Marty, finally!

Finally, someone had the good sense to give Martin Scorcese an Adademy Award.

I didn't watch the awards and I haven't seen "The Departed" yet, but the honor is long overdue for one of the great filmmakers of all time. Scorcese is a visionary director and masterful storyteller.

In the past, he was robbed. In '76, "Taxi Driver" lost best picture to "Rocky." Scorcese wasn't even nominated for directing it. "GoodFellas" lost to "Dances With Wolves" and Scorcese lost to Kevin Costner. Give me a break.

The biggest crime, though, was in 1980 when Scorcese's masterpiece, "Raging Bull," lost to "Ordinary People" and Scorcese lost to Robert Redford. "Ordinary People" was a nice made-for-TV-like movie. "Raging Bull" was, and still is, a landmark. I just saw it again recently and it's astonishing how good it is.

Interestingly, all three of these Scorcese flicks are on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest movies ever made. Of the films that beat them for best picture, only "Rocky" is on the list.

Anyway, no sour grapes. Congrats, Marty. It's about time.