Product: Mean Streets (1973)
Rating: 5.0
One of Scorcese's Finest
As lead character Charlie (Harvey Keitel) awakes in the dark of night to one of those haunting, conscience rattling moments of clarity that sometime haunt us, the viewers hear his thoughts- "You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the street. You do it at home. The rest is bullsh** and you know it." So begins a ride that takes us in to the tortured soul of a small-time mob soldier,riddled with Catholic guilt and misguided stabs at redemption in an age decades before Oprah-speak and self-help sent the Tony Soprano's of the world toward therapists and psychotropics.Charlie has several problems. He collects debts for his higher level uncle who dissapproves of his relationships with epiliptic girlfriend Theresa and her immature, impulsive and indebted cousin Johnny Boy (a very young Robert DeNiro).Charlie tries to renconcile his double-sided life: moving forward in the biz with his Mafioso uncle while romancing the off-limit Theresa and trying to set constant screw-up Johnny Boy on a straighter (but not totally straight) path.While Theresa is a breath of sanity and stability, Johnny Boy is a source of constant tension and frustration, especially when crossing Charlies associate Michael (Richard Romanus.)BE WARNED- This is not a gangster film in the vein of "Scarface", "Casino" or even "Goodfellas". This is a morality play which revolves around small-timers and small-change.There are no kingpins or "crimes of the century" with this crew, just petty hustles, senseless knuckling of adversaries and dreams that involve thousands instead of millions.Some of the edits and transistions may seem somewhat uneven as Martin Scorcese had limited experience when this fine film went into production. Conesuiers will appreciate many aspects of "Mean Streets"- the subtleness of the losers presented,the radiance of emotion- when Richard Romanus' Michael seethes silently in a bar scene, he projects more feeling in several seconds than many actors do in their entire careers. Dialogue, which I believed was largely improvised in Johnny Boy and Charlie's bar room interactions, is so raw and natural, you may smell cigarette smoke and booze when it is over with.In a scene where Charlie observes a loud party of his Puerto Rican neighbors, Keitels skill is used brilliantly and all but the blind can read deep into the thoughts of troubled but integral man fighting a losing war.The soundtrack is a well chosen mix of 50's and 60's oldies(which were still popular radio staples circa 1973) the Rolling Stones, Cream and yes opera.(Just a note, Creams "Steppin' Out" appears in the film but is erroneously credited as Eric Claptons "Hideaway")Very powerful and worth several viewings to catch the many elements that are finely presented.