Customer Reviews

Mean Streets (Special Edition)

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

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.

Anyone who says that this film is stupid and that is has no point is themselves stupid. This film has a terrific flair and art-house quality that can only be found in the best independent films. Mean Streets is much less conventional than many of Scorsese's other films which is why there are reviews here condemning it for not conforming to a straight crime film trajectory. The film simply observes life in the slummier parts of New York city with an unflinching, direct cinema perspective. The film is best enjoyed by those familiar with european art cinema. Scorsese draws on conventions propounded by the french new wave, soviet montage and french poetic realism. If you are familiar with these terms and have not seen this film, this should be enough to entice you, or ward you off, depending on your convictions regarding European Art Cinema. This is a great first film and one of the better films in Scorsese's cannon.

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.

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.

Martin Scorsese's most autobiographical movie bestows an energy and a vibrancy that hasn't diminished in the 30 years since it was made. Part of this wonderful energy is created by Scorsese's use of music, a cinematic trait he has continued to use successfully in all of his best movies. In fact in 'Mean Streets', Scorsese's use of 2 different styles of music, Italian and rock, can be seen as an expression of the divergence between the older and younger members of the Italian-American community in which he grew up. Scorsese himself valued the use of music so much, that he was willing to fork out $30,000 just for the rights to use the 2 Rolling Stones songs in the picture and this in a movie which cost $750,000 to make.

Another powerful aspect of the film is the acting. Along with the intense charactarizations created by the actors, there also seems to be quite a lot of improvisation used (especially in the backroom scene where DeNiro tries to explain his losses to Kietel). This creates an air of pathetic authenticity, a welcome attribute in most of Scorsese's films.

Ironically despite the fact that the film is set on the 'Mean Streets' of New York, all the interior shots were filmed in L.A. with a different camera crew than the one that shot the exterior shots in Manhatten.

The film is also a visual document of the decline of Little Italy, much of which today is just an extended part of Chinatown.

A 'mook' by the way is Neapolition for bigmouth.

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.

Great acting by the buddies but this world doesnt exist anymore- New York's Greenwich Village is all yuppie now.

Martin Scorsese's most autobiographical movie bestows an energy and a vibrancy that hasn't diminished in the 30 years since it was made. Part of this wonderful energy is created by Scorsese's use of music, a cinematic trait he has continued to use successfully in all of his best movies. In fact in 'Mean Streets', Scorsese's use of 2 different styles of music, Italian and rock, can be seen as an expression of the divergence between the older and younger members of the Italian-American community in which he grew up. Scorsese himself valued the use of music so much, that he was willing to fork out $30,000 just for the rights to use the 2 Rolling Stones songs in the picture and this in a movie which cost $750,000 to make.

Another powerful aspect of the film is the acting. Along with the intense charactarizations created by the actors, there also seems to be quite a lot of improvisation used (especially in the backroom scene where DeNiro tries to explain his losses to Kietel). This creates an air of pathetic authenticity, a welcome attribute in most of Scorsese's films.

Ironically despite the fact that the film is set on the 'Mean Streets' of New York, all the interior shots were filmed in L.A. with a different camera crew than the one that shot the exterior shots in Manhatten.

The film is also a visual document of the decline of Little Italy, much of which today is just an extended part of Chinatown.

A 'mook' by the way is Neapolition for bigmouth.

Warning: Spoilers here!....I first saw this movie several years ago on vhs after my sister told me excitedly how great it was. I watched it then and was bored and gave up on it. I rewatched it last month after wanting to see every Robert DeNiro film and I have changed me mind.....this is a must-see film if you like DeNiro or Harvey Keitel or want to see the most underrated Scorcese-DeNiro collaboration.

This was not DeNiro's entrance to film. He had been in several films starting in 1968 before this, but this is the one where his career took off. American cinema was never the same. DeNiro's entrance as the reckless Johnny Boy in this film is literally explosive and you'll see why. To me, the most memorable scene in this movie is his second appearance where he walks into the restaurant w/2 females. This is an incredible scene!!! Jumpin jack flash plays as Scorcese makes good use of slow motion. DeNiro's smile is pure cinema!! You know w/this entrance in the overly-red lit bar and smoke that Johnny Boy is going to a Scorcese 'hell' and not coming back. This too-short scene is significant in that Charlie, played by Keitel, has just asked for a sign from above and this is what he gets and from then on has to pay for Johnny's 'sins'.

Mean Streets has a strong beginning which I loved. Charlie says "You don't make up for your sins in church, you do it at home, you do it in the streets" so there is Catholic guilt and the familiar themes that frequent most of Scorcese's films. This film does have a lot of profane language (I wish the dialogue had been better) but it does have some very memorable lines/quotes.

The first 3 songs flow nicely and go well w/the film. The 50-'s music is enjoyable and serves a purpose, not like the see-the-film-buy-the-soundtrack ripoff they serve you these days. He also intercuts authentic Italian music into the score. I've never seen Keitel's acting better than in this film. He has been unrecognized by industry because he chooses unhollywood roles. His Charlie is a likeable character who really tries to help out his friend, Johnny Boy, who always gets into trouble therefore causing trouble for Charlie, and Theresa, Charlie's cousin. Charlie's mob uncle tells him to stay away from Theresa becuase he is prejudiced against epilepsy so we see Charlie's struggle w/wanting to better his life and break away from Johnny Boy's silly punk antics and please his uncle and his loyalty to his friend and girlfriend. Charlie does try to cheat on his girlfriend who loves him, so that I do not understand.

The local mean loanshark keeps pressuring Charlie to get Johnny Boy to straighten up and pay off his big debts. Johnny Boy is childish, irresponsible, starts fights and I wondered why Charlie would put his life on the line for him but I guess he does because they were childhood friends. I wish the movie were longer so they could have explored that more. DeNiro's performance is so charismatic, full of life and energy and riveting, that I couldn't take my eyes off him! DeNiro did not grow up in the streets or a slum but is pretty convincing. I absolutely LOVE his accent as Johnny B! He speaks w/an interesting cadence, rhythm that stands out and will stay in your head long after the film is over. He is very sexy w/his hat and gum-chewing. Watch the Godfather dvd features dvd and you'll see a short snippet of DeNiro's screen test as Sonny for the Godfather Part 1. He didn't get the role, but Coppola after seeing his performance in Mean Streets, knew he could play the young Don Vito for Godfather 2.

One scene that was improvised is where Keitel is talking to DeNiro in the back of the restaurant. Again, this is banal talk, but the off-the-cuff way the quickfire lines are spoken is refreshing and realistic and funny.
I feel that more males would like this film than females as I was put off by the mysogynistic language & I wished they hadn't put in the anti-Asian comments. This movie does not have a strong plot but it was meant as more of a slice-of-life portrait of its characters. American 1970's cinema like this was so much better and had socially-relevant thems unlike the mindless trash put out today. This film shows you what New York in the early 70's was like. For this performance, De Niro won the New York Critics Best Supporting Actor Award.

Its really frustrating to see how much Charlie is trying to help Johnny B and then he messes it up every time! Watch for the scene after their big fight in the hallway where Johhny selfishly walks away from Theresa's epileptic fit. Charlie straightens him out (or tries to) outside and look at the expression on DeNiro's face. He's face protrays vulnerability, fear, and a low intelligence (like in his 1973 film "Bang the Drum Slowly") but we want him to not get hurt and pay off those debts!
The point-of-no-return for Johhny is when he fatally pulls out a gun and Charlie tries to save him by getting him in his car for a getaway. He instead dances away in the night, a classic DeNiro moment. I give this 4 1/2 stars as I was unhappy w/the ending as I didn't know what happens after that and its abrupt but realistic. I really hope Keitel and DeNiro make more films together! Add this film to your collectionfor a more realistic portrayal of small-time hoods. Check out my other DeNiro reviews!

I did an earlier review of this movie saying that it was a '(...) good movie.' Well, after watching this the 2nd time, (soon to be 3rd), I can honestly say that this is the best movie of all time. Everything you want in a movie is all in here. Character study, drama, violence, great music, language, subplots, everything. Every character has their own unique personality. The 'plot' of the movie is that Charlie (played by Harvey Keitel), a hustler who is obssesed with religion, has to make sure that Jonny Boy (played by Robert DeNiro), a punk kid who owes a lot of money to his 'friends,' pays them back. I know the plot sounds simple, but it isn't. Scorsese uses character studies instead of following the plot. The first few minutes have a plot, but then it goes off in a new and very cool direction.

There is a resonable amount of fighting, but then, you sort of expect that from a GANGSTER MOVIE! What else would you expect? The bar room scene is my personal favorite in terms of violent scenes from the movie. That one scene has some black comedy in it, and it is hilarious to see Robert DeNiro beating a guy up with a broken pool stick. I guess that's just me, then. Oh well.

Though Harvey Keitel and Robet DeNiro are incredible, David Proval and Richard Romanus are awesome. They too are like a team, and the car scene where they found out they were 'stiffed' by some punk kids is pretty funny. And, the Carradine brothers are in this also (They play very small roles.)

Words are not enough to say how great this movie is. Anyone who wants to find a great independent film should get this one. It is the best movie that Scorsese eer did, and the best movie ever.