Image by "Siebbi," Wikimedia Commons

Before the rise of institutional film schools—ensconced in university walls with all the formality that entails—those seeking to learn the craft did so by apprenticing themselves to studios and master directors, and by watching lots and lots of movies. If we take the example of some of the most interesting filmmakers working today, this still may be the best way to become a filmmaker. Werner Herzog’s Rogue Film School, for example, forgoes the trappings of classrooms for a much more rough-and-tumble approach—and a direct confrontation with the medium. Kevin Smith dropped out of film school, as did Paul Thomas Anderson, spurred on partly by a love of Terminator 2. “My filmmaking education,” revealed Anderson, “consisted of finding out what filmmakers I liked were watching, then seeing those films.” It’s more or less how Quentin Tarantino learned to make movies too.

You could hardly do better—if you’ve decided to take this independent route toward a cinematic education—than apprentice yourself under Martin Scorsese. Or at least find out what films he loves, and watch them all yourself.

Last year, we featured a list of 39 foreign films the estimable director of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Hugo, Goodfellas (etc., etc., etc.) recommended to a young filmmaker. Today, we bring you a list of 85 films Scorsese referenced in the course of a four-hour interview he gave to Fast Company. “Some of the movies he discussed,” writes FastCo, “Others he just mentioned. But the cumulative total reflects a life lived entirely within the confines of movie making.” Shoot on over to Fast Company to read Scorsese’s commentary on each of the films below, and see an aesthetically pleasing version of his list over at MUBI as well.

Like I said, you could hardly do better.

Ace in the Hole

All that Heaven Allows

America, America

An American in Paris

Apocalypse Now

Arsenic and Old Lace

The Bad and the Beautiful

The Band Wagon

Born on the Fourth of July

Cape Fear

Cat People

Caught

Citizen Kane

The Conversation

Dial M for Murder

Do the Right Thing

Duel in the Sun

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Europa ’51

Faces

The Fall of the Roman Empire

The Flowers of St. Francis

Force of Evil

Forty Guns

Germany Year Zero

Gilda

The Godfather

Gun Crazy

Health

Heaven’s Gate

House of Wax

How Green Was My Valley

The Hustler

I Walk Alone

The Infernal Cakewalk

It Happened One Nght

Jason and the Argonauts

Journey to Italy

Julius Caesar

Kansas City

Kiss Me Deadly

Klute

La Terra Trema

The Lady From Shanghai

The Leopard

Macbeth

The Magic Box

M*A*S*H

A Matter of Life and Death

McCabe & Mrs. Miller

The Messiah

Midnight Cowboy

Mishima

Deeds Goes to Town

Smith Goes to Washington

Nashville

Night and the City

One, Two, Three

Othello

Paisa

Peeping Tom

Pickup on South Street

The Player

The Power and the Glory

Stagecoach

Raw Deal

The Red Shoes

The Rise of Louis XIV

The Roaring Twenties

Rocco and his Brothers

Rome, Open City

Secrets of the Soul

Senso

Shadows

Shock Corridor

Some Came Running

Stromboli

Sullivan’s Travels

Sweet Smell of Success

Tales of Hoffman

The Third Man

T-Men

Touch of Evil

The Trial

Two Weeks in Another Town

via FastCoCreate

Related Content:

Martin Scorsese Creates a List of 39 Essential Foreign Films for a Young Filmmaker

Martin Scorsese Reveals His 12 Favorite Movies (and Writes a New Essay on Film Preservation)

Wes Anderson’s Favorite Films: Moonstruck, Rosemary’s Baby, and Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel

Quentin Tarantino Lists His Favorite Films Since 1992

Akira Kurosawa’s List of His 100 Favorite Movies

Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagness