Rating: 
Summary: KNOCKIN' ON HELL'S DOOR
Review: Third movie of Martin Scorsese, MEAN STREETS marks the real beginning of this major director. His favorite themes are already there : italo-american neighborhood, friendship amidst semi-gangsters, family ties and of course... Robert DeNiro.Another Scorsese theme by excellence is the feeling of guiltiness which haunts Harvey Keitel, the main character of MEAN STREETS. He walks through life surrounded by all the temptations created by a catholic education. So, the bar where he meets his friends, filmed in red tones by Scorsese, appears more as the waiting room for hell than as a peaceful pub. His girlfriend is epileptic, an illness which was considered as a sign of possession not so long ago. MEAN STREETS is the story of a man who likes to play with fire in a society ruled by a strict code of honor. Every transgressions must be punished. Hence the terrible feeling we have during this movie : from the start on, we know that fatality reigns in the world depicted by Scorsese and that someone is going to pay. Video and Audio are not so good but considering the fact that MEAN STREETS is a 1973 independent movie and that it is signed by Martin Scorsese, it's a must-buy for the movie lover. A -go to church- DVD.
Rating: 
Summary: An Independent Masterpiece that Showcased Scorsese's Talent!
Review: One of Scorsese's earlier films but all his personal trademarks are here. Scorsese is a very talented and original filmmaker and his personal backdrop has always been evident in his films and this one particularly is personal filmmaking at it's best. A shocking, riveting and explosive tale of small time hoods in Little Italy. Harvey Keitel marked his second collaboration with Scorsese, he also starred in Scorsese's debut 1968's 'Who's that knocking at my door?' and would later reteam with him in 'Taxi Driver' and 'Last Temptation Of Christ'. Keitel is excellent as Charlie a guilt-stricken catholic who pays for his sins 'his own way'. DeNiro is nothing short of brilliant in the role of psychotic and reckless Johnny Boy. While the film is famous for having a minimal plot, it is still a fascinating character study. The plot has to do with Charlie aspiring to move up in his Mafia career but can't because of his friendship with Johnny Boy and love relationship with his epileptic cousin Teresa (Amy Robinson) whom the bosses think is 'crazy'. All the elements that would later become Scorsese's personal trademarks are here; an awesome rocking 60's soundtrack that seems perfectly appropriate, dizzying camerawork, voice-over narration, instantaneous mad bursts of violence, and of course DeNiro. Richly textured characters and innovative use of lightning. Scorsese would go on and make 'Taxi Driver', one of the best of all films, just 3 years later and if you look closely you may experience deja vu twice. Once with Keitel continuously putting his hand or finger under fire, so does Travis Bickle (DeNiro) in an unforgettable scene. While Charlie does it as some kind of penance, Travis only does it to pass the time or as part of his 'training'. The other element is that DeNiro is shot in the neck, same thing in Taxi Driver. An unforgettably gritty film that brought us the talents of Scorsese, DeNiro and Keitel, we must be thankful just for that reason. Extras: the gunman who shoots DeNiro is Scorsese himself. From a scale of 1-10 I give this film a 10!
Rating: 
Summary: Despite great acting by De Niro, this movie sucks.
Review: Let me start by saying that I had high hopes for this film. Some people praise it like it's as good as Taxi Driver. After watching it though, I have no clue what people see in this movie. It drags on and on and at some points of the film (espcially the middle) you really have no idea what is going on anymore. I almost felt like shutting it off a few times, but luckily De Niro's acting kept me from hitting the stop button. I'm sure when this movie came out it was shocking and disturbing, since there wasn't much like it back then. However, by today's standards it really falls flat on it's face. I would not recommend this film to anyone, although if you're really curious about it feel free to give it a try. Obviously there are those who like really bizarre pointless movies like this. Just don't say I didn't warn you!
Rating: 
Summary: Not Good.
Review: 'Mean Streets' is one of the few Scorsese films that is not good. In fact, it is quite bad. Aviod it, but only watch if you are curious about Martin Scorsese films.
Rating:
Summary: an intelligent and artistic film
Review: For those of you that have seen all the mob movies out there, mean streets isn't like any of them. Its not really a mob movie. Its not supposed to wow you with a plot wherein so and so double crosses so and so and gets wacked by franky the bull. Having not grown up in that time period and having only been to new york a few times, this film transports me to another world. When its over it seems like that world still exists. You'll feel like you are in New York, you'll feel like the characters are real people because the acting, dialogue and camera work are fantastic. My favorite scene is where johnny boy (deniro) is explaining to charlie (Keitel) what happened to all his money outside of the bar. No one could have written that dialogue, its so fresh and off the cuff, so believable and you can't take your eyes off of that scene for a second, even though its really a pointless scene in the plot. Scorsese shows you the decisions made by the ever complex Charlie and you can spend the entire movie trying to figure out why charlie does the things he does. You can't categorize Charlie, one minute he's comforting Johnny who goes crazy and starts shooting a gun off the roof of a building, and the next minute he's throwing a guy out of a bar simply because he's jewish; one minute he's kissing his girlfriend and the next he's telling her he doesn't love her. Charlie's not always the nice guy he seems to be. He wants to be a good person, but he's influenced by his friends and by his uncle, the local mob boss and by his desire to help Johnny boy and make a pennance for his sins. Charlie has too many conflicting agendas on his plate and that's what leads to the dramatic ending. This is one of those intellectual type movies, so for those of you that just want to be entertained and can't appreciate art and intelligence in a film, this isn't for you, hence some of the bad ratings below.
Rating:
Summary: 'Charlie Likes Everybody. Everybody Likes Charlie.'
Review: Ah yes..the film that started a collaboration for the books. 'Mean Streets' paired a young director and a young actor who shared the common goal of looking to get their big break.
Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro together for the first time.
This movie started a relationship that spans eight films and sparked creative genius from behind-the-camera as well as in front of the camera that has yet to be duplicated. 'Mean Streets' offers a little insight into a world that's both fascinating and dangerous, thanks to Scorsese's semi-autobiographical references he incorporated into this film. Harvey Keitel plays a young Italian named Charlie. As Johnny-Boy so eloquently puts it, "Charlies likes everybody. Everybody likes Charlie." He struggles to live his life with some degree of normalcy, but immediately feels the pressures of his Little Italy neighborhood. He feels he has to save Johnny-Boy from a life of gambling and heavy debt, but when he can't, the climax begins to unfold. A far cry from his 'Sport' characterization in "Taxi Driver," Harvey Keitel gives a great and sympathy-evoking performance. Robert De Niro plays Johnny-Boy, Charlie's childhood friend who's a bit unbalanced and a lot in debt. This role here offers a foreshadowing in the roles that good 'ol Bobby D. would later become famous for. ::Ahem:: 'Travis Bickle' in "Taxi Driver." Johnny-Boy is enjoyable, from his entrance into Charlie's bar right up to the climatic end (I'm not giving it away.)De Niro is astounding, and I'm not saying that just because he's my favorite actor on the face of this green earth. He's really captivating. It's extremely hard to take your eyes off of him because of his character's unpredicatability. All I could say when I finished watching this movie was.."WOW.." If you're a Scorsese fan,get this film. If you're a De Niro fan, get this film. If you're both, get this film.
...If you want to see where genius comes from, get this film.
Oh yeah!! And keep you're eyes peeled for a cameo by Scorsese.
Rating:
Summary: This one started it all
Review: It is hard to even start a review of this classic, because there are so many highlights to address. This film is basically the precursor to many of Scorsese's other classics, such as Goodfella's, Casino, etc., as well as films by other directors, such as Tarantino. For example, I believe this is the first film to use popular music as a background to many of the scenes, and now this is seen as commonplace. The dialouge is awesome, especially between DeNiro and Keitel, and this film is really just a great period piece as a look at Italian-American life in New York's Little Italy during the early 1970's.
Rating:
Summary: An overlooked gem of early Scorsese
Review: This early film from director Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Last Temptation of Christ) stars Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel in early roles that would only be a sample of the acting ability to come on later years. Keitel and De Niro respectively play two low rent hoods named Charlie and Johnny Boy. Both are friends with ranging priorities; Charlie is overcome with Catholic guilt while he tries to help the reckless, debt ridden Johnny and make a name for himself with the mob. While De Niro gets the top billing, it is Keitel that is the true star of Mean Streets, and his fantastic moving performance would only set the tone of his future great roles in Bad Lieutenant, Reservoir Dogs, and Pulp Fiction. De Niro gives a great early glimpse of the actor he would become, and he is great as well in his limited screen time. Scorsese began to craft the kind of director he would become with this film, moving on to make groundbreaking and critically acclaimed films like Taxi Driver, Last Temptation of Christ, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Casino, Bringing Out the Dead, and Gangs of New York. All in all, Mean Streets is a great film that would only serve as a sample of the greatness to come from Scorsese, De Niro, and Keitel.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie about life on the street
Review: This movie is great mainly because of the acting of Robert Deniro. He is explosive in his role as Johnny Boy a degenerate who owes bookies and shylocks. His friend Charlie, played by Harvey Keitel tries to save him. Movie shows little Italy in the seventies and has an authentic NY feel.
Rating:
Summary: impressive
Review: Following the success of his thesis project "Who's that knocking at my door", Scorcese returned in 1973 with Mean Streets. Like a lot of other of Scorcese's films, Mean Streets explores the catholic guilt of the main character(Keitel) while drawing a contrast to another(DeNiro).
Keitel is near perfect in his role. In most other films, the audience would hardly consider Keitel a protagonist. He runs numbers, wacthes strippers, and does not "love" his girlfriend. However, when compared to Deniro's Johnny boy or some of the other characters in the film, one can't help but admire his altruism. In Mean Streets, Keitel plays the only role he is capable of playing well: A man stuck in two different worlds; In this case the world of clubs, dark alleys and violent street corners and the other more peaceful and disciplined world he strives for.
I don't care much for DeNiro's character, so I will not comment much on him, however it is only fitting that I reccomend some other films for Kietel fans on fans of this genre. Bad Lieutenant is the best place for any Keitel fan to start, but it is certainly not for the faint hearted. Taxi Driver also stars Keitel, but DeNiro is the main character. These films both tell the story of a man who is so fed up with the turmoil he observes every day on the streets, that he takes a road which eventually results in his own destruction.
|
