Product: Mean Streets (1973)
Rating: 4.0
Great early work from Scorcese, DeNiro, and Keitel
Martin Scorcese's film is a slice of life drama about small-time hoods in New York's Little Italy. Charlie (Harvey Keitel) collects debts for his uncle and waits for his opportunity to take ownership of a rinky-dink little restaurant. He is conflicted and guilt-ridden over the immoral lifestyle he must lead and the small-minded prejudices he must endure in order to maintain such a life of mediocrity. He is pressured to turn his back on a woman he cares about (Amy Robinson) because she has epilepsy (which makes her "crazy" in the eyes of his family), and he feels a responsibility to protect his childhood friend Johnny Boy (Robert DeNiro), an erratic hoodlum who has doom written all over him. Charlie's care of Johnny Boy is like a penance he must pay.Scorcese, Keitel, and DeNiro at the start of their careers show the greatness they would maintain for decades. This film has a gritty, documentary feel that really communicates the way these people live. Although the world it presents is not one I would want to live in, Scorcese (who did grow up in it) presents it with clear eyes and a sympathetic mind.