From one of the world's most acclaimed directors comes an absorbing and informative look at American film and its practitioners, from silents to the movies of the 1970s, and how it shaped Martin Scorsese's own artistic vision.

Scorsese revisits all kinds of movies that had strong influences and effects on him - not only the prestige titles from major directors and studios - but also the lesser praised B-movies and other undervalued genres. What he responds to - and celebrates - is film itself: the movies that make fullest use of the medium's potential and the directors who created them.

Throughout the book, interviews, film stills and dialogues are used to illustrate each chapter's overriding theme. Scorsese shows us the many different guises a film director must assume: that of storyteller, illusionist, smuggler and iconoclast.

Through an examination of some of American film's most enduring genres - Westerns, Musicals, films noirs, Gangster Films, to name a few - we see the growth and lasting influence of older movies not only on the work of Scorsese but also on that of other directors.