Mean Streets

***Mean Streets*** is a 1973 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Scorsese and Mardik Martin, and starring Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, David Proval, Richard Romanus, Amy Robinson and Cesare Danova. The film follows various small-time gangsters in Little Italy, Manhattan, with it mainly focusing on Charlie Cappa (Keitel), who tries to keep the peace between his gangster friends and his psychotic childhood best friend, "Johnny Boy" Civello (De Niro).

Along with this film being the first collaboration of Scorsese and De Niro, *Mean Streets* has been critically acclaimed and cited as being one of the greatest films of all time. Not only did De Niro win the National Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Circle award for Best Supporting Actor for his role, but the film was also said as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress.

## Plot

In the neighborhood of Little Italy in New York City, Charlie Cappa is a young Italian-American thug who wishes to rise up the ranks of the local Mafia, despite his devout Catholicism, his wishes of no one getting hurt and his close friendships with fellow mobsters, Johnny Civello, Tony DeVienazo and Michael Longo, who are mostly seen as being lowlife mobsters. This criticism is mostly brought up by Charlie's powerful mafioso uncle, Giovanni who tries to talk him out of his association with Johnny and his sexual relationship with Johnny's cousin, Teresa.

Over time, Johnny becomes more and more reckless with him showing no respect to powerful men connected to the Mafia as well as failing to pay off his debts to Michael, who begins to grow impatient of Johnny's disrespect. When Johnny pays off his debts, he is several dollars short, to which, instead of getting the rest of the money, Johnny insults him, which shocks both Charlie and Michael. Michael walks away and Charlie convinces Johnny to skip town.

While the two, along with Teresa, are driving through Brooklyn, a car pulls up beside them with it being revealed that it is being driven by Michael with his henchman, Jimmy Shorts in the back seat. Jimmy fires several shots at Charlie's car, with one bullet hitting Johnny in neck and one hitting Charlie hand, causing him to crash the car. After Michael drives off, Charlie and Teresa are brought to a hospital, with Johnny being last seen staggering in an alleyway, with his fate being left unknown.

## Cast

* Harvey Keitel as Charlie Cappa
* Robert De Niro as Johnny "Johnny Boy" Civello
* David Proval as Tony DeVienazo
* Amy Robinson as Teresa Ronchelli
* Victor Argo as Mario
* Richard Romanus as Michael Longo
* Cesare Danova as Giovanni
* George Memmoli as Joey
* Jeannie Bell as Diane
* Harry Northup as Soldier
* David Carradine as Drunk
* Martin Scorsese as Jimmy Shorts

## Deaths

* **Unnamed drunk:** Succumbed to his gun shot wounds from an unnamed assassin.
* **Groppi:** Committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth.
* **Johnny Civello (presumably):** Shot in the neck, although it is never revealed if he survives or dies from his injuries.

## Production

After directing *Boxcar Bertha* and being told the film was "a piece of shit", by fellow director, John Cassavetes, Scorsese decided to make a film based on his own experiences while growing up in the Mafia-polluted neighborhood of Little Italy. Cassavetes also advised Scorsese to direct and write a film similar to his first feature film, *Who's That Knocking at My Door*, which also focused on similar topics such as Catholic guilt and the characters being associated with the Mafia, which were brought up more in *Mean Streets*. Originally, the screenplay for *Mean Streets* was titled, *Season of the Witch*, and was changed when Scorsese read Raymond Chandler's essay "The Simple Art of Murder", where Chandler writes: "But down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid." After writing the script, Scorsese sent it to director, Roger Corman, who produced *Boxcar Bertha* and said that he would only produce the film if the characters were black, in a way to turn *Mean Streets* into a blaxploitation film. Just before Scorsese agreed to Corman's terms, actress Verna Bloom introduced Scorsese to the road manager for The Band, Jonathan T. Taplin, who gave Scorsese $300,000 for the film.