Mardik Martin (September 16, 1934 – September 11, 2019) was an American

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

of such classics as ''

Mean Streets ''Mean Streets'' is a 1973 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese and co-written by Scorsese and Mardik Martin. The film stars Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro. It was released by Warner Bros. on October 2, 1973. De Niro won the National ...

'', ''

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

'' and ''

Raging Bull ''Raging Bull'' is a 1980 American biographical sports drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, produced by Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler and adapted by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin from Jake LaMotta's 1970 memoir '' Raging Bull: My St ...

'' directed by his lifelong friend

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

and starring Robert De Niro. Mardik Martin is among the revered screenwriters on Writers Guild of America list of 101 Greatest Screenplays.

Early life

Martin Mardik was born into a family of Armenian genocide survivors that fled to Iran. They later moved to Iraq. Although his family in Iraq was wealthy, he fled the country to avoid the draft and arrived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in a penniless state.

Later life and career

In ''

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls ''Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N Roll Generation Saved Hollywood'' is a book by Peter Biskind, published by Simon & Schuster in 1998. ''Easy Riders, Raging Bulls'' is about the 1960s and 1970s Hollywood, a period of Amer ...

'',

Peter Biskind Peter Biskind (born 1940) is an American cultural critic, film historian, journalist and former executive editor of ''Premiere'' magazine from 1986 to 1996. Biography He attended Swarthmore College and wrote several books depicting life in Holl ...

’s 1998 book on the

New Hollywood The New Hollywood, also known as American New Wave or Hollywood Renaissance, was a movement in American film history from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, when a new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence. They influenced the types o ...

, the author writes that Martin had to wash dishes to pay his way through

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-United States Secretary of the Treasu ...

, where he met fellow student

in 1961. The two formed a close friendship and worked together on Scorsese's early projects such as ''

It's Not Just You, Murray! ''It's Not Just You, Murray!'' (1964) is a short film directed by Martin Scorsese. The film focuses on Murray, a middle-aged mobster who looks back at his beginnings. The film premiered at the New York Film Festival in 1966. ''It's Not Just You, M ...

'' and the semi-autobiographical ''Season of the Witch'', which ultimately became ''

''. According to Biskind, "The two young men sat in Martin's

Plymouth Valiant The Plymouth Valiant (first appearing in 1959 as simply the Valiant) is an automobile which was marketed by the Plymouth division of the Chrysler Corporation in the United States from the model years of 1960 through 1976. It was created to give t ...

and wrote. In the winter, in the cold and snow." Martin also shared writing credits on the Scorsese films ''

'' (with Earl Mac Rauch) and ''

'' (with

Paul Schrader Paul Joseph Schrader (; born July 22, 1946) is an American screenwriter, film director, and film critic. He first received widespread recognition through his screenplay for Martin Scorsese's ''Taxi Driver'' (1976). He later continued his collabo ...

). In 2014, Martin co-wrote the screenplay of the German drama '' The Cut'', which won a special mention by the Young Jury Members of the Vittorio Veneto Film Festival for its director

Fatih Akin Fatih Akin (Turkish: Fatih Akın, born 25 August 1973) is a German film director, screenwriter and producer of Turkish descent. He has won numerous awards for his films, including the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for his film '' Head- ...

at the 2014 Venice Film Festival.

Death

Martin died of unknown causes on September 11, 2019. He was found dead in his house five days short of his 85th birthday.

Awards

In 2012, Martin was honored the

Parajanov-Vartanov Institute The Parajanov-Vartanov Institute is an American film organization based in Los Angeles, California, that works to study, preserve and promote the legacy of filmmakers Sergei Parajanov and Mikhail Vartanov Mikhail Vartanov (russian: Михаил ...

"for the mastery of his pen on iconic American films" such as ''Mean Streets'' and ''Raging Bull''.Hollywood Reporter
/ref>

Early life

Later life and career

Death

Awards

Filmography

References

Further reading