation retrospectively named the ‘Movie Brats’.
Scorsese’s work over the past five decades has pressed an associative aesthetic fraught with gangster violence, anti-hero biopics and top-quality acting talent. Since 2002, De Niro’s This Boy’s Life co-star Leonardo DiCaprio has become a common presence in Scorsese’s filmography.
After triumphant collaborations on Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island and The Wolf of Wall Street, the pair are set to return in autumn 2023 with Killers of the Flower Moon. DiCaprio has reportedly opined that this latest team-up is Scorsese’s “masterpiece”.
Although Scorsese’s movies are often tethered to the distressing realms of reality, the Taxi Driver director is a surprising fan of sci-fi horror, especially that created by the legendary filmmaker John Carpenter. Carpenter is most recognised for his sci-fi horror canon, which boasts, The Fog, The Thing, Escape from New York, Starman and many more. However, his most famous project was 1978’s Halloween. Several directors have led the iconic slasher franchise through a further 12 instalments to date.
Scorsese once delved into Carpenter’s illustrious filmography as part of an interview feature to prove his cinematic genius. “John Carpenter is a filmmaker who is unashamed to stay within the genres he loves and who practices his trade like a master craftsman. His pictures always have a handmade quality-every cut, every move, every choice of framing and camera movement, not to mention every note of music [he composes his own scores] feels like it has been composed or placed by the filmmaker himself.”
“His sense of composition is quite exacting and precise, and his control of movement inside and outside the frame can be hair-raising,” he continued. “There are so many moments in his films that are absolutely startling- the murder of the little girl with the ice-cream cone in Assault on Precinct 13; the appearances of Michael Myers on the very edge of the frame in Halloween; the appearances of the creature in his truly terrifying remake of The Thing. And the mood of his pictures is so carefully crafted and sustained. I’m a great admirer of The Fog. the mood of it, the sense of mystery.”
He added: “But I also love They Live, in which an alien invasion of America is uncovered by people living on the ragged edge of society in Los Angeles. This movie was Carpenter’s commentary on what he saw as the excesses of the Reagan era, and the movie shares many qualities with pictures made during the Depression, such as Heroes for Sale and Wild Boys of the Road. It’s lyrical and tough at the same time, with a strong sense of community among the displaced people living in makeshift homes on the outskirts of LA, and the mood is unusually sad and bitter.”
“The science-fiction element reveals itself as the story goes on: The ‘beautiful people’ on TV and walking down Rodeo Drive are actually aliens, transmitting subliminal messages to the hypnotised masses, their true images visible through special glasses that are being handed out at a mission for the poor. I like the humour of the picture, the hilariously long fight scene between ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper and Keith David, and the sense of outrage. They Live is one of the best films of a fine American director,” Scorsese concluded, picking out a personal favourite.
Watch the official trailer for John Carpenter’s 1988 classic, They Live, below.