Martin Scorsese has never been shy about pointing out his influences. The work of John Cassavetes infused the early spirit of rebellion in the likes of Who’s That Knocking At My Door and Mean Streets, the wave of change in the European cinema in the late 1960′s that brought with it the New Hollywood can be seen in the visceral, broken frames of Taxi Driver, and a childhood spent in a New York theatre watching MGM musicals can be seen in New York, New York. Yet, and I’m saying this as a major fan of Martin Scorsese, I was never aware of quite how much the work of Elia Kazan inspired the younger filmmaker.

I’m not saying that the influence of Kazan isn’t evident in the work of Martin Scorsese, it is, and perhaps so in a manner more lucid than any of those other influences I’ve mentioned just now, yet it is so deep, and so cerebral that it almost goes without saying. It needed pointing out for it to be noticed.

When highlighted by Scorsese himself it all seems so obvious. Films like On The Waterfront couldn’t fail to connect with a young Scorsese, being that they were set within his world. Unlike the cinemascope fantasties that formed a large portion of the cinema of the 1950′s and 1960′s, Kazan’s films were ground in a reality familiar to Marty, and almost akin to something of a subconscious inspiration to the younger filmmaker.

With A Letter To Elia Scorsese has produced a work that is as personal an expression for ones gratitude to another as I have seen in the mainstream American cinema. While not as emotionally raw as something made wholly independently, this film stands above the typical studio sanctioned celebration of a passed filmmaker. Scorsese’s closing remarks, concerning the fact that he never felt ever in a position to tell Kazan just how much his work effected him comes from a genuine place, with Scorsese voice directing the tone wholly. The footage of Scorsese and De Niro standing with Kazan as he received his controversial Lifetime Achievement Academy Award is one of the images most keenly remembered from the film, a scene of friendship in-spite of perceptions.

At times the film does almost play out like an extended spin-off from Scorsese’s earlier A Personal Journey Through American Cinema, although the director does reach new heights of emotional gratitude towards Kazan. I guess the magic of the extraordinarily personal nature of this particular film might be lost if he chooses to do so, but a part of me would really like to see Scorsese produce similar films on the other filmmakers that inspired him. It beggars belief that Marty hasn’t yet put together a work celebrating the life of John Cassavetes (although the existence of Charles Kiselyak’s A Constant Forge no doubt renders Cassavetes as a filmmaker not necessarily in need of a definitive work).

In the end though, A Letter To Elia achieves what I suspect was Marty’s intention all along; He had me longing for new theatrical releases and full restorations of the likes of East Of Eden, A Face In The Crowd and America, America, in turn giving a new generation of moviegoers the  opportunity to take in the works that so inspired one of the worlds current great filmmakers.