A small-time hood tries to keep the peace between his friend Johnny and Johnny's creditors.A small-time hood tries to keep the peace between his friend Johnny and Johnny's creditors.A small-time hood tries to keep the peace between his friend Johnny and Johnny's creditors.
- Awards
- 5 wins & 5 nominations
Victor Argo
- Mario
- (as Vic Argo, Victor Argo)
Murray Moston
- Oscar
- (as Murray Mosten)
The Movies of Martin Scorsese
The Movies of Martin Scorsese
From Who's That Knocking at My Door to Killers of the Flower Moon, see some of our favorite stills from Martin Scorsese's films
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFrancis Ford Coppola contributed money to the budget of the film.
- GoofsThe end credits on the DVD incorrectly list David Carradine as "Oscar" and Robert Carradine as "Drunk".
- Quotes
Martin Scorsese: You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it.
- Alternate versionsNBC edited 10 minutes from this film for its 1977 network television premiere.
- ConnectionsEdited into American Cinema: Film Noir (1995)
- SoundtracksJumpin' Jack Flash
Written by Mick Jagger (as M. Jagger), Keith Richards (as K. Richards) (uncredited)
By The Rolling Stones
Courtesy of ABKCO Records
Featured review
The Scorsese Template
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.
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.
helpful•6630
- WriterDave
- Jan 2, 2007
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Season of the Witch
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $500,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $32,645
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $32,645
- Mar 15, 1998
- Gross worldwide
- $41,131
- Runtime1 hour 52 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1
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