Watch Mean Streets online, or on DVD (1973)

Mean Streets

1973

Overall rating: 3.5 out of 5

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You don't make up for your sins in church; you do it in the streets; you do it at home. The rest is bulls--t, and you know it. Returning to the autobiographical milieu of his 1968 debut Who's That Knocking at My Door? for his third feature, Martin Scorsese examined the daily struggles of a wannabe hood to keep his morals straight on the streets of Little Italy. Driven equally by his wish to become a respectable gangster like his uncle (Cesare Danova) and his desire to live his life like St. Francis, Charlie (Harvey Keitel) takes on his energetically unhinged friend Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro) as his own personal penance, intervening to get Johnny Boy to pay off a debt to the local loan shark Michael (Richard Romanus). Despite his promises to his epileptic girlfriend Teresa (Amy Robinson) that they will move out of Little Italy once he strengthens his position in his uncle's world, Charlie's involvement with Johnny Boy further ensnares him in the neighborhood. When Johnny Boy decides to mouth off to Michael rather than pay him, Charlie, Johnny Boy, and Teresa try to flee Michael's murderous anger (and an assassin played by Scorsese), forcing Charlie to realize that the rules of the streets do not mesh with absolution. Whereas fellow film school generation director Francis Ford Coppola transformed the Hollywood gangster movie into metaphorical epics about the Mafia and capitalism in The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974), Scorsese revised the genre in the opposite direction, focusing on the gritty minutiae of daily life and drawing from personal memory. Combining documentary-style realism (even though most of the film was shot in L.A.); kinetic editing and camera movement; and expressionistic lighting, angles, and film speed, Scorsese presents an intimate picture of the trivial incidents and latent violence of Charlie's and Johnny Boy's world, naturalistically unfolding their experiences rather than simply explaining what motivates them. They lead a claustrophobic, petty existence that Scorsese and screenwriter Mardik Martin witnessed growing up in Little Italy, complete with a soundtrack of hit songs like Be My Baby and Jumping Jack Flash that had poured out of neighborhood radios. Mean Streets opened at the New York Film Festival to excellent notices and played strongly in New York but failed to duplicate that level of business elsewhere. Even so, Mean Streets established Scorsese and De Niro as formidable young talents and marked the beginning of a long-running and fertile collaboration that continued in such films as Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983), and Goodfellas (1990). Scorsese's exceptional grasp of the texture of day-to-day life, the rhythm and cadences of street talk, and cinema's visual and aural possibilities makes Mean Streets one of the pivotal films of the 1970s, as well as of Scorsese's career, and an influence on such future filmmakers as Spike Lee and Quentin Tarantino, among many others.~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Mean Streets details

Formats:	18 DVD, LOVEFiLM Instant
Starring:	Cesare Danova, Jeanne Bell, Harvey Keitel, David Proval, Richard Romanus, Robert De Niro
Director:	Martin Scorsese
Genre:	Drama - Crime
Studio:	UNIVERSAL PICTURES UK
Collections:	Drama, Gangs & Cartels, HD Films, Just Arrived

Title	Runtime	Certificate
Mean Streets	1hr 47 mins	18

LOVEFiLM Instant Information

Run time:	1 hour 47 minutes
Rental release:	To be confirmed

Name	Discs
Mean Streets	18 Feature

DVD Information

Run time:	1 hour 43 minutes
Rental release:	01 Jan 2001
Main languages:	English

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Most helpful review Mean Streets

One Mean Film!!

By a customer from Liverpool, England , 09 Jul 2004

[Highly rated reviewer]

Robert Deniro's introduction into the world of Martin Scorecese is a classic. Johnny Boy showed the kind of talent that was to come from one of the world's leading actors. The casting is brilliant and the characters and story line completely believable for this New York set story. One of the coolest movies ever made. A must for any Scorcese fan!!
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Simple but brilliant !!!

By chiquitou (9 reviews) , 23 May 2013

Very good film, even if I prefer Harvey Keitel (Charlie) to Robert de Niro (Johnny boy) in terms of playing. This film directed by Scorcese is very brilliant !!!
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Goes nowhere...

By Timmo1 (1 review) , 12 Dec 2012

Really slow build up, as with most Scorsese, good cast, but goes nowhere - really boring... No action apart from 2 or 3 bar fights...
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mean boys

By a customer , 30 Nov 2012

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS Show review anywayHide

i wanted more with vinnie jones and jason statham in it football film about prison in mates it was awesome not mean streets
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'Mean Streets' - A big reputation it does not deserve!

By a customer , 18 Nov 2012

A surprisingly dull film which at least contains plenty of decent performances as you would expect from the talent involved. There are a lot of pointless cross-cutting, dolly shots and other cinematic techniques used and there seems to be almost no sense of drama in most of the scenes. Martin Scorsese showed more of what he is made of in future films such as 'Taxi Driver' (1976), 'Raging Bull' (1980) and 'Goodfellas' (1990). However, 'Mean Streets' looks very dated and sounds like an amateur film. The legacy of 'Mean Streets' (and 'American Graffiti' in the same year), it is one of the first films to use classic pop songs as the soundtrack but it is used quite poorly despite years of praise and used unsparingly by budding filmmakers to this day. 'Mean Streets' seems to enjoy a massive reputation it does not deserve. Over-rated.
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Unflinching and gripping film making

By hyrkiel (2 reviews) , 02 Nov 2012

An attempt to engage with the grit and complexity of immigrant city life and its myriad of social obligations.

What happens when ambition and family ties come into conflict with love and friendship?

The cinematography does feel a little dated and disjointed at times, but there is no doubt that it was quite influential. It certainly does not detract from the strong story telling and even adds to the period feel of the piece.
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