Product: Mean Streets (1973)
Rating: 5.0
"You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home." -- Martin Scorsese
WARNERs' mid-1980s series of videotapes were expensively priced but very well made compared to the last VHS generation of the early 2000s. Tapes are stored in durable oversized plastic clamshells, and are full screen dubbed at SP speed. Some, such as MEAN STREETS or LOST IN AMERICA, have a HiFi audio track. Far superior in audio clarity to pre-1985 linear-only tapes, the stereo sound and dynamic range of HiFi can only be heard on a compatible VCR patched to a good amplifier or receiver that's connected to efficient speakers, a set up (in VHS or DVD) that over the years has acquired the name: "home theater."Borrowed money from Francis Coppola helped writer/director Martin Scorsese complete MEAN STREETS. Filmed in part on location in NYC's Little Italy, Scorsese shot some scenes in the places he knew as a boy: a buddy's apartment house hallway, the graveyard of old St. Patrick's Cathedral, etc. In only his third motion picture, one that at first glance seems plotless, Scorsese demonstrates a cinematic mastery far beyond his actual experience, also a prodigious talent for capturing real life.Here, for reasons only he understands, Charlie (Keitel) remains pals with Johnny Boy (De Niro), even though crazy Johnny is fiscally irresponsible to the point where his well-being in endangered by the gangsters he owes "two-large" to. Charlie has also become romantically involved with Johnny's cousin Teresa (Robinson). Her epilepsy is a major concern to Charlie's uncle Giovanni (Danova), a caporegime that Charlie collects debts for.Charlie's devotion to the Catholic church conflicts with his desire to advance in the Mob, and having Uncle Giovanni angry toward him for his friendship with both Johnny and Teresa isn't helping matters. Patterning himself after St. Francis, Charlie's mission is to "save" Johnny while continuing to see Teresa on the QT, so when Johnny insults and pulls a pistol on the loanshark he's been stringing along for weeks, Charlie unwisely chooses to flee the neighborhood with a now marked man. Teresa insists on coming along. The three head for Brooklyn in a borrowed car, unaware that the out-for-revenge thug is tailing them...Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 IMDb viewer poll rating.(7.5) Mean Streets (1973) - Robert De Niro/Harvey Keitel/David Proval/Richard Romanus/Cesare Danova/Vic Argo/David Carradine/Robert Carradine (uncredited: Catherine Scorsese/Martin Scorsese)