Who's That Knocking at My Door? (1967)
Martin Scorsese's debut feature,Who's That Knocking at My Door?contains many of the autobiographical elements that would inform Scorsese's work as became a director of world-class importance. This was Harvey Keitel's debut as well, and he plays a young New Yorker named J.R. (the name also served as the film's alternate title) as a tortured vehicle for Scorsese's own inner conflict between rigid Catholic tradition and initial forays into liberating sexual experience. Produced over a lengthy on-and-off schedule while Scorsese was a struggling New York University film student, and shot in the Little Italy neighborhoods where Scorsese was raised, the film (with a final budget of $75,000) is a boldly stylized, stream-of-consciousness experience, establishing Scorsese's passion for well-chosen rock & roll soundtrack songs while plumbing the depths of J.R.'s soul as he begins a tenuous relationship with an independent, sexually experienced young woman (Zina Bethune) who's at odds with J.R.'s seething repression. Incorporating fantasy sequences to further convey the young man's turbulent thoughts and emotions,Who's That Knocking at My Doorearned favorable reviews, announcing the arrival of a bracing new talent and setting the stage, five years later, for the breakout triumph ofMean Streets.--Jeff Shannon