Martin Scorsese might just be the greatest filmmaker working today — he’s never made a bad movie. A large part of this is because of his compelling protagonists. The way Scorsese sees it, the lead character of a story doesn’t necessarily have to be likable; they just have to be interesting.
Scorsese’s best movies are character studies, and those characters are usually surrounded by a supporting cast that carries them on their journey. This, paired with Scorsese’s knack for casting actors with terrific chemistry, has resulted in some iconic double acts. Here are the 10 best duos from Martin Scorsese movies.
Teddy Daniels & Chuck Aule (Shutter Island)
For all intents and purposes, at the beginning of Scorsese’s shocking psychological thriller Shutter Island, Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are a pair of U.S. Marshals who have been sent to a mental asylum on a remote island to investigate the escape of a patient.
Ruffalo does a terrific job of acting like he doesn’t know the twist is coming when he really does, opposite DiCaprio’s increasing cluelessness as the investigation turns up nothing but dead ends.
Fast Eddie Felson & Vincent Lauria (The Color Of Money)
Paul Newman won an Oscar for reprising his role as Fast Eddie Felson from The Hustler in Martin Scorsese’s belated sequel, The Color of Money. It’s not a typical Scorsese movie, but it’s competently made and, most importantly, it’s well-acted.
In the follow-up story, Felson takes on a young protégé named Vincent Lauria, played by Tom Cruise. This was one of the earliest movies in which Cruise proved his chops as a dramatic actor to critics who’d initially dismissed him as a pretty face, and the fact that he can hold his own opposite Newman is even more impressive.
Travis Bickle & Iris (Taxi Driver)
Martin Scorsese was heavily inspired by John Ford’s western masterpiece The Searchers in directing Taxi Driver. In The Searchers, Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards heads out into the Wild West to track down the Native American tribe that abducted his niece.
In Taxi Driver, Vietnam War veteran Travis Bickle returns to New York and is sickened by the rampant crime on the streets. He takes a shine to a 12-year-old prostitute named Iris, who inspires his quest for vigilante justice. Iris is so far gone that she initially rejects Travis’ help, but he takes a couple of guns to the brothel where she works anyway.
Sebastião Rodrigues & Francisco Garupe (Silence)
Silence, Scorsese’s tale of Jesuit priests bringing Catholicism to Japan, didn’t get as much attention as it deserved. It’s a beautiful film, anchored by two fantastic performances by Andrew Garfield as Sebastião Rodrigues (who was inspired by Giuseppe Chiara) and Adam Driver as Francisco Garupe.
The two actors took part in a week-long Jesuit silent prayer vigil and worked with a practicing Jesuit priest in New York in preparation for their roles. They also underwent massive weight loss, with Garfield dropping 40 lbs and Driver dropping 50 lbs to play these characters.
Sam “Ace” Rothstein & Nicky Santoro (Casino)
In their third collaboration, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci played gambling kingpins Sam “Ace” Rothstein and Nicky Santoro, respectively, in the three-hour epic Casino.
What’s fascinating about the movie is that Ace and Nicky start out in more or less the same boat, but over the course of their arcs, they take opposite routes in their lives. By the end of the story, they meet vastly different fates as a result.
Henry Hill & Tommy DeVito (Goodfellas)
At the heart of Goodfellas is the relationship between three characters: Henry Hill, Tommy DeVito, and Jimmy Conway. But since Henry and Tommy got their start together as kids when Jimmy was already a feared mobster in his twenties, it’s really their story.
This pairing is responsible for some of Goodfellas’ most iconic moments, like the “How am I funny?” scene. Tommy talks Henry into going on a double date with him because his own date won’t go out with him alone, and Henry ends up meeting his wife there.
Jordan Belfort & Donnie Azoff (The Wolf Of Wall Street)
Jonah Hill wanted to work with Martin Scorsese so much that he took a major pay cut to play Donnie Azoff in The Wolf of Wall Street. Donnie is the closest friend and confidant of the film’s subject, Jordan Belfort, and they go into business together early in the movie. Their mission statement is simple: scam investors out of their money, get rich, and live a life of ridiculous excess.
Hill has hilarious chemistry with Leonardo DiCaprio, and the pinnacle of this on-screen dynamic is the Quaaludes scene, in which Jordan discovers his phones have been wiretapped by the FBI while the two are partially paralyzed by a hallucinogenic drug and Donnie is trying to make a call.
Frank Sheeran & Jimmy Hoffa (The Irishman)
Anyone who Googled The Irishman before watching it — because, let’s face it, three-and-a-half hours is a hefty commitment — went in knowing that it was a biopic of Frank Sheeran, the man who claimed to have assassinated Jimmy Hoffa.
What they didn’t expect was the intimate friendship that Frank and Jimmy would develop for two-and-a-half hours before that shocking murder. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino are always electric when they’re in scenes together, and this might be their greatest on-screen pairing yet.
Jake & Joey LaMotta (Raging Bull)
Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci actually lived together for a few weeks before shooting Raging Bull to bring a layer of authenticity to their portrayal of brothers Jake and Joey LaMotta, and it really comes through in the rawness of their scenes.
The arc of their relationship, from their first on-screen interaction at the side of the ring to their last as Jake begs Joey for forgiveness and Joey just uncomfortably avoids his aggressive brother, is the tragic backbone of this powerful biopic.
Charlie & Johnny Boy (Mean Streets)
The duo at the heart of Scorsese’s most personal film, Mean Streets, is the most compelling in his filmography. There isn’t much of a plot to Mean Streets; instead, it’s a series of vignettes focusing on the relationship between these two characters. Johnny Boy keeps screwing up, and Charlie is left to pick up the pieces.
Robert De Niro plays Johnny Boy’s recklessness and violent nature with a gleeful intensity, while Harvey Keitel plays Charlie’s Catholic guilt and strive to do the right thing with subtle nuances for a sharp contrast.
