X
- 1973
- R
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 52 m
- 1973
- R
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 52 m
Summary Charlie (Harvey Keitel) is working his way up the ranks of a local mob. Teresa (Amy Robinson) is the girlfriend his family deems unsuitable because of her epilepsy. Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro) is a small-time gambler in big-time debt to loan sharks. This is a story Martin Scorsese lived, a semi-biographical tale of the first-generation s...
Directed By: Martin Scorsese
Written By: Martin Scorsese, Mardik Martin
- 1973
- R
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 52 m
- 1973
- R
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 52 m
Mean Streets
96
7.5
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Summary Charlie (Harvey Keitel) is working his way up the ranks of a local mob. Teresa (Amy Robinson) is the girlfriend his family deems unsuitable because of her epilepsy. Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro) is a small-time gambler in big-time debt to loan sharks. This is a story Martin Scorsese lived, a semi-biographical tale of the first-generation s...
Directed By: Martin Scorsese
Written By: Martin Scorsese, Mardik Martin
Where to Watch
Coming Soon
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim Based on 11 Critic Reviews
96
100% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim Based on 11 Critic Reviews
96
100% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets is a true original of our period, a triumph of personal filmmaking. It has its own hallucinatory look; the characters live in the darkness of bars, with lighting and color just this side of lurid. It has its own unsettling, episodic rhythm and a high-charged emotional range that is dizzyingly sensual.
Mean Streets is a jazzy riff of a movie, zigging and zagging as if to the beat of snapping fingers. Its greatness lies in its leanness, with nary a word, a move, a gesture that's nonessential.
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 137 User Ratings
7.5
77% Positive
106 Ratings
106 Ratings
20% Mixed
27 Ratings
27 Ratings
3% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 137 User Ratings
7.5
77% Positive
106 Ratings
106 Ratings
20% Mixed
27 Ratings
27 Ratings
3% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
Apr 6, 2021
Everybody loves New York, but New York loves nobody. The film gives more importance to character than to plot. Characters are incredibly portrayed and the contrast between the characters is clearly visible. Considering that the film was made in 1973, a few technical errors can be forgiven but overall an incredibly well-made and fun film.
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Dec 15, 2019
Interesting to see this film for the first time, year of my birth, after having grown up with Scorcese movies. It is far more realistic and touching than his latest works, even though the cinematography is indeed very rough to say the least compared to Goodfellas or Casino and so on. The messy script might be a turn off but I think it cleverly fits with the bestial , irrational pulsions that he displays so vividly, naturalistically one might say.
Also, I was surprised that Keitel's character resembles more the Jesuits priests in the movie "Silence" in a way. It is very satisfying as a way of "closing the loop" on his life's work.
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Terrific. Top shelf talent at the top of their game, working immediately before they would change Hollywood.
By Simon Braund FULL REVIEW
The movie's blazing energy is still astounding; the vérité street-scenes are terrific and Scorsese's pioneering use of popular music is genuinely thrilling.
Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets isn’t so much a gangster movie as a perceptive, sympathetic, finally tragic story about how it is to grow up in a gangster environment.
Martin Scorsese's intrusive insistence on his abstract, metaphysical theme—the possibility of modern sainthood—marks this 1973 film, his first to attract critical notice, as still somewhat immature, yet the acting and editing have such an original, tumultuous force that the picture is completely gripping.
Scorsese is exceptionally good at guiding his largely unknown cast to near-flawless recreations of types. Outstanding in this regard is De Niro.
By Staff (Not Credited) FULL REVIEW
Dec 9, 2018
Scorsese's equations for raunchy narrow minded brother is an awe inspiring formula that works magically as a family drama rather than your usual street boys feud. Mean Streets Scorsese's equations for raunchy narrow minded brother is an awe inspiring formula that works magically as a family drama rather than your usual street boys feud. He has created a dysfunctional family drama that is explored in an ironic tone that leans towards intense life changing dram as it ages on screen. In here, the money making business, the mob mentality, cutthroat politics and guns blazing all over the street is mere distraction. And boy what a distraction it is, his well placed and edited antics leaves your eyes popped and jaws dropped. Prepare to be amazed to this ultimate grounded tale of friends and foes. Especially all these long sequences that Scorsese creates, like a petty fight sequence in a pool hub or couple of hot heads fighting over a moot point, such genre has always been his forte and it is at its peak in here. Amongst these huge melodrama fiction, lies an honest and moving brotherhood relationship between De Niro and Keitel, where they play with heavy machinery as a joke or bicker over nonsense topics or negotiate finance as a ten years old. These are the moments that steals the show. Keitel as the arguably responsible and mature guy trying to hold this scattered surrounding of his with one direction is both funny and impressive. But of course the show stealer is De Niro in his mischievous cloak where he defies to take any situation seriously and as a storyteller Scorsese makes it the most essential bit; he is the trickster after all. Set over the course of multiple characters and different episodes, the narration has the heart in its right place with fair justifying trial where everyone is put on a stand. Mean Streets is not that mean, as in it's not the darkest tale to come out of Scorsese's basket although it is one of the best.
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Oct 11, 2022
Me da la sensación que es de estas películas que acaban gustando porque fueron un precedente, porque fueron de las primeras obras de un gran director, o simplemente porque el final es "impactante".
Iba a decir que estaba bien la construcción de personajes, pero es que solo te construyen a uno, ese, está bien construido, los demás no puedo opinar.
Hay algo que me falta, sí que es verdad que tiene fallos graves de racord y de montaje, pero no es en eso en lo que me centro, si no como que la película es un costumbrismo de sucesión de cosas, esperar a que pase algo en vez de conducir al espectador a algo que va a pasar, falta el conductor. · Cosas buenas: las actuaciones, son bastante buenas, el final gana mucho, y le hace ganar a la película, y queramos o no, es una de las precursoras en las películas de mafiosos.
· Cosas malas: falta un punto al que apuntar, errores de guion, cosas que omitiría, técnicamente no es de lo mejor que he visto para la época.
· Conclusión: seguramente sea de esas películas clásicas que te vendan como buena, pero seguramente se te haga aburrida, aún así, el desarrollo del final hace que valga la pena y en conjunto no acaba siendo tan mala como la estoy pintando.
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Nov 4, 2021
This is an enjoyable gangster movie by Scorsese even if I'm not neither a fan of the genre nor of this movie in itself. It didn't take me too much. When we talk about organized criminality movies i still prefer Coen's Miller's Crossing or Bellocchio' "The Traitor".
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Jan 23, 2021
General Review:
Another movie I had never heard of and wasn’t sure what to expect. Have heard of a lot of Martin Scorsese movies but haven’t seen many (if any) before. The acting, cinematography and music were all fine in this movie but for some reason it barely held my interest. Might be my sleep depraved state I was in when watching it but I just didn’t find myself caring about any of the characters and nothing really seemed to happen. I know there were different mob-type people, a few fights and a restaurant involved but characters just seemed to come and go and nothing really seemed to happen. The Good:
The music – a great mixture of different styles or music which perfectly matched the different scenes and moods of the movie.
The editing and cinematography – the scenes and angles all seemed to add to different scenes, hardly noticed any cuts within scenes which usually suggests they were well done. Small touches like the shaky camera in running scenes also added another dimension of immersion. The Bad:
The plot and characters – not if this was the movie/plots fault or my own but both the characters and plot didn’t draw me in and I found myself bored at times.
Final Thoughts:
Although there was nothing noticeably bad with the movie it just never really floated my boat and was a bit luck luster for myself. Score:
6 out of 10 pineapples!
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Production Company
- Warner Bros.
- Taplin - Perry - Scorsese Productions
Release Date Oct 14, 1973
Duration 1 h 52 m
Rating R
Tagline Welcome...but don't break the rules!
Awards
National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA
• 1 Win & 4 Nominations
Sant Jordi Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
National Film Preservation Board, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
