Product: Mean Streets (1973)
Rating: 4.0
Anyone who loves Scorsese would appreciate this
"Mean Streets" is essentially a small character study that is taken from a very short period of the characters' lives during the San Gennaro feast and ends rather abruptly. It is also loosely based on Scorsese's own up-bringing in "Little Italy" during the 60's.Harvey Keitel (Charlie) is a kind-hearted, small time hustler who defends, is attracted to, and protects people around him that are viewed as unsavory or weak links amongst the more powerful and successful loan sharks and Italian bar owners and restauranteers. In particular his uncle who wants to hand over a debt ridden, upscale restaurant to Charlie.Robert Deniro (Johnny Boy) is a small time punk who never pays his debts, has problems with everything and everyone, and continually commits adolescent pranks with reckless abandon.Charlie views him as family and tries hopelessly to keep him out of trouble, namely with a fledgling loan shark who wants to be taken seriously and has a history of buying bad product foolishly on the black market.Amy Robinson (Teresa) is an epileptic that is looked down upon by Charlie's rich Italian uncle, and Charlie is resistant to her pleas of commitment as a result. Charlie clearly cares for her and enjoys her company, but draws a line of subconsciously motivated indifference whenever things get to hot for them.Charlie's penchant for balancing his religious ideals with the street life and caring for those viewed as troublesome or less fortunate is a tragic flaw of his that ultimately ends in tragedy and misfortune.Scorsese's appealing and stylish directorial abilities are first evidenced in this film and as a result make it a kind of closet classic, since it has receieved little noteriety for the last 20 years.It's not quite as graphic and violent as his latter films, and the acting at times sans the jobs of the main characters, can be silly and unbelieveable (ecspecially the fight scenes). But I found myself drawn in to the story as the character's revealed themselves and Deniro's brilliant acting really make it stand out.It's not without flaws, a bit rough around the edges, and probably should've been longer and maybe contained more of a pointed statement of some sort, as "Goodfellas" and "The Last Temptation Of Christ" did, for instance. But giving this director some slack for his first film is easy. He's a brilliant director and writer and just owning this first work by him is a must for big fans of his.It's a great DVD for the price ... . The DVD itself is of poor quality in the audio department and the lack of any extras at all is a shame. The DVD visual quality is just fine for it's age though.But like all Scorsese films the soundtrack is superb and does a great job of immersing one into the sounds of the time the film takes place.Certainly not my favorite Scorsese movie, but if you like his films, then you'll certainly at least enjoy this one as well, ecspecially for the meager price and rather short running time (112 minutes).