Mean Streets [DVD]

Scorsese's 'Mean Streets' was released in between the two Godfather epics in 1973, and although it shared with the Godfather a passion for Italian-American gangsters, 'Mean Streets' went a completely different way and focused on the everyday lives of gangsters when they mess about, get drunk, shoot some pool, etc. Harvey Keitel plays Charlie, a man who has dreams of moving up in the world; his uncle, a big player in the New York underworld, has plans for Charlie, but Charlie is prevented from rising due to his friendship with Johnny Boy, a 'bum' who gets Charlie into a lot of trouble. When Johnny Boy continues to avoid paying a large loan back to Charlie's friend Michael, things take a dramatic turn for the worse...

Everything about this movie is brilliant. The acting, especially Keitel and Robert De Niro as Johnny Boy, is amazing; it's unbelievable to think that the following year De Niro would win an Oscar for playing the young Vito Corleone, a character that is miles apart from the unstable Johnny Boy - his performance clearly shows what a talent De Niro is. Critics have argued that the plot is too weak and thin, yet I believe it's exactly the opposite: the film is rich in detail (a Scorsese trademark), and the movie addresses Charlie's Catholic guilt - he wants to move up in the underworld, but he fears he will be punished in hell if he does not look after the crazy Johnny Boy. Charlie is torn between the Church, Johnny Boy, and his uncle - you can see why 'Mean Streets' is anything BUT thin!

But the main attraction of the film is Scorsese's direction. You can see how 'Goodfellas', 'Pulp Fiction', 'The Sopranos', etc. came about thanks to 'Mean Streets' - it looks gritty, the fight scenes are chaotic, and very rude language dominates the film. And despite its low budget, Scorsese makes the film look very realistic, along with his trademark rock 'n' roll soundtrack scoring the movie.

The film is like a fast rollercoaster; the camera never stops moving, and it's never boring. I would recommend 'Mean Streets' to every Scorsese and gangster fan as well as most film buffs, because not only is it a fantastic movie, but it's one of the most influential movies in American cinema, and I urge you to buy it! NOW!!

The main characters are established in the opening, there's Tony, the bar-owner, Michael, the gangster, Johnny-Boy, the debt-ridden vandal, and Charlie, a guilt-ridden small time hood. The plot revolves around these four characters. Tony's bar (bathed in red, hellish, lustful light) is the local hangout. Johnny Boy owes money to Michael, whose patience is running out. Charlie is a man that feels guilty, struggling against his Catholic upbringing. In church, he admits that after confession, the Ten Hail Mary's and Ten Our Father's do nothing for him, they don't take away his guilt. He needs another form of pennance. We often see him holding his finger over a flame, or his hand over a fire. Charlie takes Jonnhy Boy under his wing, intending to help him out and set him straight. Johnny Boy is his pennance.

Harvey Keitel plays Charlie with great power, capturing his almost innocent ways in his baby-like face. His constant smiling and good humour show his good-natured character (even in a pool-hall brawl, Charlie refuses to fight by claiming he has a bad hand). De Niro is ferocious as the venemous Jonnyy Boy, a bum who can't and won't pay his debts, and passes the time by vandalising and shooting at things. After making 'Boxcar Bertha' for Roger Corman, Scorsese was told to go and make something more personal, something he knows about. Scorsese was brought up in New York, and 'Mean Streets' is apparently based loosely on events that he witnessed. It is also a very personal movie to Scorsese, symbolised in the opening credits, which are screened on a movie camera, and shot like a home-movie. Released in 1973, 'Mean Streets' can be called Scorsese's 'real' first movie, a realistic look at gangster life in New York, ridden with violent characters, great plot, amazing script and direction. It's a great gangster movie, and established a technique that is often imitated. 'Mean Streets' is echoed in many movies, especially all the small-time-hood/street-life.

This is not Martin Scorsese's greatest movie, but it's an important one. Scorsese has gone on to make many classic movies, some of the greatest of all time ('Taxi Driver', and his masterpiece, 'Raging Bull')... but even those movies, and others such as 'Goodfellas' and 'Casino', all owe something to 'Mean Streets', and that's just one fo the reasons to love it.