Scorsese: The Irishman
April 29, 2026
Martin Scorsese: Maestro of Cinema
A stunning epic panorama of mid-century America, seen through the youth-to-old age viewpoint of Mob hitman Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), right hand man to top Teamster Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). Mafia bosses (Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel), Kennedy, Nixon, Watergate, are evoked, but the intimate drama center’s on Sheeren's family, and the consequences of the way he's spent his time.
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Wednesday, April 29, 2026
Scorsese seeks the truths of human nature wherever he can find them, and he welcomes the input of friends and colleagues. Leonardo DiCaprio introduced the book and idea of doing The Wolf of Wall Street to Scorsese, and his lifelong friend Robert De Niro brought source books for Raging Bull and The Irishman. Scorsese was seventy-seven when he made The Irishman, and the film opens with aged Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) looking back over his life and vividly eventful times. As a post-World War II trucker who liked to bend the law, Sheeran was recruited into organized crime by Mob boss Russell Bufolino (Joe Pesci came out of retirement for the film). Sheeran eliminates problematic people in professional style, and becomes bodyguard and close friend of the immensely powerful Teamsters Union boss Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). Then mobster Angelo Bruno (Harvey Keitel) enters the picture needing more work to be done. Scorsese immerses us in a gripping panorama of mid-century American history (the Kennedys, Cuba, Nixon, Watergate) as Sheeran, Bufolino and Hoffa shift alliances and influences while Robert Kennedy tries to convict the corrupt Hoffa. Scorsese, in his film world rich in period manners and style, seeks the intimacy of human interactions. Sheeran accedes to the wishes of powerful people, but not those of his family. His daughter Peggy (Anna Paquin) a nearly silent, disapproving witness of her father’s secret life, is the film’s moral center, and she gravitates towards Hoffa’s human warmth and joie de vivre. Hoffa disappeared in 1975, and the world is still mystified. Frank Sheeran has some answers. Young Scorsese was drawn towards the priesthood, and became a filmmaker, stirred by “the nurturing aspect of the church.” Set on understanding himself and humankind, he contemplates Frank Sheeran, a sinner to be sure, with compassion. Scorsese, a master of using music in his films, frames The Irishman with The Five Satins’ “In the Still of the Night.” He says, “The still of the night: it’s clandestine, it’s love, danger, everything. That was the movie, that song.”
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- Principal Cast: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro
- Country: USA
- Year: 2019
- Running Time: 209 min.
- Producer: Gerald Chamales, Robert De Niro, Randall Emmett, Gabriele Israilovici
- Screenplay: Steven Zaillian
- Cinematographers: Rodrigo Prieto
- Editors: Thelma Schoonmaker
- US Distributor: Netflix