Mean Streets (1973)

Mean Streets (R)

In-our-time-film-master Martin Scorsese once was an barely known filmmaker from NYU.  By his third film, Mean Streets, he had jolted out of the haze of would-be directors and film-artistes with this brash, poignant ode to life and crime in the Italian Burroughs of New York City, a subject which would launch him into pop culture adulation and art-scene worship.

With his rise comes fast ascension of two other stars, Harvey Keitel (Bad Lieutenant) and Robert De Niro (The Godfathers Part 2), both frequent collaborators and pals in the film.  Keitel plays the sinning Catholic Charlie, Martin's stand-in for himself and leading man.  Charlie is conflicted with guilt over his criminal ambitions, love life and religious upbringing.  His friend Johnny-Boy (De Niro) is also dragging him down due to his outrageous behavior and gambling.  It all comes to a head when the loan sharks come calling and Johnny's fiery nature boils over.  It is a gritty, true-feeling memoir of a life uncorrected, of gumbas in your peripheral vision and women in skirts flashing you their legs when you are drunk on a stool on a Thursday night.

Being one of Marty's first films, it is also one of his most personal.  The mob genre, which he later reinvented and became most famous for, is really not the main plot here and barely affects Charlies true feelings (at heart he is a good boy).  However the bad boy, Johnny, actually carries the film.  It is De Niro's energy and wild abandon-to-naturalistic-improvisation that really sparked this low budget drama into recognition.  Without Robert's Johnny this would be a interesting milestone in all their careers, but with it? The desperate need for crime, action, women and honor come to a simmering burst of gritty color all over the angry pavement.

7.5 Young Men, Old Crucifixes out of 10 (GOOD)