Martin Scorsese is undoubtedly one of the greatest filmmakers working today and has been for decades. Like Alfred Hitchcock, Scorsese often appears in his own movies in cameo appearances. Sometimes, like in Taxi Driver, he’ll show up in the background of a single shot. Other times, like later on in Taxi Driver, he’ll perform an entire scene.
In addition to making cameo appearances in his own movies, Scorsese often brings in high-profile names for brief appearances in his work, either to make a small supporting character more memorable or to nod to the audience with a reference to the movie’s source material.
10 Jim Norton In The Irishman
During a party scene in The Irishman, legendary comedian Don Rickles can be seen doing a private gig for some gangsters. Rickles is played by similarly acid-tongued comic Jim Norton.
When “Crazy” Joe Gallo insults Russell Bufalino at the party, Frank Sheeran is put on the case to shoot him dead in front of his family.
9 Thomas Middleditch In The Wolf Of Wall Street
Donnie makes an example out of a poor young stockbroker played by Silicon Valley’s Thomas Middleditch in The Wolf of Wall Street. When he catches him feeding his goldfish instead of dialing the numbers of potential clients, Donnie marches up to him and chews him out in front of the entire Stratton Oakmont staff.
Donnie gets up on the guy’s desk, eats his goldfish live, and then fires him on the spot. The meek character Middleditch plays here has a lot in common with Richard Hendricks.
8 Jackie Earle Haley In Shutter Island
The sinister case at the heart of Shutter Island gets blown wide open when Teddy Daniels meets George Noyce, a patient being kept in solitary confinement, who tells him that the doctors are performing experiments on patients in the lighthouse.
Jackie Earle Haley makes an unforgettable impression in this scene. In a movie full of creepy characters, he’s one of the creepiest.
7 Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck & Martin Balsam In Cape Fear
In addition to reusing Bernard Herrmann’s iconic score in remaking Cape Fear, Martin Scorsese also reused a lot of its cast. Nick Nolte was cast as Sam Bowden, the attorney who put sadistic criminal Max Cady away, while Robert De Niro plays Cady as he’s released from prison and seeks revenge.
The three stars of the original movie — Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck (in what would be his final role on the big screen), and Martin Balsam — can all be seen in minor roles in Scorsese’s remake.
6 Jerry Vale In Casino
Jerry Vale played himself in both Goodfellas and Casino, but he arguably made a more memorable appearance in the latter, especially given his decades of experience performing in Las Vegas casinos.
The melancholic sounds of Vale’s “Love Me the Way I Love You” are perfectly matched to the toxic relationship shared by Sam Rothstein and Ginger McKenna throughout the movie.
5 Liam Neeson In Gangs Of New York
In the 1846-set prologue to Gangs of New York, Daniel Day-Lewis as Bill the Butcher leads his gang the Nativist Protestants into a street war against the Dead Rabbits, a gang of Irish Catholic immigrants led by Liam Neeson as “Priest” Vallon.
During the brutal melee, Bill manages to kill Vallon, putting an end to the Dead Rabbits and declaring that his own gang will take over Five Points, Manhattan. But Vallon’s son survives, grows up to be Leonardo DiCaprio, and vows to exact revenge.
4 Martin Scorsese In Taxi Driver
Scorsese himself makes a memorable cameo appearance in his own movie, Taxi Driver. He can be seen sitting on the street during Betsy’s slow-motion introduction — this was supposed to be his Hitchcockian blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance — but he can also be seen later in the movie as a sadistic passenger who tells Travis all the terrible things he’s going to do to his cheating wife.
This scene is integral in Travis’ disturbing journey toward a life of violence. The actor who was supposed to play the role wasn’t available, so Scorsese stepped in.
3 David Bowie In The Last Temptation Of Christ
Martin Scorsese’s religious movies are among his least popular films, because it’s challenging subject matter, but his controversial biopic of Jesus, The Last Temptation of Christ, is an underrated gem.
David Bowie’s Pontius Pilate only shares one scene with Willem Dafoe’s Jesus in the nearly three-hour movie, but he gives a poignant, memorable performance as he calls for Jesus to be crucified for trying to change the way people think and feel.
2 Matthew McConaughey In The Wolf Of Wall Street
On Jordan Belfort’s first day as a Wall Street stockbroker, his new boss Mark Hanna takes him out for lunch and a few drinks to show him the ropes. Hanna is played by Matthew McConaughey and, despite only appearing prominently in this one scene, he leaves a lasting impression.
The most iconic moment to come out of McConaughey’s brief appearance is the chest-thumping mantra he gives to Jordan. This was the actor’s own technique for preparing for a scene and, at Leonardo DiCaprio’s request, Scorsese rolled the cameras and put it in the movie.
1 Catherine Scorsese In Goodfellas
Martin Scorsese’s mother, Catherine Scorsese, has made cameo appearances in a few of his films, but the most memorable is in Goodfellas. Tommy, Jimmy, and Henry stop off at Tommy’s mother’s house on the way to bury the corpse of made man Billy Batts and end up sitting down for a meal with her when they accidentally wake her up.
While a semi-conscious Batts bangs on the trunk of the car from the inside, Tommy’s mother is feeding the gangsters pasta dishes and showing them her new dog painting.
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