Martin Scorsese is a well known name in the world of cinema. Having been responsible for creating a number of acclaimed movies, most people will have seen at least one of his films, even if it's Shark Tale and they didn't even realise it's as Scorsese movie (it's about gangsters though, so that should have tipped people off). Whilst Mean Streets wasn't his first film, it is the film that helped to launch his career. And to celebrate it's 50th anniversary, Second Sight films has released a new Limited Edition Ultra HD release.
Whilst Scorsese's filmography is quite a varied one, with the forementioned animated kids feature, and films such as The Last Temptation of Christ, Hugo, and The Aviator showing that he can turn his hand to multiple genre's and tones, a lot of people hear the name Scorsese and think 'gangsters'. And I have to admit, that's where my mind often goes first too, and as such I wasn't surprised to learn that his first big feature film was indeed, a film about criminals and gangsters.
Released a year after The Godfather, Mean Streets is an almost polar opposite in terms of tone and style. Whereas the Francis Ford Coppola feature romanticised gangsters, and presented a visually beautiful film, Mean Streets is a dirtier, and more realistic interpretation of life as a small level criminal in the 1970's New York. The palatial home of the Corleone's is replaced with crummy apartments, the richly tailored suits are instead cheap and at times tacky, and the romanticism of the criminal world is thrown out in favour of a nasty, harsh, and even cruel existence.
The film mainly follows Charlie Cappa, played by Harvey Keitel, the nephew of a powerful mafioso. Charlie is a man driven by his faith, and his belief that the best way to atone for your sins is through your actions, rather than simply reciting prayers in church. As such, he tries to do his best for the people around him, and is generally well liked. Unfortunately, his drive to help others has landed him in trouble thanks to the actions of Jonny Boy (Robert De Niro), a young punk who owes every loan shark and criminal in the city money, and refuses to get his life together or hold down a job.
Charlie is trying to help Jonny Boy in large part to him seeing Johnny Boy's cousin, Teresa (Amy Robinson), a relationship that he has to keep secret due to Teresa's epilepsy; a condition that has alienated her from older members of the Italian American community, and has her labelled by Charlie's uncle as 'having something wrong in the head'.
Mean Streets has a very loose plot, and a lot of the film is simply following Charlie as he interacts with other people, getting to know him and his friends, and seeing how his desire to help out Johnny Boy is negatively affecting his life. As such, there are a lot of scenes in the film that don't feel massively important, moments that don't really connect to any kind of larger story, and are there simply to flesh out the world that Scorsese is creating. And whilst I imagine some viewers would question this inclusion, caring only for moments that further the story, these moments are in many ways the point of the story.
There's not really much of a goal for Charlie, no grand plan that he's trying to commit to. There comes a point towards the latter half of the film where he's given an opportunity by his uncle, but it doesn't feel like something that Charlie specifically sought out or fought for. He, much like most people in life, simply moves from moment to moment, trying to do his best as he does so. The scenes where it's just him and his friends hanging out are some of the better parts of the movie, and their comradery becomes an important point, especially when Johnny Boy's actions begins to erode that.
That doesn't mean that the film isn't slow in places. Despite only being two hours long (a fairly short film for Scorsese) it does feel a bit longer thanks to the meandering plot and the slow pace. There are a number of storylines and plots that don't seem to really go anywhere, such as Charlie desperately wanting to date a Black stripper and how he dating a Black woman would affect his reputation and standing in the community, comes up a few times, but never really amounts to much. You can definitely see the style of films that Scorsese would go on to make evolving here, experimentations into ways of movie making that would become a staple of his career that don't quite feel perfected yet. As such, it's probably not going to be in your top list of Scorsese movies, but it does make for an interesting examination of his early work.
Alongside the new 4K restoration of the film, the disc includes a newly recorded audio commentary from Demetrios Matheou, author of BFI Films Classics Mean Street, and David Thompson, Co-Editor of the book Scorsese on Scorsese which offers some interesting insights into the film and Scorsese's following career. There is also a scene specific audio commentary with Scorsese himself, along with actor Amy Robinson. Alongside this are new interviews, Q&A's, and documentaries about the film. The Limited Edition also comes with a number of postcards from the film, as well as a 178 page booklet featuring several essays on the movie (the booklet was not provided for review)
Mean Streets makes for an interesting look back at the beginning of a director's career that would span decades, becoming one of the most well known directors in the world. For fans of Scorsese, this new release offers the opportunity to see where it all began, but even those who aren't massively knowledgeable of his work will find an entertaining movie waiting for them.
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