By Jeppe Kleyngeld
Mean Streets (1973)
‘You don’t make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets…’
Directed by:
Martin Scorsese
Written by:
Martin Scorsese
Mardik Martin
Cast:
Harvey Keitel …Charlie Cappa
Robert De Niro …John ‘Johnny Boy’ Civello
David Proval …Tony DeVienazo
Richard Romanus …Michael Longo
Amy Robinson …Teresa Ronchelli
Cesare Danova ...Giovanni Cappa
Victor Argo ...Mario
George Memmoli ...Joey ‘Clams’ Scala
Lenny Scaletta ...Jimmy
Jeannie Bell ...Diane
The first Scorsese / De Niro collaboration is also their first masterpiece. We follow four small-time crooks in Little Italy. The repentant hustler Charlie (Keitel), Hothead bar owner Tony (Proval), the not too bright loanshark Michael (Romanus) and the irresponsible bum Johnny Boy (De Niro).
Scorsese starts with a super 8 film projection of Charlie in the mean streets, accompanied by ‘Be My Baby’ by the Ronettes. We then follow Charlie through his daily undertakings; hanging out in bars, doing small scams, and occasionally visiting church to reflect on his sins.
Charlie wants to move up in the underworld by joining his uncle who is a high ranking mobster. But he doesn’t want to give up Johnny Boy who owns money left and right.
Helping Johnny Boy means trouble for Charlie as well, and when we witness a man getting shot in a bar we get a foreshadow of what might befall on our two central characters.
Scorsese creates a fantastic atmosphere using some characteristic contemporary pop classics like the Stones’ Jumping Jack Flash. It also has some dazzling camerawork, sharp dialogues filled with some graceful bad language and a number of great performances. Especially De Niro and Keitel are both absolutely captivating in their roles.
Great classic scenes succeed each other in rapid fashion; from a drinking binge to a hilarious bar fight. The film moves fast, so you might want to see it twice to catch some more of the rich details of Scorsese’s personal view on his mean streets. It will give you a good sense of the master at work and a nice taste of what he would accomplish later in his career.
Rating: 
Quote:
CHARLIE: You know something? She is really good-lookin’. I gotta say that again. She is really good-lookin’. But she’s black. You can see that real plain, right? Look, there isn’t much of a difference anyway, is there. Well, is there?
Trivia:
The opening words are actually spoken by Martin Scorsese, not Harvey Keitel as we are lead to believe.
