Welcome back to Great Americans, a countdown to our country’s 250th birthday. We’re bringing you a writer we love on an American they love, every weekday between now and July 4. Previously, Will Rahn wrote about the Kennedys—the family America just can’t quit. Today, comedian Colin Quinn pays tribute to Martin Scorsese, who knows better than ever to point his camera west of the Hudson River.
—The Editors
I love Martin Scorsese because he’s a great example of states’ rights. Because the Founding Fathers understood one thing: Where you were born, that’s where you died. People live in Ohio. They are Ohioans. That’s it. And if you leave to go west, you don’t come back.
Martin Scorsese doesn’t make movies about New York—he paints moving masterpieces set in New York. He makes a fire escape on Kenmare Street look like The Garden of Earthly Delights. Every stoop or fire hydrant his camera catches is a love poem. That should be enough for anyone, right? To have a place they are from and be able to convey the beauty of it to the world.
