Product: Mean Streets (1973)
Rating: 5.0
The start of the greatest actor/director partnership in film
Talk to any actor or any director and they're more than likely to tell you that a strong working relationship is essential to making a quality picture. The partnership between De Niro and Scorsese is one that has spawned some of the best films in the history of American cinema. From "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull" to "Good Fellas", "Cape Fear", and "Casino", it all started right here, with "Mean Streets"."Mean Streets" tells the story of 2 young men, Charlie and Johnny Boy, trying to make their way in New York's Little Italy. Charlie is the nephew of a local mob boss and Johnny Boy is a gambler with a lot of debt. Charlie tries to do all he can for his friend Johnny Boy to help him out with his money troubles, but Johnny Boy keeps messing things up. He keeps spending his money and disrespecting the wrong people. Admist his attempts to help out a friend, Charlie also has problems of his own to deal with. After his uncle takes control of a restaurant, Charlie sees opportunity knocking at his door, but he worries about how his friendship with Johnny and his relationship with Johnny's cousin will affect his chances at getting to run the business. Charlie also spends much of his time dealing with his Catholic guilt. Religion plays a fairly significant role in Charlie's life, as does his criminal career, and the 2 obviously do not go together well.The third film in a career that spans over 30 years, this was the movie that put Scorsese on the map as one of the greatest directors in America cinema. Keitel and De Niro also got major career boosts from this film. A landmark picture, not only for the launching of three of the most successful film careers in the last 3 decades, but also a monumental achievement in itself. Even if De Niro, Scorsese, and Keitel all never made another movie after this, it would still be fantastic in my eyes.The wiriting, direction, performances, and editing are all top notch here. The dialog is very natural and absorbing and the directing is remarkable. The cinematography is fantastic, as is the norm in Scorsese's movies. The camera work in the scene were Johnny walks into the bar in the beginning of the movie is great, and the use of the red lighting is brilliant. The performances here are what really steals the show, though. Harvey Keitel is terrific as Charlie and De Niro is extremely engaging as Johnny Boy. Johnny Boy is one of my favorite characters out of De Niro's entire filmography. He's so charismatic and the screen presence he brings is awe inspiring. It's impossible to take your eyes off of him. Johnny Boy is an immensly likable character in many ways (at least I thought so), which is very important in this kind of film. In movies like this where the responsible friend lays it all on the line for his screw up buddy, the audience will never get it unless they can end up liking the screw up as much as the responsible friend does. The viewer needs to be able to see why someone would be willing to risk their future for this guy. De Niro doesn't dissapoint in the least in that aspect, or in any other for that matter.For fans of De Niro and/or Scorsese, this film is absolutely essential veiwing. Without this film, we wouldn't have "Taxi Driver", "Raging Bull", "Good Fellas" or any other films by De Niro and Scorsese. This film is one of the most significant in the history of American cinema in the last 35 years. Highly recommended.