Average Rating: 6/10
Reviews Counted: 13
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 4
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 3
liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 4,621
Shot over a period of several years and shown under the alternate titles I Call First and J.R., Martin Scorsese's debut feature is an autobiographical look at the conflicted life of a young, Italian-American, Catholic man in early 1960s New York. J.R. (then-unknown Harvey Keitel) spends his days and nights hanging out with his buddies in Little Italy, going to the movies, goofing around, and looking to score with "broads." When he meets The Girl (Zina Bethune) on the Staten Island ferry, she
R, 1 hr. 30 min.
Nov 15, 1967 Wide
Aug 17, 2004
All Critics (13) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (11) | Rotten (4) | DVD (9)
Zina Bethune, as the girl, is believable but Harvey Keitel, as the anti-hero, is alternatively boorish or bewildered.
The director, who also wrote the original story and screenplay, hasn't succeeded in making a drama that is really much more aware than the characters themselves.
As a film, it has something to say to everyone. As a technical achievement, it brings together two opposing worlds of American cinema.
[It] can be read as a rather rough draft of Mean Streets.
A rough yet hyper-sensitive film forever luxuriating in sensation
Problems aside, this film is a fascinating look at the creative development of one of the new American cinema's most important directors and well worth a look.
Like all his films, Scorsese's debut, about an Italian-American youth (Keitel) caught between an affair with upper-crust blonde and the lure of gang life, has strong personal elements; the milieu and characters would reaappear in the classic Mean Streets
A crudely shot but effective film that not only introduced us to Scorsese but several of the themes around religion, love and gender that he's continued to explore even in his more recent films.
In the aggressive self-confidence, the use of rock music, and the perceptive observation, Scorsese reveals an anthropological feel for street life and the attitudes of male adolescence.
Son of Shadows
A wonderfully inspiring low-budget feature, with more than just an inkling of the treats to come.
Who's That Knocking at My Door? may not have any fluidity or order to it but due to it being made over a period of two years it's not surprising. What you're left with is a selection of scenes, quite grainy and amateurish but really quite impressive even by today's standards. The dialogue is brilliant throughout, with
October 25, 2011Super Reviewer
scorsese's first feature length film is largely experimental, but the film had wonderful dialogue and possessed a certain charm to it that helps us to recognize the things about this film that are really the roots of scorsese's future greatness. really only truly engaging to the hard core scorsese fan, but the film is
January 26, 2007
Super Reviewer
| 35% | The Hangover Part II |
| 25% | Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Par... |
| 81% | Kung Fu Panda 2 |
| 44% | Cowboys & Aliens |
| 83% | Rise of the Planet of the Apes |
| 25% | Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Par... |
| 88% | Lady and the Tramp |
| 69% | A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas |
| 21% | Fireflies in the Garden |
| 45% | The Rebound |
Journey 2 Not Worth the Trip
What are his 10 best movies ever?
See the all-new action-packed trailer!
Five new Marvelous pictures