Martin Scorsese's prospects of finally winning the Oscar for best director has received another significant boost now that he has won the Directors Guild of America (DGA) award for his work on The Departed. The DGA winner has gone on to collect the best director Oscar in 52 of the past 58 years.

This was Scorsese's seventh DGA nomination, after Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, GoodFellas, The Age of Innocence, Gangs of New York and The Aviator.

"I just wanted to make a good film and that people would go and see it and enjoy the film," Scorsese said with his trademark rapid-fire delivery. "I did not think I'd be standing here tonight." And he joked: "It was the first picture I'd ever done with a plot."