Mean Streets (1973) User Reviews (345)

A look at life in NY

[innersmiff · 7/10 · 2 February 2010]

'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. They are both so watchable and make up at least half of the movie's appeal. In fact, 'Mean Streets' is an inherently watchable movie overall, helped by some fine dialogue and Scorsese's trademark energetic and involving camera-work. The main draw is the antics of the characters and their relationships rather than a high-stakes narrative. Dramatic things happen but don't relate intrinsically to the central plot: that of De Niro's character Johnny Boy, his debts to clubs, bars and old pals along with his long-suffering buddy Charlie (Keitel).

In comparison to other Scorsese films (which is inevitably going to happen if this is not your first Scorsese), it is very low on scale and as mentioned before, low on stakes. This is no gangster epic or psychological portrait but simply a 2 hour window into the streets of New York. It is certainly worth watching.

Beautiful dark atmosphere, but overall disappointing

[Sandcooler · 6/10 · 29 March 2010]

Martin Scorsese has made some brilliant movies in his life, but unfortunately this isn't one of them. I can't really call it bad, because the direction and the cinematography just drip with pure talent, but I have some major problems with the plot. Mainly, where the hell is it? The story doesn't just move at a slow pace, it appears to go in incredibly tiring loops. It starts of with Johnny Boy (a solid Robert DeNiro) owing a whole bunch of crooks money, which is a pretty riveting starting point. What does he do about it? What do the crooks do about it? Nothing, and that goes on for two hours. The whole movie appears to be Harvey Keitel endlessly saying he has to pay his debts, to which he refuses, to which he asks it again half an hour later, to which he like, makes up an excuse and goes to the movies, and all of it feels so redundant. The movie finally gets to the point in the end, but that doesn't really save it. It shows the sadness of the bad neighbourhoods in New York wonderfully, but that's really all I can say about it.

The Scorsese Template

[WriterDave · 7/10 · 2 January 2007]

Scorsese's first film, the interesting catastrophe "Boxcar Bertha," marked his birth as a director, but it was with his second feature, "Mean Streets" that we witnessed the birth of an artist. Most of "Mean Streets" is slightly unfocused with a simplistic plot based around a lot of machismo grandstanding and long bouts of boring dialog (occasionally made interesting by DeNiro's off-kilter star-making turn as Johnny-Boy), with spats of visceral violence (far less gory here than in later Scorcese pics), and a visual bravado that seems slightly less disciplined but no less entertaining than your standard Scorsese crime flick.

Despite its drawbacks (mainly due to youth and inexperience), the template was set. The opening credits (done to the tune of "Be My Baby") suck you right into the film, and the rest of the movie is peppered with Scorsese's loving treatment of popular music that would later become one of his most endearing hallmarks. The basic premise featuring Harvey Keitel as Charlie (the young hood with a heart of gold and conflicted internally by the religion of the Church and the religion of the Streets), Robert DeNiro as Johnny-Boy (the equally loved and hated loose-canon brother figure), and Amy Robinson as Theresa (the woman our hero wants to put on a pedestal as a saint but often treats like a whore), is a trifecta of archetypes we see repeated again and again in Scorsese's films (most obviously in "Casino" with the DeNiro-Pesci-Stone characters, and most subversively in "The Last Temptation of Christ" with Jesus-Judas-Mary Magdalene). The religious iconography, the brotherhood of crooks, the attraction to the gangster lifestyle, the keen eye for depicting violence in artistic and startling ways...these are displayed here in "Mean Streets" in their rawest form.

Though flawed in many ways, "Mean Streets" set the stage and laid the the template for the type of film Scorsese would perfect seventeen years later with "Goodfellas." This heralded the arrival of a new talent and a new genre, and the world of film has thankfully never been the same.

Quintessential early Scorsese, and one of De Niro's most convincing and varied roles.

[MovieAddict2016 · 23 September 2004]

The first time that Robert De Niro appears up-close in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets is to the tune of the Rolling Stones' Jumpin' Jack Flash. It's from this point forward that the movie leaves the realm of being a 'good film' and becomes 'one of the greatest films of all time.' Simply put, the energy of Mean Streets is fantastic. De Niro's flamboyant entrance is one of many iconic moments in the film, which has influenced just about every crime film made since – for good reason.

And yet ironically Mean Streets is rarely acknowledged as the masterpiece that it is, perhaps because a number of people actually forget about it. Everyone remembers Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and GoodFellas in particular, but Scorsese's breakthrough remains one of his most important and honest pieces of work, given little recognition apart from the praise by movie critics who do remember it.

Harvey Keitel, giving one of his most realistic and three-dimensional performances of all-time, plays the lonely and worried Charlie, a 20-something New York City Catholic who is haunted by his friend, Johnny Boy (De Niro), the local loner who has to jump off the sides of streets in order to dodge the local Mafia thugs he owes money to.

Mean Streets has been accused of lacking a point, and one critic calls it 'too real,' but I'd take this over most recent films any day of the week. Mean Streets doesn't have a dynamic arc like most motion pictures do – sure, there's the rising action leading up to the climax, but it doesn't move from one frame to another trying to figure out the easiest way to end the movie while managing to stress all its points in such a manner so blatant that a four-year-old could pick up the themes.

It respects its audience enough to study its characters in such a way that they are given ten times as much depth as those seen in modern films released through Hollywood. As Johnny Boy, De Niro paints the ultimate portrait of a typical street loner – a dumb kid who 'borrows money from everyone and never pays them back.' Charlie, much smarter and wiser, takes Johnny under his wing and tries to help him get a job, so that he can pay back what he owes to a local kingpin. However, Johnny is so irresponsible and stupid that he doesn't show up for work and begins fighting with the mob – leading up to an inescapable conclusion that features some very ancient themes colliding together. It's the classic tale of redemption and escaping one's past, and if the film has a point it is that some people can't change and you'll get what's coming to you, even if you've got other people helping you out.

The film does have its technical flaws, such as poor dubbing, inconsistency, and the occasional goof. It's a raw movie, filmed on a low budget by a young and far more naïve Martin Scorsese. But all his typical elements are in place, to be expanded upon later in his career.

Keitel and De Niro are superb, particularly De Niro who shows great range very early on in his career. Almost unrecognizable in shabby clothing, hats and a scrawny figure to boot, this is a role that would typically be more suitable for Christopher Walken or other charismatic character actors – but De Niro pulls off the role with intense talent, proving once again that he can handle any type of role. He's known for his psychotic roles, but in Mean Streets, he plays the opposite of Travis Bickle. Johnny Boy isn't unstable or psychopathic – he's just wild and stupid.

Keitel channels all the thoughtful consciousness of an older child, considering Johnny Boy to be a brother of sorts. He feels that if he fails Johnny, he will somehow fail himself.

Mean Streets is a careful character study that never resorts to cardboard cutout caricatures or the standard clichés of the genre. Dialogue does not exist to move action forward towards the next adrenaline-packed sequence; Mean Streets focuses on its inhabitants with such strong emotional power that it's impossible not to be caught up in its grasp. A true classic from start to finish, and undeniably a very moving film.

Is he worth the bother?

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 24 April 2015]

I was never clear at just why Harvey Keitel was putting himself out on a limb for Robert DeNiro in Mean Streets. Sure he's taken with DeNiro's cousin Amy Robinson still I'm not sure he was worth the effort.

Keitel is a small time hood in Manhattan's Little Italy who's not really into it. DeNiro is another small time hood but he's completely and psychotically out of control. He's borrowed a few grand from local loan shark Robert Romanus and Romanus wants his money. Now during the climax scene DeNiro does ask a relevant question, why after he has borrowed and stiffed everyone in the neighborhood would you lend him any money?

In fact Keitel is all that's standing between DeNiro and gangster retribution. Is it all worth it even for Amy Robinson who is an epileptic and for some reason Keitel's uncle Cesare Danova thinks that disqualifies her as a potential bride.

The story is a bit muddled but the characters especially Keitel and DeNiro are unforgettable. Mean Streets made the career of both of them and of director Martin Scorsese. Keitel has become a valued character player and DeNiro a star with an astonishing variety of roles. In fact next to John Ford/John Wayne, Martin Scorsese/Robert DeNiro is probably the most successful director/player combination in film history.

This must have been a labor of love since Martin Scorsese grew up in Little Italy grown a lot smaller since he was a kid there. No doubt Keitel, DeNiro and the rest are drawn from characters he knew. His mom Catherine Scorsese also makes an appearance as she does in many of her son's works.

I don't think Mean Streets ranks up there with Casino, The Departed, The Aviator and Goodfellas, but it's an interesting work.

The start of one of the best movie partnerships.

[pedroborges-90881 · 9/10 · 24 April 2016]

An amazing movie that talk about friends, family, business, and conflicts over religion.

Scorsese capture in a excellent way the New York of that time and also start to show the world what he could do, and Robert De Niro steal all the scenes he was in, giving one of the best performances in his career at a time when few people know who he was.

Harvel Keitel also give a good performance as a man in conflict with his attitudes, his work and the prejudices of the time.

One of the best films of the 70's and a masterpiece of cinema with one of the best director and actor of all time.

Mean Streets

[RickHarvey · 7/10 · 22 August 2010]

Both Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel are fantastic in Mean streets. I'm not a huge Robert De Niro fan as every time i see him act, i just think to myself that he Robert De Niro trying to be somebody. This is not the case in mean Streets for me. Instead he plays a kid who is young and stupid named Johnny boy. His performance is brilliant and is most likely one of his best. Keitel plays Charlie who looks out for Johhny. The opening line of the film basically tells you everything you would want to know about Charlie.

The film is gritty and shot in a documentary style with several tracking shots being carried out hand held. It takes the film 45 minutes to give you a clear plot and a clear understanding on what going to unfold. The last 20 minutes is directed perfectly with a palpable sense of suspense and is clearly the best ending you can give to this film. One negative would be that in the first half there literally no set pieces . Not a lot happens but saying this you get a clear understanding and fully engaged with the characters which makes the last 20 minutes outstanding.

It not the best film that Scorese has ever made but it clear by watching this that Mean Streets was his main starting point to his successful career

A must for Scorcese/De Niro fans

[magnie · 10/10 · 21 April 2000]

This film has been overshadowed with all the praise heaped on other Martin Scorcese/Robert De Niro films, but this is a classic which is as good as Casino or Goodfellas. It's more rough around the edges and less tightly plotted than those films, but less cold hearted, and De Niro and Keitel are amazing in these early roles. The sense of tension and danger towards the end, when the situation is spinning out of control, is done perfectly. You can see the influence of this in the films of Danny Boyle and especially Quentin Tarantino. A must for Scorcese/De Niro fans.

A Scorsese original.

[Anonymous_Maxine · 10/10 · 15 February 2005]

One of the things that I love the most about watching the old classics is when you can so clearly see the beginnings of what later became such trademarks of a director, actor, even a genre. Martin Scorsese begins a long line of films about the gangs of New York with Mean Streets, a gritty look at the underside of New York City that foreshadowed much of the same stark realism portrayed in Taxi Driver a few years later. It reminds me of the minimalist realism of films like Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, another urban classic.

Robert DeNiro plays Johnny Boy, the fast talking kid who owes money all over town and never seems to care to pay anyone back. We meet other characters who owe people money, and their apologies at not being able to pay are genuine, they realize that they're not going to get late fees added to their debt or Last Notices, they're putting their lives on the line. There is genuine fear on their side and genuine malice on the side of the people they owe money to, but Johnny Boy just doesn't seem to care.

Harvey Keitel plays Charlie Cappa, who is constantly trying to get Johnny Boy to shape up and pay off what he owes, knowing the danger that he is in and frustrated at Johnny's lack of interest or care in the fact that he owes so many people so much money. Johnny and Charlie live in the same environment but completely different worlds. Johnny holds himself in and laughs everything off, occasionally venting his frustration in quick bursts of violence, Charlie is much more contained but is tormented spiritually. While Johnny gets himself into endless debt with people that collect by any means necessary, Charlie goes to confession and holds his fingers over flames to remind himself of the dangers of the afterlife should he mess up in this one. Catholicism is a major character in this film.

The movie is set in New York City in the late 1960s, where Scorsese grew up in presumably something of a similar environment. Something must have gone differently, since he ended up one of the most famous directors in the world rather than dead like so many characters in his movies do, but he creates this environment in Mean Streets that gives an incredible view into the dangers of the life that so many people lived and continue to live there. I've never even been to New York, but having seen so many of Scorsese's films I think I can understand why the environment could have had such an impact on him that it dominated most of his career as a filmmaker.

There are some classic scenes in this movie that would have been much more widely quoted were it not for the even more quotable lines from Taxi Driver. Mean Streets, for example, is where you find the classic speech by Robert DeNiro, I'll call it the "I borrow money from everybody so I owe everybody money so I can't borrow money no more so I borrow money from you because you're the only jerkoff around here that I can borrow money without paying back!" speech. I love that one, especially the expression on his face, he's having such a great time.

But considering the world that he lives in, it's almost understandable the way he cares so little about placing himself in danger. In a life as bleak and unpromising as the one that is portrayed in this movie, it is to be expected that someone will display passive suicidal behavior. Johnny knows he's never going to go to college, he's never going to be a doctor or a businessman or drive a nice car, he's going to grow up working menial jobs and live an obscure and meaningless life, in his eyes, and that's what the movie's about.

Charlie seems to have similar feelings, looking to the Catholic Church not only as a means of salvation and spiritual fulfillment but for meaning as well. Granted, that is a very common goal for people getting involved with religion of any kind, but even more in Charlie's case. He is certainly the level-headed one between him and Johnny, but his future is not a whole lot brighter. Regardless of how much more responsible Charlie is than Johnny or how hard he tries to get Johnny to straighten out and pay off his debts, they both live in the same world, and so do their debtors. It is a world that is described in the lyrics of one of the songs in the movie –

"Have you ever had a wish sandwich? It's the kind where you take two pieces of bread and wish you had some meat."

You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets, you do it at home.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 25 August 2012]

Mean Streets is directed by Martin Scorsese who also co-writes the screenplay with Mardik Martin. It stars Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, David Proval, Amy Robinson, Richard Romanus and Cesare Danova. Plot finds Keitel as Charlie, a young Italian-American crook trying to work his way up the New York Mafia scene. But his way is blocked by Catholic guilt and his obligation to take care of loose cannon pal Jonny Boy (De Niro), who is in debt to hoods and doesn't seem to care.

A film of significant firsts. It would begin the Scorsese/De Niro relationship that served cinema so well and it laid the foundation for Scorsese's hoodlum filmic empire. Viewing Mean Streets now is an odd experience, for although there are some great things to sample, the piece undeniably seminal in the history of American cinema, it also plays as a pretty straight forward film. There are no surprises in store, the trajectory of characterisations runs true and goes exactly where you expect it too. Had I personally watched it upon release in 1973 I'm sure I would have been a bit more awed, but it very much feels over-rated now, with some critical appraisals of it appearing to pump it up more because of its importance than for any narrative quality.

As Scorsese goes for gritty realism, the story at the core lacks vibrancy. It's only when De Niro (jumping-bean) as borderline nutter Jonny Boy is doing his nutter Jonny Boy thing, does the picture actually perk up. The roll call of characters aren't engaging since they aren't fleshed out, the girl characters are badly written and the key bar-room brawl is very unconvincing. On the outside the picture is ace, opening our eyes to a scuzzy Little Italy, Scorsese a master at portraying an environment he knows so well, but it's all polish with no actual substance underneath. Tech credits are high, camera work, lighting and sound-tracking, all carry the hallmarks of future classics, but these things ultimately avert your gaze from the simplicity walking the streets down below.

Raw and decidedly honest film making, but weighted down by desperately trying to pulse with religious musings, Mean Streets could have been the masterpiece some have made it out to be. It's not, it has weaknesses that we shouldn't be blind too, even if it does showcase some incredible talents that were about to enter the annals of cinema history. 7/10

This movie is not just a good movie - It also is the movie which helped form the foundation of Martin Scorsese's later pictures.

[Malte006 · 8/10 · 21 October 2005]

Mean Streets

• "I f*uck you right where you breathe"

Directed by Martin Scorsese (1973)

Mean Streets came out in 1973 after Scorsese almost had the script under development in a decade. This is one of his first personal movies, describing the raw environment in the streets of Little Italy in NYC. We follow Charlie in the leading role and the bunch of guys around him. The hustler Johnny Boy owes a lot of money to the loan shark Tony and doesn't make his payments to him. Charlie now tries to work out a deal with Tony and is trying to get Johnny Boy to pull himself together, even though this looks like an impossible mission.

Scorsese's first motion picture Who's That Knocking at My Door and Mean Streets have many resemblances and contain the typical trademarks that Scorsese is now well known for. He almost always makes a character study of the life of lonely men, who are trying to get the best out of their situation in the asphalt jungle. Hustling, working, drinking, taking drugs etc. are very typical things to do for the persons appearing in his movies.

Mean Streets is photographed mostly with a hand hold camera, which helps create a raw look that fits pretty good to this environment. Also the movie doesn't contain an actual score. Actually songs from the director's personal music collection do work as the background music. The plot is this picture is only secondary. This is like many of Scorsese's other movie primarily a character driven story with a raw environment description.

The movie marks the start of one of the greatest director/actor collaborations ever! The role of Johnny Boy was Robert De Niro's role in a Scorsese picture, and later on he went to bigger leading roles under the director, which gave them both the reputation that they have today. Also this is Harvey Keitel's second leading role in a Scorsese picture, but after this movie Keitel and De Niro kind switched roles (see Taxi Driver).

This movie is not just a good movie - It also is the movie which helped form the foundation of Martin Scorsese's later pictures.

8/10

Gritty

[billcr12 · 7/10 · 18 July 2012]

Martin Scorcsese's early mob movie, and a warm up for Goodfella's stars Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro as Charlie and Johnny Boy, two friends with ambition to rise in the New York Mafia. Charlie is a very confused young man, as he attends a local Catholic church regularly, despite his criminal activities. The director's strict religious upbringing is evident throughout; with shots of crucifixes and statues of saints, used as the predominant background to the story.

Charlie collects debts for Giovanni, a capo, and is secretly dating Johnny Boy's cousin Teresa, who has epilepsy. Johnny has a gambling problem, and owes money to loan sharks. The two end up in a confrontation at a bar with a bookie looking to collect from John. They get into a car to escape the bad situation, and are chased by the loan shark and his associates. It turns into a standard shootout, with a predictable ending.

Scorcese always ponders the meaning of life, with predominantly Catholic overtones. I was also raised in the church, and I can respect the beautiful and iconic symbolism of the denomination ; it makes for great visuals. Mean Streets is gritty, and Keitel and De Niro are a hell of a pairing. Martin's work is never boring and alway's thought provoking.

Dead End

[pabloliveshere · 1/10 · 12 January 2018]

I'm going to give this review exactly the amount of time the film deserves, i.e. not much.

I sat through about 40 minutes of this and came to two conclusions - 1, it's boring in a dreary, uneventful way, and 2, the sound design is all over the place, with much of the dialogue lost to music.

I didn't care about any of the characters, and the pool-hall fight sequence was laughably bad in terms of choreography.

This is a classic?!?! What, because it's made by a certain director and stars certain actors?

Redemption on the Lower East Side

[judy.dean · 3 May 2000]

Mean Streets has all the characteristics we have come to associate with Scorsese - the fluid camerawork, the expressionistic lighting, the sudden explosions of violence, the eclectic soundtrack. In later films, he took cinema to new heights with the flowering of his technical skills and the broadening of his material, but Mean Streets remains unsurpassed for the emotional intensity which only a young director, passionate about film and intent on making a personal statement, could achieve.

The theme of the film is contained in the famous first line 'You don't make up for your sins in church; you do it in the streets' (a Scorsese voice-over). An extended preface which delineates the nature of the film and its characters before the narrative begins includes brief cameo scenes introducing the four protagonists (a much copied device: see, for example, Trainspotting).

Scorsese's alter-ego is played as in the earlier 'Who's That Knocking At My Door?' by Harvey Keitel, giving the performance of his young life. He is Charlie, a junior member of a Mafia family who collects debts and runs numbers, but who also has aspirations to sainthood. The other key figure is his anarchic friend, Johnny Boy, played with ferocious energy by de Niro.

Charlie is introduced coming out of confession, dissatisfied with his penance. Reciting words doesn't mean anything to him and he can't believe that forgiveness could come so easily. Deliberately burning his hand in a candle flame is a more effective reminder of the pain of hell. The camera follows Charlie from the altar into Tony's bar, a red-lit inferno, and when Johnny Boy comes in, to the tune of Jumping Jack Flash, Charlie recognises that this is the form his penance will take. Johnny Boy is the cross he must bear. 'You send me this, Lord' he says resignedly.

Johnny Boy's irresponsibility and impulsiveness make him everything Charlie, with his controlled, anxious, guilt-ridden persona, is not. The argument which follows in the back room about Johnny Boy's debts deserves its reputation as one of the great scenes in seventies cinema.

Charlie's life moves in well worn, claustrophobic circles. Hardly anyone outside his immediate circle appears in the film and other ethnic groups are viewed with suspicion. The characters seldom appear outdoors or in daylight. Charlie inhabits a world of bars, pool halls and cinemas. In the one scene he appears in sunlight, he looks ill at ease. The suit and heavy overcoat he wears (reflecting his Mafiosi ambitions) look distinctly out of place on a beach. It's significant that in this scene Teresa, his girlfriend, scorns his small-time gangsterism and challenges him to join her in moving away to a new life. But Charlie is trapped by his desire to please his uncle.

Scorsese has said that his choice in adolescence lay between becoming a priest and becoming a gangster and that he failed on both counts. Mean Streets allows him to explore that choice to devastating effect.

A debt in Little Italy

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 1 June 2014]

Mean Streets is a raw film which would raised at the time eyebrows and heckles in equal measures and showed off the embryonic talents of then rising director Martin Scorsese. He borrows his filmmaking influences such as Powell & Pressburger's Black Narcissus but as Michael Powell once remarked to him, 'there is just too much red lighting dear boy!'

However I first watched this film almost twenty years after its release and found the film hard going. Its nice to see a young Keitel and De Niro showing off their acting chops but the film felt boring and its style had been copied by other directors since that time.

Seeing the film again recently I can appreciate Scorsese trying to being a new energy to New York set films in a way that young British film makers did in the early 1960s with the kitchen sink dramas showing a rawness and verve to working class Britain.

Here is tale of low life hoods in little Italy. Keitel's Charlie mixes religious guilt with working for his Uncle who is a mobster and looking after his friend, Johnny Boy (De Niro) who is both psychotic and an idiot. Keitel has a girlfriend, Teresa who is Johnny's cousin and an epileptic but his relationship with her is furtive because his uncle disapproves of her because of her epilepsy. At one point he wants to date a black woman and again loses his nerve because of what people might think.

De Niro is a live-wire as Johnny Boy, pulling stupid stunts, getting involve in fights and generally being a jerk. He and Al Pacino were playing these kind of characters in theatres off Broadway for many years so they had a grounding on these New York street kids.

Richard Romanus and David Proval round up the main players who are more astute, determined and likely to succeed as they know Johnny Boy will just drag everybody down but Charlie does not see it.

Things come to a head because Johnny Boy owes money and is unable to pay it back and unwilling to pay it back. That is very much it plot wise. Until then its a slice of life drama as we see a microcosm of Little Italy society. Its a film that dazzles with its technical style which is typically Scorsese. However it also lacks heart which in my opinion something Scorsese will show in his later films as it leaves you cold.

early Scorsese masterpiece

[dave fitz · 9/10 · 7 August 2000]

Mean Streets was a brilliant early film by Martin Scorsese. It was his first ever collaboration with Robert DeNiro. Their very successful partnership has produced some of the best movies ever made: Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and Casino. It also helped launch Harvey Keitel to stardom.

Keitel as Charlie and DeNiro as Johnny Boy deliver great performances. Scorsese's direction is strong. Even close to 30 years ago, these three men show the talent which would eventually place them among the very best in the business. Scorsese uses a great selection of popular music in Mean Streets and that has become a trademark of his.

Mean Streets easily ranks with Scorsese's best. 9/10

My nagging girlfriend and her crazy cousin

[lastliberal · 7/10 · 12 March 2007]

You know I could stare at a blank screen for two hours when I am presented with music by the Stones, The Chantelles, The Ronnettes, The Miracles, and the Shirelles mixed with some great Italian music.

But, I didn't have to. Along with a musical score that really added dimension to the film, I got to see some over the top acting by Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel, and superb direction by Martin Scorsese.

I know that Scorses used some techniques that were original for the time as I have not seen them before. They really worked well.

I have to admit that I was looking for something along the lines of Goodfellas and was surprised that there was only one shootout in the film, but I won't complain as the story of Keitel's character and his struggle to work it out with his religion, his girlfriend, and her crazy cousin (De Niro) without getting in trouble with the Mob was brilliant.

The only criticism of the movie I have is the ending. I hate it when I don't know for sure and this one leaves you hanging.

Early Scorcese, often overlooked in favour of his later cannon of work.

[tonypeacock-1 · 8/10 · 18 November 2023]

I admit to having a fascination with the work of director Martin Scorcese and his often cast actor Robert de Niro so it is with some viewing trepidation that I went back to visit his early work from fifty years ago (at the time of this review) a film that I and countless other people of my generation have overlooked not on purpose as such but because his later cannon receives so much more kudos.

I very quickly gathered that the film is more low budget, gritty and darker than his flashier later exploits but don't let that destract you. If anything it makes it all the more a viewing pleasure. Instead of the big mafia types of other Scorcese films, Mean Streets goes further down the food chain as such to the lower tier criminals of the Little Italy area of New York City. The gangster violence is just as frenetic but with scenes more grimy, down to earth and less budgetary.

The film deals with several characters in the scene, mainly Charlie (Harvey Keitel) who knows his demons and that of his wisecracking, immature younger friend Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro) who owns several thousand dollars to loan sharks in Little Italy. Added to the mix of the screenplay is that Charlie is having a sexual relationship with Johnny Boy's cousin Teresa, who is epileptic or described callously as 'sick in the head' by one of the mafia loan sharks in one scene.

Johnny Boy is a complex character who has scenes of immaturity and manic depression in equal measure enabling De Niro to show the film viewer of 1973 upon the film's release his obvious talent. A talent that Scorcese was to put to use in his stock company.

The film's soundtrack is an ode to the musical tastes of Scorcese and a clue of what lie ahead in his directorial style.

Scenes of violence and bloodshed prevail as the film develops into a crescendo of a shoot out, car crash scene. Also look out for a great pool room brawl that are reminders of past great movies and future ones ahead.

My advice to a younger generation who may have albeit accidentally overlooked this film is to watch it and read about it. A fascinating early Scorcese film.

Very enjoyable film.

[garymundy21 · 7/10 · 31 August 2013]

Martin Scorsese's 'Mean Streets' has Scorsese, Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel on the top of their game from early in their respective careers.

An often overlooked film, there is much to enjoy for anybody interested in the first collaboration between Scorsese and De Niro.

Make no mistake about it though - whilst De Niro is captivating in his role as Johnny, it is Harvey Keitel's Charlie that holds the film together. De Niro disappears for lengthy periods. His character - a loudmouth who owes money to everybody left right and centre with no intention of paying it back - is all the better for it. You an tell they had a lot of fun filming this. There are also strong performances from supporting cast such as Richard Romanus as Michael.

With most great film makers the evidence is there in their early films and Scorsese is no different. There is some fantastic camera action going on here. There are also some well choreographed set pieces where everybody knows where they are meant to be at the precise second they need to be, all in one fluid shot with very few camera cuts or edits. The soundtrack and the lighting also really adds to the style and feel of this film.

This probably won't be for everybody however. There is little story going on - just the everyday hustle of a few small time crooks. This is in many ways is the complete opposite of the style of 'Goodfellas' and 'The Soprano's' and certainly nothing like 'The Godfather'. The biggest concerns going on are small time loan sharking business and stolen goods. Ideas are picked up then discarded shortly after.

So, watch if you're interested in seeing a master film maker at work with strong lead roles who would all go on to be part of some of the most important films of all time. See them before they became stars, in no small part due to this collaboration.

7/10.

This is what I want in a movie

[wownoah · 10/10 · 3 September 2022]

An original work of neo noir art made expressly for the screen and not connected to any type of expanded cinematic universe. It's refreshing. I like science fiction, horror, comedy, but neo noir and private detective movies are my shtick. I just cannot get enough and especially a gritty, day in the life of flick that makes me feel as though I'm experiencing the struggle of the characters on screen.

A character driven story that doesn't hold back any punches, has that low budget realism but high quality acting of Keitel and De Niro. Perfectly paired with the movie Taxi Driver in an unrivaled double feature.

Magnifique!

A Forgotten Classic

[jantonel · 7/10 · 1 September 2005]

The first time I saw this movie, I didn't get the point. Then I watched again,again and fell in love with it. Mean Streets is somewhat hard to follow at first but the second time you see it, you realize this a great movie.

You get to see the beginning of Scorsese's trademarks, like the wall to wall music, the classic rock Scorsese so frequently uses, narration by the main character, the Scorses style close up shots and the first teaming with Robert DeNiro.

DeNiro plays a crazy neighborhood kid named Johnny Boy, who is in big time debt to smalltime mafioso's. Harvey Keitel plays Charlie an upcoming crook in Little Italy who feels to make up for his sins he needs to help Johnny get a job so he can pay off his gambling debts. What makes it more frustrating for Charlie is that Johnny doesn't take his help and puts off paying up, until the inevitable happens.

Mean Streets was Scorses's, DeNiro, and I would have to say Keitel's breakthrough film. DeNiro shows like usual he can play any role and Keitel's inner conflict in this movie is spectacular. When people think of Scorses they think of Goodfellas and Raging Bull,well Mean Streets is the movie that set the mold for his style,which people forget.

Scorsese's early crime epic is one to remember.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 8/10 · 8 August 2012]

This movie is definitely not being like an usual crime-drama and those expecting at typical Scorsese classic are also wrong to do so. It's one of the earliest movies out of his career and perhaps you should see this movie more as a test-case for his future crime epics. In that regard alone this movie is already being an interesting and significant watch.

For me, it's definitely being understandable why someone wouldn't like this movie. It isn't necessarily following a main plot line, which perhaps lets the movie feel a bit messy and simplistic. And that could be even more so the case for you since the movie of course isn't being a very slick or expensive looking one. I however feel this is actually being one of the movie its greatest strengths.

Because it isn't really following a main story the movie feels more like a raw and realistic one instead. It's just about a couple of simple and average guys, trying to make it in the world of crime, in Little Italy. They are small fish and the movie is also focusing on the smaller things. It doesn't ever attempts to be more than it in fact truly is and you could say that the movie is being a very humble and honest made movie, with a notable true love and passion for the genre as well.

I hear everybody talking about Robert De Niro's performance and character in this movie but to me the true heart and center of this movie was Harvey Keitel. He's also really the one main character in this movie and his story lines are being the most important ones for the progress of it. Think everybody is talking about De Niro because he is the bigger star now and has a long history with Scorsese, which all started out with this movie but honestly, the best performance of the movie is being given by Keitel! Not saying that De Niro is bad of course in this. On the contrary! But he's getting enough attention for it already, while Keitel is being the one that gets to shine the most in this.

It's also a movie with some definitely great and powerful moments in it. The movie manages to become an affective one with some of its emotions and developments. Some moments and setups more or less got used later on by Scorsese again, for some of his far better known movies. Scorsese fans shall most likely marvel at this movie and notice great little touches and story approaches in it, for which Scorsese later on would get known and recognized for.

A great little crime movie, though not just for everybody.

8/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Young Italian Men And Their Relationships.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 29 June 2012]

It's Martin Scorsese's early film and it's choppy and a little meandering, but it stands as his introduction to a subculture he was to describe in greater detail over the next twenty years or so, and he does it with flair.

A bunch of the boys were hanging around in the Mulberry Street Saloon. Or somewhere. They all know one another. They give each other hugs and they celebrate the return of one of their own from Vietnam. It's full of ritual, and the dialog is evocative if repetitious.

"What's wrong wit chou?" "Hah? What's wrong wit CHOU?"

"Waddaya mean?" "Whaddaya mean, 'whaddaya mean'?"

The speech sometimes is strained but never difficult to understand. Medial consonants get elided. "Nothing" becomes "nun." "Business" is "biness." Sometimes -- let's face facts -- the dialog sounds improvised and fake. But the streets, the bars, the restaurants, the apartments with the crucifixes on the wall may be rich with friends, but they can turn mean too, because the bonhomie is conditional on the observance of the ritual code. You have to be a man of your word, a man of honor who pays his debts.

Robert De Niro, as Johnny Boy, doesn't pay his debts. Not only that, but he goes out of his way to publicly humiliate the respectable man to whom he owes three thousand dollars, calling him a masturbator, laughing that no one else would be stupid enough to lend him, Johnny Boy, so much money. De Niro is totally pazzo, more than at the end of "Taxi Driver." Harvey Keitel is the sensible but self-sacrificing nephew of one of the local "businessmen." With Keitel, saving Johnny Boy is almost a religious duty. His hero is St. Francis, whose feast day is celebrated with the blessings of reckless animals like Johnny Boy.

Keitel has a girl friend too, Johnny Boy's cousin. Like many of these intrigues, it's supposed to be kept secret but of course it never does and it leads to challenges and mano a mano conflict. There are a lot of fist fights in "Mean Streets" as well as a couple of shootings.

There are some clumsy shots and a few camera tricks that don't work, but it's good that the film received critical plaudits because Scorsese was to go on and do some truly splendid and highly personalized work in the years to come. Well, I ought to mention that there are a few non sequiturs too. For instance, I don't know how you get from Little Italy in Manhattan to Greenwood Lake, New Jersey, by way of Brooklyn, New York. I think this is known as anatopism, which is to space as anachronism is to time. But then this is Scorsese's world. He put it together.

Good acting, poor story.

[imdb-19548 · 3/10 · 31 October 2007]

This is a well acted and stylish film which is let down by a poor script.

Keitel is great in the lead and De Niro steals a lot of scenes as the out of control friend but the good cast are wasted.

Nothing much happens. A little action and violence but that is it. It is a slight character study of a nice guy living in a bad place but that wasn't enough to sustain my interest.

I was expecting a lot having heard the name and read some of then comments on this site as well as seeing the quality of the cast and I was extremely disappointed.

I was bored throughout.

Good film, misunderstood, under-appreciated

[jay_d_h · 30 November 2004]

Many people hated this film, they didn't see a point in it, they didn't understand why it ends the way it does. They got frustrated, gave it bad reviews, wrote it off. When I don't understand something, I generally watch it again... and again until I do understand it.

This is a fantastic film, let me explain why.

The music is great. Perfectly fits the time period and setting, I dunno how much they had to pay in royalties for the songs in this film, but I love em'.

The camera work is fantastic. There's a scene where the camera gives you charlie's viewpoint, stumbling, wobbling across the bar, lights flashing, people dancing, music blaring, then zooms out to his smiling happy face. Yeah, I know, its not the beginning to Citizen Kane, but its a great scene none-the-less, my favorite in the film. Then there's the filming of the street festival and the overall way which New York is captured so perfectly. It feels like you are really in the city, the movie has that gritty feeling to it.

The dialogue is perfect, many of it is ad libbed by Deniro and Keitel. This is the beginning of ad libbed dialogue for deniro, "You talking' to me"? There's a scene where Keitel confronts Deniro outside the bar to ask him about his debt, the exchange is perfect, it could never have been written and its executed beautifully.

The acting is also fantastic throughout.

So, great acting, great filmwork and great dialogue all come together to create a wonderfully realistic film.

Now, the end of the movie, maybe you didn't understand it, so I'll explain the film. I'll try not to spoil the ending.

OK, so Charlie does some bad things, he works for the mob after all, and he wants to repent for his sins, so, after going to church and then later seeing jonny boy in a bar he thinks that God has asked him to repent for his sins on the streets, by helping out Jonny Boy. He doesn't believe that saying a few hail mary's or confessing washes away one's sins. So enter the walking train wreck that is Jonny Boy.

Now, what type of person is Jonny Boy? He has no sense of responsibility, he does not answer to anyone, he does not obey any rules, he never does what is expected of him.

Hmm, so what type of person is Charlie? There are several scenes in the film that let you know what type of person charlie is. The statement Charlie loves everybody and everybody loves Charlie almost sums it up. Charlie wants to please everyone. But his life is full of conflict. You can't be in the mob and be religious, it just doesn't work that way. You can't hang out with guys who are racist and date an African American. These are just a few examples, but suffice to stay that Charlie wants everyone to like him, the local mob boss, his friends, his God, but he also wants to be happy and do the things he wants to do. There is conflict in all of this. Some of the other people that charlie wants to please, eg., God and the mob boss, have conflicting agendas. Some of the people that charlie wants to please conflict with what he personally wants to do with his life, eg. he is embarrassed to be dating the epileptic because he thinks it shows weakness to his friends, but he loves her and she makes him happy.

You cannot please everyone. The irony of this film, and this is a little spoiler, is that while charlie is trying to save jonny boy, he should take a few lessons from him. Jonny Boy does whatever he wants without thinking about who he might upset, or disappoint. Charlie is the complete opposite. Yeah, Jonny Boy is destructive and his life is falling apart, but the point is that the two of them represent two opposite extremes. This is why the end of the film is tragic, its the lesson that you can't make everyone happy, that life is full of conflict. How we deal with conflicts in our lives, the decisions we make, they sum up who we are as human beings, they shape our lives.

So there are many reasons why this film is great. I watch it every once in awhile and it really is one of my favorite films.