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Summary: A masterpiece of life as it is.
Review: I've seen it, I lived it. There's no glamour in these characters, just the reality of the way things are with wannabe tough's. Mean Street's is a must see movie (not for the whole family)just as Atlantic City and Inside Moves. Three of my top favorites.
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Summary: Scorsese's defining film is a must see.
Review: If Mean Streets did nothing more than introduce Martin Scorsese, Robert de Niro and Harvey Keitel to the general filmgoing public (although not the first film for any of the three, it certainly was the first film to capture the attention of the critics and public), then it would still deserve to be considered one of the most important of all contemporary films. But the film is much more - it established the interwoven themes which Scorsese, perhaps the greatest living film-maker now that Stanley Kubrick has died, carries through virtually the entire spectrum of his work. See this film, and then watch Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas and see how a master director developed his craft. Even so, Mean Streets is arguably Scorsese's best film: because the style was so innovative, the rawness and violence of both the treatment of the subject matter and of the two lead performances perhaps had a greater impact than anything either the director or the actors have done since. De Niro's stunning performance as Johnny Boy takes on the proportions of a Greek tragic hero, moving steadily toward his violent and inevitable destiny. In one fell swoop he established himself as one of the greatest actors of his generation (and would go on with Scorsese to achieve his greatest triumph - Raging Bull). Keitel, a Scorsese regular from the latter's very first film (Who's That Knocking At My Door), has never been better.
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Summary: Masterful Breakthrough film by Scorsese: His masterpiece
Review: Mean Streets is one best films I have ever seen. It is easily in my top five. It concerns street life in Little Italy, and two friends. Charlie and Johnny Boy: Charlie is extremely religious and patterns his life after St Francis of Assisi, while Johnny Boy gets himself deeper and deeper into debt, putting both their lives on the line.
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Summary: My All Time Favorite Film By:Anthony Benedetto
Review: Tell Me how does scorese hit the bullseye on one of his very first tries? Just an A mazing Film.. Robert Deniro should have won an acemedy award for the way he played Johnny Boy... Remember"Honest Men Die WITH Honest Men"
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Summary: A true Masterpiece!
Review: Martin Scorsese announced his arrival with this raw, beautifully realistic movie that puts others of its genre to shame. Harvey Keitel is fantastic and Robert De Niro was showing the talent that would win him Oscar gold in the years to come. Mean Streets should be viewed by anyone who considers himself a movie fanatic.
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Summary: martin scroseses epic drama
Review: iv'e seen all of martin scrosese's ganster movies and he's made better. sure it was realistic but not as realistic as some of his other movies such as casino or goodfeallas somthing like goodfeallas is more reallistic beacause that movie showed us how violent these people were especially joe peacies charecter like the part where he shot there bar tender because he tol him to go fu$$ himself.in mean streets you had the bum(robert deniro)pointing the gun at the ganster and none of the other gansters around him would put a gun to deniro's head. In something like resevoir dogs Harvey Keitel had a gun to the guy's head and then the other ganster pulled out his gun and pointed it at Harvey Keitel.I just didnt think mean streets was as reallistic as other movies would be. I gues I could understand why because its theseconed film that scorssese made and there was not much like it when it was around and I wasen't alive then but maybye it was pretty realistic when it first came out.but otherwise the movie was very well done it was very well filmed the acting was great and the story was diesant.
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Summary: ONE OF SCORSESES MASTERPIECES!!!
Review: This has to be one of the best films depicting life in New York. Harvey Keitel and Robert De Nero give stunning performances. I'd have to say that this is also the most realistic gangster film I have ever seen.....And I've seen them all!
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Summary: A stunning film that changed the way movies are made
Review: Many critics consider a filmmaker's first film to be by definition his best, saying that he or she never reaches the same level of energy, honesty and raw commitment. While the latter part of the statement may not neccessarily be true in Scorsese's case, the former might just be. Raging Bull is his masterpiece, this defines his oeuvre. Pure Italianamerican, it tells the story of Little Italy and the creatures that inhabit this world: those fated to stay in it, those who try to leave. Into all this is weaved a Catholic subtext of guilt and sin and redemption. Scorsese's visceral, frenetic, visual style, coupled with harsh editing and a soundtrack entering the structure as content as well as style for the first time, Scorsese changed the way movies are made an has influenced a generation. He also established his reputation as an actor's director. A must-see for any film student or film-goer, if only to watch a seminal film finding its place on celluloid's dynamic continuum. Stunning.
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Summary: the most influential independent film
Review: "Mean Streets," simply put, is the greatest independent film ever made. At the very least, it pioneered what modern audiences have come to associate with the best of indie cinema, and what, by the late '90s, has become so essential to our perception of so-called "hip" movies that the once daring and exhilarating techniques are now mostly used as frustrating cliches. The picture itself, made in 1973, is most famous for kick-starting three major careers. Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro later collaborated as a director/actor team on four more masterpieces: "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull" "The King of Comedy" and "Goodfellas." Harvey Keitel, in the leading role, went on to play other memorable characters, like "Pulp Fiction"'s Mr. Wolf. Cast as Charlie , a small-time, young gangster in New York's Little Italy, Keitel struggles to make sense of his Catholic background and help his troubled friend (DeNiro) stay out of the powerful Mafia players' way. What seems to be a familiar scenario, used as far back as the classic Bogart/Cagney vehicles, gets an unusually complex treatment from Scorsese. A conventional, linear plot structure with big speeches and witty one-liners from main characters is abandoned for a grittier, naturalistic approach. The film consists of a series of telling episodes, related only through their participants. "Mean Streets" has much more in common with the works of Italian Neo-realism or French New Wave, rather than a typical gangster drama. Its unorthodox, original, yet unpretentious camera work gives the film an unprecedented vitality that young filmmakers have attempted to recreate for decades. Now commonplace shots, such as a subtitled introduction of a particular character, a fight sequence tracked through the four corners of a room in a single take, a swaying hand-held camera to create the sense of an alcohol-induced stupor, have all been popularized through this movie, a veritable Bible of dynamic cinematography. Another revolutionary aspect of "Mean Streets" is the virtual lack of a script. Most of the key scenes were almost fully improvised, thus sounding far more authentic than the old-style, theatrical delivery used in most American films up to that time. The actors' speech is so profanity-ridden that no screenwriter of the time could have possibly doctored anything even close. De Niro's flamboyant turn as a youth on the edge of sanity is unlike anything before. In fact,the swear-fests of later crime movies (and indie classics like "Clerks") owe a direct debt to his extraordinary performance as Johnny Boy. One of Scorcese's most groundbraking achievements was his incorporation of popular songs into the soundtrack. All of the icluded music originates elsewhere- Italian traditional recordings (Opera arias, Folk tunes) and for the most part, glorious, irresistable Rock'n'Roll of the early 60's (Motown, the Stones, Girl Groups, DooWop).The easily identifiable hits serve as atmospheric settings, adding an extra, personal dimension to any given scene. George Lucas' "American Graffiti", released in the same year, operated by the same principle, establishing a tradition that seems to expand with every coming year. As it is often the case with true independent cinema, "Mean Streets" was ignored at the box office, despite an underground acclaim which helped launch not only the great talents behind it, but an entire school of filmmaking.
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Summary: Overlooked and underappreciated
Review: This is a fantastic film, and I'm going to tell you why I think so, and by the time you finish reading this, you just might change your mind about it, or run out and have to see it. The music is great. Perfectly fits the time period and setting, I dunno how much they had to pay in royalties for the songs in this film, but I love em'. The camera work is fantastic. There's a scene where the camera gives you charlie's viewpoint, stumbling, wobbling across the bar, lights flashing, people dancing, music blaring, then zooms out to his smiling happy face. Then there's the filming of the street festival and the overall way which New York is captured so perfectly. It feels like you are really in the city, the movie has that gritty feeling to it. The dialogue is great, many of it is ad libed by Deniro and Keitel. This is the beginning of ad libbed dialogue for deniro, the culmination being his speech in front of the mirror in taxi driver; "You talkin' to me"? There's a scene where Keitel confronts Deniro outside the bar to ask him about his debt, the exchange is perfect, it could never have been written and its executed beautifully. The acting is also fantastic throughout. So, great acting, great filmwork and great dialogue all come together to create a wonderfully realistic film. Now, the end of the movie, maybe you didn't understand it, so I'll explain the film. I'll try not to spoil the ending. Ok, so Charlie does some bad things, he works for the mob after all, and he wants to repent for his sins, so, after going to church and then later seeing jonny boy in a bar he thinks that God has asked him to repent for his sins on the streets, by helping out Jonny Boy. He doesn't believe that saying a few hail mary's or confessing washes away one's sins. So enter the walking train wreck that is Jonny Boy. Now, what type of person is Jonny Boy? He has no sense of responsibility, he does not answer to anyone, he does not obey any rules, never does what is expected of him. Hmm, so what type of person is Charlie? There are several scenes in the film that let you know what type of person charlie is. The statement Charlie loves everybody and everybody loves Charlie almost sums it up. Charlie wants to please everyone. But his life is full of conflict. You can't be in the mob and be religious, it just doesn't work that way. You can't hang out with guys who are racist and date an African American. These are just a few examples, but suffice to stay that Charlie wants everyone to like him, the local mob boss, his friends, his God, but he also wants to be happy and do the things he wants to do. There is conflict in all of this. Some of the other people that charlie wants to please, eg., God and the mob boss, have conflicting agendas. Some of the people that charlie wants to please conflict with what he personally wants to do with his life, eg. he is embarassed to be dating the epileptic because he thinks it shows weakness to his friends, but he loves her and she makes him happy. You cannot please everyone. The irony of this film, and this is a little spoiler, is that while charlie is trying to save jonny boy, he should take a few lessons from him. Jonny Boy does whatever he wants without thinking about who he might upset, or disappoint. Charlie is the complete opposite. Yeah, Jonny Boy is destructive and his life is falling apart, but the point is that the two of them represent two opposite extremes. This is why the end of the film is tragic, its the lesson that you can't make everyone happy, that life is full of conflict, the conflict may be between different people in your life which you try to please, or between yourself and other people in your life. These basic conflicts and how we deal with them sum up who we are as human beings. So there are many reasons why this film is great, I highly recommend giving it a second chance. I watch it every once in awhile and it really is one of my favorite films.
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