HOLLYWOOD -- Director Martin Scorsese, a career Hollywood outsider, came in from the cold last week to accept the Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. He's not a stranger to Hollywood; he just chooses not to make his dynamic pictures in the film capital. He opts instead to direct his films mostly in New York and on far- flung locations, the farther from Hollywood's studio-dominated miasma the better. But this New York native was selected by the AFI, a Hollywood-based and -financed organization, to receive its 25th annual award, the ninth director to do so. Or 10th, if you count Clint Eastwood, last year's recipient who won the award for his combined acting and directing career. Scorsese followed in the steps of John Ford, Orson Welles, William Wyler, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Frank Capra, John Huston, David Lean and Steven Spielberg. On Feb. 20 some 1,200 Hollywoodites crowded the Beverly Hilton hotel's International Ballroom where Scorsese shyly listened to accolades from the evening's host, Sharon Stone, and such stars as Robert De Niro (who has made eight films with Scorsese) and Joe Pesci. Also on hand to sing his praises were actors James Woods, Jodie Foster, Winona Ryder, Rosanna Arquette, Barbara Hershey, Willem Dafoe, Kris Kristofferson and Don Rickles, all of whom have worked in his pictures. Jack Lemmon and Gregory Peck, both past AFI honorees, and Spielberg saluted his unique talents for capturing the flavor of the New York streets in his work.
Applauding each successive speech were the likes of Eastwood, Kate Capshaw, George Clooney, Michelle Pfeiffer, Elisabeth Shue and other performers. The evening could not be called star-studded. For outsider Scorsese it was the first recognition by a major Hollywood institution. He never has won an Oscar, although he counts among his 24 films such critical hits as 'Raging Bull,' 'GoodFellas,' 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore,' 'Mean Streets' and 'Taxi Driver.' Some of his stars, however, have won Academy Awards under his direction, including Paul Newman ('Color of Money'), Pesci ('GoodFellas') and De Niro ('Raging Bull'). Scorsese was praised by award presenter Peck for his longtime dedication to saving and restoring old motion pictures. Scorsese is a leader in fund-raising projects to find and protect early black-and- white silent films as well as more recent pictures. The AFI is one of several organizations across the country involved the preservation of what Scorsese called the country's cultural heritage. Several speakers lauded Scorsese for his fierce independence as a filmmaker and his impeccable attention to detail in creating his pictures. In his acceptance speech, Scorsese recalled watching the first AFI award dinner, at which director John Ford was the honoree, on a small black-and-white TV set. He spoke of Ford, James Cagney, Wyler and other previous awardees with awe, saying he was not one of them because he is a member of another generation. 'This is a very special award for me,' he told the black-tie audience. 'Since its creation in '73, the AFI Life Achievement Award has represented recognition and celebration of the very basis of the American film art, the golden age of Hollywood, honoring as many of its past masters as possible. 'They shaped me as a person and for better or worse a filmmaker. I could never envision a future in which they would not be there as an example, an inspiration...and I certainly didn't expect this award to move on to another generation, my generation. 'Being in the company of Hollywood greats I so loved and learned from is a great, great honor. 'Even though I received an award they received, that doesn't make me one of them.' Scorsese's modesty reflected the man's self-consciousness about discussing his accomplishments. He is one of those rare movie personalities, clearly unwilling to gild the lily that is his career. He clarified his own persona for one and all with the observation, 'I am the movies I make,' thereby virtually defining himself as a New York City street guy. Although most of his films reflect that background, Scorsese was an altar boy who once aspired to be a Roman Catholic priest. It is perhaps that side of him that inspired Scorsese to direct 'The Last Temptation of Christ,' 'The Age of Innocence' and 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.' His current film, 'Kundun,' about Tibet's exiled Dalai Lama, also is a major departure from his genre pictures of gangs and violence. It has caused a row between China and Disney, which produced the movie. Scorsese's favorite star, De Niro, told the audience, 'I tried to think what I owe Marty, and I thought that if it wasn't for him, I'd be spending tonight in Bakersfield.' The four-hour program will be edited into a 60-minute TV special for broadcast by CBS this spring. (release at will)
