Robert Deniro Movie:

Editorial Review:
After Martin Scorsese went to Hollywood in 1972 to direct the low-budget Boxcar Bertha for B-movie mogul Roger Corman, the young director showed the film to maverick director John Cassavetes and got an instant earful of urgent advice. "It's crap," said Cassavetes in no uncertain terms, "now go out and make something that comes from your heart." Scorsese took the advice and focused his energy on Mean Streets, a riveting contemporary film about low-life gangsters in New York's Little Italy that critic Pauline Kael would later call "a true original, and a triumph of personal filmmaking." Starring Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel in roles that announced their talent to the world, it set the stage for Scorsese's emergence as one of the greatest American filmmakers. Introducing themes and character types that Scorsese would return to in Taxi Driver, GoodFellas, Casino, and other films, the loosely structured story is drawn directly from Scorsese's background in the Italian neighborhoods of New York, and it seethes with the raw vitality of a filmmaker who has found his creative groove. As the irresponsible and reckless Johnny Boy, De Niro offers striking contrast to Keitel's Charlie, who struggles to reconcile gang life with Catholic guilt. More of an episodic portrait than a plot-driven crime story, Mean Streets remains one of Scorsese's most direct and fascinating films--a masterful calling card for a director whose greatness was clearly apparent from that point forward. --Jeff Shannon

Mean Streets [Region 2] Reviews:
Several story lines running concurrently in Italian barrio
2009-09-07 - Mean Streets (1973) is an ambitious project, for which a lot of
filming talent, energy and acting talent was expended. To a certain
degree, it comes up short in architectural aspects (the story) and
is somewhat unfocused in terms of what it's about.

There's several story lines running concurrently: a story about the
mob (revolving around Harvey Keitel's character and his uncle, with
a night club, loan sharking, a collector of illegal debts), a story
of a total fool, (a character played by De Niro), and also that of
a nostalgic recounting of young men exploring the limits of night
entertainment, bearing in mind cultural, social and religious
limitations. Brawls, drinking, profanity, confrontations occur.

The entertainment value as well as the time expended (2 hours) is
questionable, in terms of exposing a compulsive gambler, who is
irrational, heavily indebted, and wreckless, defined as a mook.

Further, over 2/3 of the soundtrack is with the Supremes, from the
Beatlemania era, thereby dating the move. The music works and
helps enhance it's American-ism and counter its ethnocentrism.

Conversely, the mixture of reminescing about one's youth, pals,
nightclubs, and antics in between a backdrop of the mob and
nightlife is valid for many.

The film is deep with Italian American aspects, such as the San
Gennaro parade in Manhattan in the 2nd week of September,
neighborhood clubs, restaurants, pool halls and venues that the
locals cherish, characterizing individuals who don't adhere to the
straight-and-narrow. It shows some controversial moments as the
ethnic Italians judge, and filter anything and everything that is
not from their close-knit neighbood, such as people and business
relations, with their own value system.

The presentation is wide-screen, with subtitles, with a very good
filming quality, considering the numerous night and indoors scenes.

The film suggests a habit of the street being the rightplace to
acquire cheap commodities, either smuggled or obtained through
some other means, such as tobacco, narco substances, etc.

Loan sharking, the misery of debtors and the actions of the
collectors of illegal debts, culminating in shootings, is laid out
in plain view. Keitel's character, and others, are well aware of
social etiquette, and their own religious values when face-to-face
with fellow human beings, which is a challenging paradox to resolve
in face of violence and daily stuggles.

At no time does the budget or lack thereof, become noticeable over
duration of the work.

They don't make movies like this anymore
2009-08-28 - This movie is basically the opposite of the polished epics Scorsese is making today. I actually like this better than his latter gangster epic Casino, but not as much as I like Goodfellas. Some truly amazing sequences with unforgettable characters are set to the wonderful pop/rock soundtrack. Check it out; Scorsese and DeNiro don't make films like this anymore and may never again (though The Departed was a nice return to form for Scorsese).

Ivan Rorick


Young but growing
2008-12-14 - A film that is very problematic. It is not that old but the action is set in quite an older period, yet Robert de Niro looks like a young actor just out of drama school trying to imitate his mentor Robert de Niro himself, an older version of himself in a way. The film has little depth actually. We all know you must not play with the law of the street that the bad boys of the underworld are imposing onto those who are dumb enough not to be blind and what's more who want to have their share of the cake they have not contributed to kneading, baking and glazing. The real point is that a few thousand dollars become a monumental debt when the borrower becomes dumb enough to pretend in the lender's face and in front of quite a few witnesses he will never pay back because the lender is a dumb idiot. The end is signed in that declaration. Death. And death again and again on two innocent acolytes. The film has essentially one interest: the young de Niro and how he is already building his artistic texture, a texture he will never lose nor change. I guess good whisky gets better by aging, provided of course it ages in the proper vessel, vat or barrel.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines


City Life
2008-07-26 - I have seen this film over and over. It reminds me of my youth growing up in Brooklyn, NY and the characters one meets in his life time. Great film

"You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets."
2008-04-28 - Orson Welles said that a director's first film was always his best because he would put more into it and hadn't got into bad habits like developing a style yet. Mean Streets may not be Scorsese's first film, but it otherwise bears out Welles' words. Set in New York's Little Italy, Harvey Keitel plays Michael, who exists on the fringes of crime and whose dreams of managing a restaurant his money-lending uncle is about to take over are threatened by his affair with his epileptic cousin (Amy Robinson) and his terminally unreliable childhood friend Johnny Boy's pressing debts.

As with Goodfellas, it is plot-lite and style heavy, but where in the latter the style dominated, here it has a rough-cut and ready-dubbed feel that energises the film and accurately reflects the precarious state of the characters, be it financial, mental or moral. All the trademarks are here - the tracking shots down bars, the sudden explosions of violence, a popular music soundtrack that exists as much within the film as over it, the concern with incompatibility of religion with everyday life - but here they are fresh and integral to the film rather than carefully stage-managed.

If De Niro's unstable Johnny Boy now looks a bit too much like barnstorming with many of the tricks he has since pretty much worn out through over-use, Keitel's diplomatic lead and the astonishingly natural performances from the supporting cast are the real glue that holds the film together and convince us we are eavesdropping on real lives.

Filled with astonishing moments Mean Streets remains one of the few key American films of the early Seventies that still grabs your undivided attention with none of its original power diluted by time and imitation.