Mean Streets

Colour, 35 mm
USA, 1973, 110 min
Section: New Hollywood

Synopsis

Impulsive Johnny Civello and his broody cousin Charlie Cappa are reckless kids on a feather-edge with the law. Their days are spent eking it out with their friends in an artificially drawn-out state of noncommittal adolescence, unable to find some kind of meaning in their lives. The one big dream they do have is to become respected gangsters. Will they be able to make their dream come true in the old-style “proper” way, as Charlie imagines it – and will they be able to pay the price that comes with it? Though Martin Scorsese’s feature debut Boxcar Bertha (1972) was more a “b-film”, the director’s first truly individual work was this gangster-flick, played out in his native New York quarter of Little Italy. The economically and briskly shot movie gives a suggestive impression of documentary authenticity, and at the same time exudes highly original creative energy. The semi-autobiographical essence of the tale is attested to by the character of Charlie in particular, played by Harvey Keitel, joined by the energetic performance of another of Scorsese’s core actors, Robert De Niro.

About the director

 Martin Scorsese (b. 1942, Queens, New York City) has maintained his credit as a filmmaker of the classic Hollywood style, though it was not until this year that he was awarded with an Oscar for Best Director for the  drama The Departed (2006). He works within the range of classic genres, be it melodrama (Age of Innocence, 1993), musical (New York, New York, 1977), biography (The Aviator, 2004 or, in its own way, The Last Temptation of Christ, 1988), comedy (The King of Comedy, 1983), or drama (Taxi Driver, 1976, Raging Bull, 1980). His work is pervaded by the question of what value moral imperatives have in a violent, chaotic world where no rules apply; a theme he continued to examine even after Mean Streets (1973) in his other gangster pieces, GoodFellas (1990), Casino (1995) and The Departed.