Product: Mean Streets (1973)
Rating: 4.0
Great
The acting in the film is terrific. Keitel and De Niro are standouts, and their verbal interplay takes on almost Abbott And Costello-like humor. Robinson, Romanus, Proval and Danova are also quite good. Romanus really nails the wannabe who's not as tough nor smart as he thinks he is- just look at the scene where he stoops to rippi goff two suburban burnouts out of $20 for fireworks. The film evinces a cinema verité aesthetic, so the cinematography by Kent L. Wakefield is not as important as the superlative editing by Sidney Levin. But, the most important aspect of the film was how it brought already popular music into modern filmmaking, and wove it in seamlessly, as if it had been composed specifically for the film. Scorsese's always been one of the best directors in the world at effectively deploying music. But, it's the overall style that Scorsese created that is important, because, whereas poseurs like Jean-Luc Godard merely aped Hollywood noir, and tried to use their low budgets to claim novelty, Scorsese really does do something without precedent- in noir, in John Cassavetes films, or in gangster films. He creates a stylized realism that was absent in noir, affected in Godard, formative in early Cassavetes, and unreal in gangster films. Only Cassavetes' later The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie and Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai, are as effective in realistically portraying most mobsters; as often inept bumblers whose idiocy, even more than their ethical corruption, leads to their downfall.There are, of course, aside from the classic scenes mentioned, some interesting cameos; such as Jeannie Bell, as Diane, the black stripper Charlie lusts for. Her prior claim to fame was as the second Playboy magazine centerfold Playmate, and the first black cover model. Then there is the bizarre scene with the Carradine brothers, wherein Robert shoots and kills a drunken David in Tony's bar. It's funny, but pointless, except that it's the sort of pointless violence that happens in that sort of world. There's also a classic scene, after the killing, where Michael, Charlie, and Johnny Boy end up in a car with two queers that flame. It's a hilarious sequence. There is also a possible cameo by Scorsese as Michael's shooter, in the car, in the final scenes. Scorsese did this in some of his early films, but never followed in Alfred Hitchcock's tradition.Mean Streets is not as polished a film as Scorsese's later great films, like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The King Of Comedy, After Hours, nor Goodfellas, but it is every bit as good, in its raw sensibilities. One only hopes that, now that he got his `Honorary' Oscar for the merely solid The Departed, Marty from the nabe will return to his roots, and make some films where he cannot have every whim of his indulged. It worked once. It can work again. If not, then American cinema lovers will be left with a tarnished legacy for one of its most original and brilliant filmmakers. Mean Streets is proof of that claim. Here's hoping Scorsese can finally find his way home.