Mean Streets

Mean Streets (1973)

Runtime: 110 minutes

Directed by: Scorsese, of course

Starring: Harvey Keitel, Robert DeNiro, David Proval, Amy Robinson, Richard Romanus

From: Warner Bros.

Yesterday I saw a pair of films... the first was a revisit of the average movie known as Red Sky; yeah, it was one of the Rachael Leigh Cook joints I've seen before. At least she got a free trip to St. Petersburg, Russia out of the whole deal. The second was this: 

There should be more poolroom brawls set to Please Mr. Postman.

I had only seen this once, before I started reviewing movies online... it had to be at least a decade ago. Thus, I figured I need to talk about more Scorsese here anyhow and it playing on TCM last night meant that this was the right time, right place for me. That initial movie I more liked the movie than loved it and alas, this opinion has not changed the second go-around.

The general idea is fine of following around a young man (Keitel) who has a loan shark uncle yet due to Catholic guilt-this already became a Scorsese trademark-is unsure if he wants to follow in his family footsteps. Meanwhile, he has a loose cannon friend (DeNiro) who causes problems and he has a girlfriend who is ostracized because she has epilepsy. If only I could have cared more about the story or the characters...

I can still say that this is good and that is nothing to sneeze at. This is clearly a low-budget effort, pretty gritty with naturalistic lighting (some scenes are bathed in red and it makes for a great image) and intimate camerawork. Even back then Scorsese knew how to create a quality soundtrack-there are some old Italian songs and-shock of shocks-The Rolling Stones but otherwise it's old R&B, including the original version of Please Mr. Postman by The Marvelettes that is heard during a rough and tumble donnybrook in a pool hall; what a juxtaposition that was.

Of course its biggest asset aside from having a director that would later become a legend is the two leads who are great actors and one became a legend himself. That for certain helped me watch this even if I don't love Mean Streets like many do.