mean streets

01.10.20
Mean Streets
1973
Starring: Robert Deniro, Harvey Keitel



Mean Streets is a film I'm watching for my independent cinema class. It is one of the required films for our study of early American cinema. I watched this film twice in the past two days and i liked it even better the second time around. The soundtrack in this film is perfect, it sets the mood and scene in a way that no manufactured score could do. Apparently, almost all of the music used for the film was from Scorsese's personal record collection and a large portion of the small budget of this film was used in procuring the rights for those very songs. I love the way that Scorsese presents the characters environment in an extremely artistic manner without distracting from the livelihood of the characters. There is not much of a plot in this film, it's a "slice of life" sort of narrative. Harvey Keitel's smooth attitude plays as a catalyst to keep the entirety of the film cohesive. The opening lines of the film and the inner voice of Keitel's character was narrated by Scorsese himself. On the special features of this film there is a small special that discusses some fun facts about the film and the way Scorsese designed it as a way to glimpse into his past. Scorsese's mother apparently even plays a small role in the film, bringing a real sense of homespun charm to the dark and dirty world of these amateur mobsters. Martin's main concern for Mean Streets was that the people who were being fictionally portrayed would find it a legitimate and honorable representation of the tough life they lived. Needless to say they did.