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Mean Streets
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Mean Streets (1973) More at IMDbPro »

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Mean Streets (1973) -- A small-time hood struggles to succeed on the "mean streets" of Little Italy.

Overview

User Rating:
7.5/10   23,481 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 5% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Martin Scorsese
Writers:
Martin Scorsese (screenplay) and
Mardik Martin (screenplay) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for Mean Streets on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
14 October 1973 (USA) more
Genre:
Crime | Drama more
Tagline:
You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets...
Plot:
A small-time hood struggles to succeed on the "mean streets" of Little Italy. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
2 wins & 1 nomination more
NewsDesk:
(15 articles)
Martin Scorsese was Considered for Godfather II
 (From Worst Previews. 7 July 2009, 6:00 PM, PDT)

Coppola Wanted Scorsese to Direct 'Godfather 2'
 (From Cinematical. 7 July 2009, 11:15 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
This movie is not just a good movie - It also is the movie which helped form the foundation of Martin Scorsese's later pictures. more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Robert De Niro ... Johnny Boy

Harvey Keitel ... Charlie

David Proval ... Tony
Amy Robinson ... Teresa
Richard Romanus ... Michael
Cesare Danova ... Giovanni
Victor Argo ... Mario (as Vic Argo)
George Memmoli ... Joey
Lenny Scaletta ... Jimmy
Jeannie Bell ... Diane
Murray Moston ... Oscar (as Murray Mosten)

David Carradine ... Drunk

Robert Carradine ... Boy With Gun
Lois Walden ... Jewish Girl

Harry Northup ... Soldier
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Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Also Known As:
Season of the Witch (USA) (working title)
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Runtime:
112 min | Spain:107 min (DVD edition)
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Glen Glenn Sound)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The schedule for the movie was 25 days (according to director Martin Scorsese's commentary for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)). more
Goofs:
Continuity: As Teresa is getting out of bed when she is with Harvey Keitel's character, in one shot the blanket covering her is pulled off nearly completely, yet in the next shot it covers her again, before being pulled off once again. more
Quotes:
[repeated line]
Charlie: What's the matter with you?
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Life on Mars: (#1.4)" (2006) more
Soundtrack:
BE MY BABY more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
29 out of 37 people found the following comment useful:-
This movie is not just a good movie - It also is the movie which helped form the foundation of Martin Scorsese's later pictures., 21 October 2005
8/10
Author: Malte006 from OJ, Denmark

Mean Streets

- "I f*uck you right where you breathe"

Directed by Martin Scorsese (1973)

Mean Streets came out in 1973 after Scorsese almost had the script under development in a decade. This is one of his first personal movies, describing the raw environment in the streets of Little Italy in NYC. We follow Charlie in the leading role and the bunch of guys around him. The hustler Johnny Boy owes a lot of money to the loan shark Tony and doesn't make his payments to him. Charlie now tries to work out a deal with Tony and is trying to get Johnny Boy to pull himself together, even though this looks like an impossible mission.

Scorsese's first motion picture Who's That Knocking at My Door and Mean Streets have many resemblances and contain the typical trademarks that Scorsese is now well known for. He almost always makes a character study of the life of lonely men, who are trying to get the best out of their situation in the asphalt jungle. Hustling, working, drinking, taking drugs etc. are very typical things to do for the persons appearing in his movies.

Mean Streets is photographed mostly with a hand hold camera, which helps create a raw look that fits pretty good to this environment. Also the movie doesn't contain an actual score. Actually songs from the director's personal music collection do work as the background music. The plot is this picture is only secondary. This is like many of Scorsese's other movie primarily a character driven story with a raw environment description.

The movie marks the start of one of the greatest director/actor collaborations ever! The role of Johnny Boy was Robert De Niro's role in a Scorsese picture, and later on he went to bigger leading roles under the director, which gave them both the reputation that they have today. Also this is Harvey Keitel's second leading role in a Scorsese picture, but after this movie Keitel and De Niro kind switched roles (see Taxi Driver).

This movie is not just a good movie - It also is the movie which helped form the foundation of Martin Scorsese's later pictures.

8/10

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Scorsese's Top 5 joydivsion77
Song help. so_fetch-1
I only got two hands yeoffthecat
Did anyone else... eight_days
RUMOURS OF REMAKE!! alan-breslin
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