Mean Streets (1973)

A small-time hood aspires to work his way up the ranks of a local mob.

Director:

Martin Scorsese

Writers:

Martin Scorsese (screenplay), Mardik Martin (screenplay)

Stars:

Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, David Proval

5 wins & 5 nominations.

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
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

Storyline

The future is set for Tony and Michael - owning a neighbourhood bar and making deals in the mean streets of New York city's Little Italy. For Charlie, the future is less clearly defined. A small-time hood, he works for his uncle, making collections and reclaiming bad debts. He's probably too nice to succeed. In love with a woman his uncle disapproves of (because of her epilepsy) and a friend of her cousin, Johnny Boy, a near psychotic whose trouble-making threatens them all - he can't reconcile opposing values. A failed attempt to escape (to Brooklyn) moves them all a step closer to a bitter, almost preordained future.

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Plot Keywords:

italian american | epilepsy | bar | catholic guilt | new york | 

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Taglines:

Go to church on Sunday. Go to hell on Monday.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

14 October 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

Season of the Witch

Filming Locations:

Bowery & Bleecker St, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$32,645, 15 March 1998, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$3,132,645

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Taplin - Perry - Scorsese Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor) (uncredited)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The innovative use of the hand-held camera was largely down to the fact that the film's meager budget didn't stretch to laying down lots of tracks for all the tracking shots.

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Goofs

When Michael gets into the back seat of the car to discuss the fine German lenses that he has procured, it is obviously dusk. But in the next shot from the car's interior, it's night time.

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Quotes

Johnny Boy: Meanwhile, I lost the deal, I go outside, I'm a little depressed, now. Anyway, I wanna cut this story short, 'cause I know you don't wanna hear all this and, I know I know I know, but, I'm gonna - to make a long story short, anyway, I went to Hal Kaplan, gotta new tie and I got this shirt. Do you like this shirt? It's nice. This tie...
Charlie: Hey! Michael doesn't care if your depressed. What is he - your priest? What do go out shopping when you owe somebody money, Johnny. That ain't right.

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Alternate Versions

NBC edited 10 minutes from this film for its 1977 network television premiere.

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Connections

Referenced in HBO First Look: The Departed: Facing a Loaded Gun (2006)

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Soundtracks

I Looked Away
Written by Eric Clapton and Bobby Whitlock (uncredited)
By Derek & The Dominos
Courtesy of R.S.O. Records

User Reviews

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

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