5 Lesser-Known & Overlooked Martin Scorsese Movies, Ranked by Rotten Tomatoes

Martin Scorsese is rightly considered a living legend of cinema. His masterpieces, such as Goodfellas, The Departed, and Taxi Driver, have long been cult classics. However, his filmography contains many hidden gems.

While these works are not exactly celebrated or box office successes, they represent bold auteur experiments, profound philosophical reflections, or unexpected genre twists.

5. 'Bringing Out the Dead', 1999

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 74%

23 years after Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese reunited with screenwriter Paul Schrader for Bringing Out the Dead, a dark psychological thriller. The film stars Nicolas Cage as a paramedic who drives through the city at night, haunted by the ghosts of people he couldn't save.

Once again, New York City is portrayed as a broken, chaotic place where there's no peace, not even for the dead. Throughout the movie, the main character wrestles with death itself as he tries to save others and find solace for himself.

Perhaps Scorsese's most terrifying movie, Bringing Out the Dead failed to resonate with a wide audience and flopped at the box office.

4. 'Kundun', 1997

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 76%

In 1997, Martin Scorsese directed the experimental movie Kundun, which received four Oscar nominations but failed to connect with wide audiences.

Understandably so – it lacks Scorsese's usual crime themes, and features none of the big names from his regular cast.

Kundun is a perhaps overly academic but masterfully crafted biopic about the Dalai Lama's early years. It was shot with nonprofessional and completely unknown actors, ensuring that no familiar faces would distract viewers from immersing themselves in the world of Tibet.

3. 'Silence', 2016

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%

The story of two Portuguese Christian missionaries in medieval Japan is one of Martin Scorsese's most ambitious projects. The director had dreamed of bringing it to life since 1989, when he first read the source material: Shusaku Endo's novel Silence.

Filming in Taiwan and collaborating with relatively unknown actors such as Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver was, by all accounts, a departure from Scorsese's usual style.

It's all the more disappointing that the movie flopped at the box office, failed to win any awards, and was overlooked by viewers.

2. 'The Age of Innocence', 1993

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%

Martin Scorsese's Victorian costume melodrama with a literary plot and an uncharacteristic cast was probably the last thing anyone expected from him.

Nevertheless, The Age of Innocence demonstrates the director's versatility and ability to adapt to any setting or tone. This sensual and majestic movie explores difficult times and challenging moral dilemmas.

1. 'After Hours', 1985

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

Unlike Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese's After Hours takes a comedic and inviting tone when depicting the madness unfolding on the streets of New York.

The main character, Paul Hackett, is a simple clerk who just wants to spend the evening with a pretty girl. Instead, he finds himself caught up in a madcap parade of murders, impossible coincidences, and robbers obsessed with contemporary conceptual art.

After Hours reveals a different, deeply ironic side of Scorsese's cinema and is a must-see for fans of the director.