Mean Streets (1973)

Director:

Martin Scorsese

Writers:

Martin Scorsese (screenplay) and
Mardik Martin (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

14 October 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

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

Plot:

A small-time hood struggles to succeed on the "mean streets" of Little Italy.

Plot Keywords:

Little Italy | Epilepsy | New York | New York City | Money

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Robert De Niro	...	Johnny Boy
Harvey Keitel	...	Charlie
David Proval	...	Tony
Amy Robinson	...	Teresa
Richard Romanus	...	Michael
Cesare Danova	...	Giovanni
Victor Argo	...	Mario (as Vic Argo)
George Memmoli	...	Joey
Lenny Scaletta	...	Jimmy
Jeannie Bell	...	Diane
Murray Moston	...	Oscar (as Murray Mosten)
David Carradine	...	Drunk
Robert Carradine	...	Boy With Gun
Lois Walden	...	Jewish Girl
Harry Northup	...	Soldier

Also Known As:

Season of the Witch (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

112 min | Spain:107 min (DVD edition)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Glen Glenn Sound)

Certification:

Hong Kong:III | Argentina:18 | Iceland:16 | Canada:R (DVD rating) | Brazil:16 | Australia:M | Canada:18A (video rating) | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 (re-rating) | France:-16 (original rating) | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM14 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:16 (1977) | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (re-rating) (1993) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Belmont, Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Taplin - Perry - Scorsese Productions

Trivia:

The title change from SEASON OF THE WITCH to MEAN STREETS was inspired from a Raymond Chandler line, "Down these mean streets a man must go." Film critic Jay Cocks suggested the change to Martin Scorsese, who thought it pretentious at first but eventually came to agree it was effective.

Goofs:

Continuity: During one of the pool scenes, balls disappear and change position between cuts.

Quotes:

[repeated line]
Charlie: What's the matter with you?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Life on Mars: (#1.4)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

SHIP OF LOVE

Redemption on the Lower East Side

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.