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Dec 31, 2003 · Martin Scorsese’s “Mean Streets” is not primarily about punk gangsters at all, but about living in a state of sin. For Catholics raised before Vatican II, it has a resonance that it may lack for other audiences. The film recalls days when there was a greater emphasis on sin--and rigid ground rules, inspiring dread of eternal suffering if a sinner died without absolution.The key words in ...
- Sleepers
The opening words of Barry Levinson's “Sleepers” are, “This...
- State of Grace
"State of Grace" is not quite sure which is worse - murder,...
- Sleepers
- Charlie and Johnny Boy’S Strained Friendship Is Still Relatable
- Scorsese’s Awesome Soundtrack Is Still Great
- The Deeply Personal Portrait of Life in Little Italy Is Engaging
- Sidney Levin’s Razor-Sharp Editing Still Stands Up
- The Pool Hall Fight Is Still Thrilling
- The Themes of Catholic Guilt Are Still Relevant
- The Final Scene Remains Haunting
The central dynamic in Mean Streets is the strained friendship of Charlie, a young gangster played by Harvey Keitel, and Johnny Boy, his reckless friend played by Robert De Niro. Johnny owes money all over town and picks fights with the loan sharks who try to collect his debts. He’s a total liability, and he just keeps making things worse for himse...
Like Quentin Tarantino and Edgar Wright, Martin Scorsese is renowned for his use of needle-drop moments on the soundtrack. A handpicked classic from Scorsese’s prized record collection will provide the perfect accompaniment for a given scene, often juxtaposing a whimsical melody against shockingly violent images. RELATED: 10 Best Uses Of Rolling St...
After having his vision compromised by meddling financiers in his previous movie Boxcar Bertha, Scorsese made his next movie a deeply personal portrait of the life he knows. Like many of Scorsese’s subsequent movies, Mean Streetsis an intimate snapshot of the Italian-American community in New York’s Little Italy neighborhood. A movie that follows t...
From beginning to end, Mean Streets is brilliantly edited. Sidney Levin, the editor of such ‘70s classics as Nashville and The Front, doesn’t waste a second of runtime in Mean Streets. His cuts move seamlessly from one vignette to the next, while structuring the scenes in such a way that the movie holds up as a complete piece. Levin spends just eno...
Midway through Mean Streets, a fight erupts in a pool hall between two gangs. This sequence is still just as thrilling today, thanks to the game efforts of a cast beating each other up and Scorsese’s unparalleled craft behind the camera. From the kinetic energy of the handheld cameras frantically following the action around the room to the juxtapos...
Scorsese’s Catholic upbringing has heavily influenced his work in cinema. He’s made a handful of overtly religious movies, like The Last Temptation of Christ and Silence, but even his non-religious movies tend to have strong religious overtones. Toward the end of The Irishman, Frank Sheeran starts regularly seeing a priest. In Goodfellas, Karen cov...
At the end of Mean Streets, Charlie, Johnny, and Teresa successfully escape from the neighborhood and seem to get a happy ending. And then, a gunman in a car that’s been tailing them (played by a cameo from Martin Scorsesehimself) opens fire, bringing the car to a halt. Charlie and Teresa are left in critical condition, while Johnny’s fate is ambig...
Scorsese got the same feel in his first feature, “Who’s That Knocking at My Door?” (1967). “Mean Streets” is a sequel, and Scorsese gives us the same leading actor ( Harvey Keitel) to assure the continuity. In the earlier film, he was still on the edge of life, of sex, of violence. Now he has been plunged in, and he isn’t equal to ...
Mean Streets is a powerful tale of urban sin and guilt that marks Scorsese's arrival as an important cinematic voice and features electrifying performances from Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro. A ...
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Oct 12, 2023 · Mean Streets is a great example of the opposite tradition: the ordinary worm’s-eye-view of the mafia, which was to lead to Scorsese’s GoodFellas and David Chase’s The Sopranos, stories of ...
'Mean Streets', the earliest Scorsese film people have heard of, is the result of an on-form film maker, telling a personal story. One thing to immediately note about 'Mean Streets' is the performance of our two leads, Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro, both looking young and are full of energy. They deliver the goods, big time.
Mean Streets is a 1973 American crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, co-written by Scorsese and Mardik Martin, and starring Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel. It was produced by Warner Bros. The film premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 2, 1973, and was released on October 14. [3]
