Passionate, energetic, stylistically inventive and personally driven, it is the first mature, full blooded "Martin Scorsese Film."
Mean Streets (1973)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:43
Fresh:42
Rotten:1
Average Rating:8.9/10
Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Martin Scorsese's electrifying drama tells the story of Charlie (Harvey Keitel), a charming 27-year-old who is supported by his devoutly Catholic mother. He spends his days wandering the streets of... Martin Scorsese's electrifying drama tells the story of Charlie (Harvey Keitel), a charming 27-year-old who is supported by his devoutly Catholic mother. He spends his days wandering the streets of New York City and nights hanging out drinking with his good friend Johnny Boy (the terrifyingly brilliant Robert De Niro), a loose cannon that can't seem to escape trouble. Charlie's extreme affability makes him the middle man between his mob-tied uncle Giovanni (Cesare Danova) and various clients, as well as between Johnny Boy and Michael (Richard Romanus), a bookie who has become fed up with Johnny Boy's constant debt dodging. As the city's San Gennaro Festival takes over the streets of Little Italy, Michael seeks revenge on Johnny Boy once and for all. MEAN STREETS is the film in which Scorsese blossomed into one of the world's most ferociously distinct visionaries, a vision which has, for better or worse, become one of the most mimicked in the history of modern cinema. While his usage of a nostalgic pop music soundtrack, long one-takes and handheld cameras, and brutally realistic performances, spawned a generation of imitators, MEAN STREETS proves that while others may try to imitate, there is only one original. MEAN STREETS is a work of sheer cinematic bravado. [More]
Starring: Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel, David Proval, Amy Robinson
Starring: Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel, David Proval, Amy Robinson, Richard Romanus, Cesare Danova, Victor Argo, George Memmoli
Director: Martin Scorsese
Director: Martin Scorsese
Producer: Jonathan Taplin
Screenwriter: Martin Scorsese, Mardik Martin
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Reviews for Mean Streets
The movie's blazing energy is still astounding; the vérité street-scenes are terrific and Scorsese's pioneering use of popular music is genuinely thrilling.
A tight, intense masterpiece from Scorsese, writing collaborator Mardik Martin and the iconic stars.
The acting and editing have such an original, tumultuous force that the picture is completely gripping.
Scorsese is exceptionally good at guiding his largely unknown cast to near-flawless recreations of types. Outstanding in this regard is De Niro.
Emphasizing charcaterization over plot, and exploring male camaraderie and street violence in a humorous, spontaneous, and nonjudgmental way, Scorsese's Mean Streets (his third feature) is arguably the most influential film of the 1970s.
showcases Scorsese's artistic strengths and weaknesses as they stood at the outset of his career
A modern masterpiece where the setting is the star, even among a cast that is highlighted by Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel.
The film feels authentic, the characters are true, the situation hopeless
This film showed the world that a major talent had arrived on the scene.
Terrific. Top shelf talent at the top of their game, working immediately before they would change Hollywood.
Perfected here are Scorsese's patented slow-motion cutaways, combination pan/tracking shots, musical tangents, and impromptu bloodbaths
The Godfather made the mob glamorous. Mean Streets made it real. Martin Scorsese's ferocious, grimy 1973 classic is just as good as Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece, but it shows us criminal life lower down the food chain.
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