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Mean Streets (1973)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
14 October 1973 (USA)
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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
Plot Keywords:
Little Italy
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Epilepsy
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New York City
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New York
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Bar
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Awards:
2 wins
&
1 nomination
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NewsDesk:
(38 articles)
Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber
(From The Auteurs. 18 November 2009, 7:57 AM, PST)
Scorsese Scores Mol For Boardwalk Empire
(From HollywoodNorthReport.com. 18 November 2009, 6:05 AM, PST)
(From The Auteurs. 18 November 2009, 7:57 AM, PST)
Scorsese Scores Mol For Boardwalk Empire
(From HollywoodNorthReport.com. 18 November 2009, 6:05 AM, PST)
User Comments:
The Scorsese Template
more (162 total)
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 |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Season of the Witch (USA) (working title)
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Parents Guide:
Runtime:
112 min | Spain:107 min (DVD edition)
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Glen Glenn Sound)
Certification:
Hong Kong:III |
Argentina:18 |
Iceland:16 |
Canada:R (DVD rating) |
Brazil:16 |
Australia:M |
Canada:18A (video rating) |
Finland:K-16 |
France:-12 (re-rating) |
France:-16 (original rating) |
Ireland:18 |
Italy:VM14 |
New Zealand:R18 |
Norway:16 (1977) |
Singapore:NC-16 |
South Korea:18 |
Spain:18 |
Sweden:15 |
UK:18 (re-rating) (1993) |
UK:X (original rating) |
USA:R |
West Germany:16
Filming Locations:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Director Trademark: [Martin Scorsese] [mother]the woman who comes to Teresa's aid when she has an epileptic fit.
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Goofs:
Factual errors: While it's true that the soundtrack incorrectly lists "Steppin Out" as "Hideaway", by Cream, that's because on the "Live Cream Vol.2" CD, which is where this track came from, the track is mislabeled that way.
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Quotes:
Giovanni Cappa:
This Johnny Boy is like your mister Groppi...a little crazy. It's nice you should help him out because of his family and our family but watch yourself...Don't spoil anything. His whole family has problems...his cousin, the girl who lives next door to you...
Charlie: Teresa.
Giovanni Cappa: ...The one who's sick, right? In the head.
Charlie: No, she's got epilepsy.
Giovanni Cappa: Yeah. That's what I said, sick in the head.
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Charlie: Teresa.
Giovanni Cappa: ...The one who's sick, right? In the head.
Charlie: No, she's got epilepsy.
Giovanni Cappa: Yeah. That's what I said, sick in the head.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in The Next Scorsese (2006)
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Soundtrack:
DESIREE
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FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (162 total)
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Scorsese's first film, the interesting catastrophe "Boxcar Bertha," marked his birth as a director, but it was with his second feature, "Mean Streets" that we witnessed the birth of an artist. Most of "Mean Streets" is slightly unfocused with a simplistic plot based around a lot of machismo grandstanding and long bouts of boring dialog (occasionally made interesting by DeNiro's off-kilter star-making turn as Johnny-Boy), with spats of visceral violence (far less gory here than in later Scorcese pics), and a visual bravado that seems slightly less disciplined but no less entertaining than your standard Scorsese crime flick.
Despite its drawbacks (mainly due to youth and inexperience), the template was set. The opening credits (done to the tune of "Be My Baby") suck you right into the film, and the rest of the movie is peppered with Scorsese's loving treatment of popular music that would later become one of his most endearing hallmarks. The basic premise featuring Harvey Keitel as Charlie (the young hood with a heart of gold and conflicted internally by the religion of the Church and the religion of the Streets), Robert DeNiro as Johnny-Boy (the equally loved and hated loose-canon brother figure), and Amy Robinson as Theresa (the woman our hero wants to put on a pedestal as a saint but often treats like a whore), is a trifecta of archetypes we see repeated again and again in Scorsese's films (most obviously in "Casino" with the DeNiro-Pesci-Stone characters, and most subversively in "The Last Temptation of Christ" with Jesus-Judas-Mary Magdalene). The religious iconography, the brotherhood of crooks, the attraction to the gangster lifestyle, the keen eye for depicting violence in artistic and startling ways...these are displayed here in "Mean Streets" in their rawest form.
Though flawed in many ways, "Mean Streets" set the stage and laid the the template for the type of film Scorsese would perfect seventeen years later with "Goodfellas." This heralded the arrival of a new talent and a new genre, and the world of film has thankfully never been the same.