Martin Scorsese, the director of ''Gangs of New York,'' had never won an Oscar, and he and Miramax had been campaigning hard for him to win one this year -- so hard that they may have alienated some voters. Still, when another directing great who had never won -- Roman Polanski -- was named best director for ''The Pianist'' (a shocker, since it was thought that the Academy wouldn't honor a man who couldn't attend the ceremony without getting arrested on 25-year-old statutory rape charges), Scorsese was the first to stand and lead an ovation for the absent winner.