As you would expect, Scorsese is an energetic speaker with plenty to say. The emphasis of the commentary is largely on the period in which the film is set, however - so those wishing for anecdotes about the actors or the film's troubled production history may well be disappointed.

Even so, this is leagues better than the average track.

I beg to differ. It is not much better than average. Although it is nice that he spends so much time gabbing about the history rather than the usual lame anecdotes about stars and their demands. Still, the pretty frequent gaps in the commentary are incredibly annoying.

A good chat by Scorsese. Occasionally, the pitch of his voice changes multiple times mid-sentence which makes me believe the track was cannibalized from multiple sources. It's not screen specific so you won't hear many anecdotes on what's happening on screen but as one of the previous reviewers said, he gives us a good lesson on the history of the project and we get tons of interesting facts.

One of the best parts of most Scorsese DVDs is that he almost always offers us a commentary with the movie with his voice and often others. Often, though, he doesn't come off very well. Still, since he was so obviously energetic about the filming of this project, he has much to say. Nothing here really hits on some of the deeper meanings of the film (especially near the end, where one will wonder why Marty doesn't say more, considering how powerful it is.) Still, Scorsese gives a decent commentary worth listening to, despite the long length of the film.

I’ll agree that this is just an average track. If you want to know more about the history of the Five Points and New York culture itself during the setting, then this is for you. But don’t expect a lot of amusing stories about the film.

Disappointing, not just because it is Scorsese, but because it is a film he clearly was obsessed about making, and it contains so much that he cares about. Clearly this was pieced together from interviews rather than an actual running commentary. Which is too bad. We deserved better, and you would think Scorsese would want to deliver an incredible commentary.

Still a good hour of this three hour commentary is worth listening to, just for the history he tells. A little about the production, but not as much you would think. A tiny bit about the actors.