#45 We just watched this on Netflix streaming:Mean Streets

The Film:

Scorsese was a wild Italian American in his youth. There were few signs that he was going to be the filmmaking legend that he is now. His first movie Whose that Knocking at the Door is a minor entry to American movies despite Roger Ebert’s over zealous praise of it.

However, Scorsese locked himself in as one of the great directors of his generation with Mean Streets. What made Mean Streets so unique was it merged different filmmaking aesethics into one movie. Scorsese was a good friends with John Cassavetes and its shows. The organic nature of the camera and how it moves in its environment was heavily inspired by Cassavete’s self-produced movie Faces. The term “cinema verite” is over-used, but Mean Streets made the technique viable in mainstream movies. Scorsese was in love with the traditional Hollywood film language, but wanted a more ‘boots on the ground” feel to New York City and the crime scene. The movie is a simple story (maybe overly simple at times) of a lowly mob enforcer trying to help out a family member who has gotten into too much debt. What I especially like about the story is the characters are as pathetic as average gangsters are in real life. There is no respecting their audacity, power, or viciousness — they’re just petty.

Why to watch it:

It really does still feel fresh. It isn’t like Goodfellas in the sense that there isn’t a creepy admiration for the villians and the movie doesn’t have the slick, polished look of Scorsese’s later films. It is gritty, raw, dark, and uncompromising. Scorsese’s infantile obsession with “Catholic guilt” is more thoroughly explored in this movie than anywhere else in his career. The movie opens with the argument that real christians should do good by God by being a righteous person in their daily lives, not just in church.

Pay attention to this:

My favorite scenes in Scorsese movies are ones where two of his characters reach a boiling point and square off against each other. It is a hallmark of all great Scorsese movies. The finest example might be in Mean Streets. Charlie and Johnny Boy (shown above) erupt in a shouting match so volatile we forget that the rage is actually faked. Also pay attention to the way the camera moves throughout the spaces and how the film speed is shamelessly grainy. All these elements sound common place today, but they were revolutionary at the time.

-Collin