Mr Martin Scorsese has made great films, there can be no doubt about that. Sure, it took the Academy until 2006’s The Departed to give him the nod for Best Director (after five nominations, and two more since), but of the New Hollywood-era auteurs, he is among the most influential, most prolific while consistently good and seemingly untroubled by the #metoo movement. But even if the often-lengthy running times (his new effort, The Irishman, clocks in at 210 minutes, which might prove a challenge for the algorithms of Netflix, who financed the project), it is probably moments, rather than entire films, that Mr Scorsese is best known for.

This is not a fact that the director shies away from, given his 2015 book Martin Scorsese In Ten Scenes. In this, he points to the Copacabana scene in Goodfellas as his standout moment, a single-shot set piece, which the director describes as being “choreographed like a ballet”. But for our money, his use of Derek and the Dominos’ “Layla” to provide the turning point in the same movie, when the paranoia starts to seep in and the bodies begin to spill out into everyday life, is on a par.

For students of cinema, these two scenes could provide numerous lessons in the art of filmmaking. But for the rest of us, there are more general pointers for everyday life to glean from Mr Scorsese’s work. Here, then, are three key moments from Mr Scorsese’s canon and what you can learn from them.

Music plays a big part in Mr Scorsese’s back catalogue, and it’s no surprise that the director has gone on to make a string of rock documentaries, including one on Mr George Harrison and two on Mr Bob Dylan. But perhaps more than any other act, The Rolling Stones loom large over the filmmaker’s oeuvre. The first film written and produced by Mr Scorsese, and the first to tap into his own experiences of growing up in Little Italy, 1973’s Mean Streets became a calling card for the director’s style. It was also his first time working with then up-and-coming actor Mr Robert De Niro. Mr De Niro’s entrance in the film has gone some way to cement the place of both men in American cinema. First seen tucking his shirt into his waistband, Mr De Niro’s Johnny Boy introduces himself as the sidekick who steals the show, swaggering into the bar to the sound of the Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, flanked on either side by a woman. Almost half the film’s budget went on clearing its soundtrack, which, in contrast to small-time gambler Johnny Boy’s shaky investments in the film, now seems like money well spent.

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In his 2018 book Good Advice From Goodfellas, writer Mr DX Ferris pulled some 130 life hacks from Mr Scorsese’s 1990 mob opus Goodfellas. If you’re thinking of starting your own business, there are no doubt a few nuggets to extract from the rise of Mr Ray Liotta’s Henry Hill – don’t get high on your own supply is a lesson the mobster should’ve gleaned himself from Scarface, but don’t get on the wrong side of Mr Joe Pesci is one from his own personal experience. Beyond tips for dealing with the rapid expansion of trading operations, us schmucks should really take on board the importance of a good meal. Of course, nothing is a patch on your own mother’s cooking – Mr Scorsese’s own mom, Ms Catherine Scorsese, even appears in the film as Tommy’s mother. Having worked up an appetite disposing of Billy Batts’ body, at least two of them appreciate her home-cooked spread. But there comes a time – perhaps when you’re doing time – when a mother’s son will have to fend for himself. A wiseguy should know how to cook, even with limited resources (or know how to improve those resources). And you should certainly learn how to chop garlic the proper way – with a razor blade.

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A tyro of Ms Stella Adler’s method school of acting, Mr Robert De Niro built a reputation for the lengths he went to while preparing for many of his early roles. The final sequence in 1980’s biopic Raging Bull showed Mr De Niro as bloated boxer Mr Jake LaMotta, reciting lines from On The Waterfront: “I coulda been a contender”. But Mr De Niro himself really could have been – not only gaining 27kg to portray the boxer in his later years, the actor threw himself into the boxing ring, coached by Mr Jake LaMotta himself. Entered into actual fights, the actor won two out of three bouts against professional opposition in a Brooklyn showcase, leading Mr LaMotta to call him one of the top 20 middleweights of all time.

Three years later, Mr De Niro applied the same gusto to his portrayal of Rupert Pupkin, the aspiring stand-up comedian and obsessive fantasist in Mr Scorsese’s The King Of Comedy (a touchstone for this year’s Joker). First, Mr De Niro developed a “role reversal” technique, stalking his own fanatical followers and plying them with questions (not without risk, given that would-be Mr Ronald Reagan assassin Mr John Hinckley was said to have been inspired to attempt killing the president after watching Taxi Driver). But crucially, the actor also took to the stand-up circuit, taking copious notes and reportedly testing out material on stage. Pupkin’s routine in the film is, to put it nicely, serviceable. Mr De Niro tried his hand at stand-up again in 2016’s The Comedian, but is perhaps more at home in a boxing ring.

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