Ed. David Thompson & Ian Christie. Introduction by Michael Powell. 
 
Faber and Faber: 1989. Hardcover in a jacket. Octavo. Wrinkling and small folds on the jacket. Bumping along the top of the boards and on their corners. Text block edges are sunned but the text is clean. A faint smoker's smell from the pages. 178 pages. Very good. 
 
Much as book talk may like to deny it, anthologies and collections aren't definitive declarations of an artist's or movement's output but reflections of publishing at the time. But in this case, that makes this book by/on Scorsese quite exciting. Against the 1980s rise of the religious right, Scorsese finally makes The Last Temptation of Christ, and this round up of his career is not just the candy store for film lovers but a sophisticated understanding of Scorsese's career in terms of risk: risking life, money, and artistic cred to pursue the making of great films. 
 
"I'm dealing with this urban existence. I'm not like Thoreau. I don't go to Walden. When I think about it, I say, 'Well,  maybe that's the thing to do, that's the way you should be.' But maybe prayer is really dealing with what you have in the home, dealing with your family, and how you raise your children, how you relate to your wife. However, I still find these remarkable men who go on spiritual quests very romantic."