Before The Departed, there was Goodfellas .  Before Goodfellas, there was Raging Bull.  Before Raging Bull , there was Taxi Driver and Mean Streets. But way before that, there was The Big Shave .

Tonight's your last chance to catch a program of five short films by Martin Scorsese, one of the great American directors to emerge from the near-collapse of Hollywood in the 1970s.

[caption id="attachment_12903" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="From The Big Shave (1968)"][/caption]

Spanning a period of 15 years in Scorsese's early career (1963-1978), the program reveals a less-familiar side of this film titan.  Instead of gangsters and prizefighters, it's comedy, documentary, ethnic identity and protest film.

The program includes Italian American (1974), The Big Shave (1968), American Boy (1978), What's A Nice Girl Like You Doing In A Place Like This? (1963) and It's Not Just You, Murray! (1964) and plays at 6:30 and 9pm at the Grand Illusion .

This post brought to you by The Northwest Film Forum