Mean Streets

by Demetrios Matheou

Mean Streets was Martin Scorsese's third feature film, and the one that confirmed him as a major new talent. On its premiere at the New York Film Festival in 1973, the critic Pauline Kael hailed the film as 'a true original of our period, a triumph of personal film-making'. The tale of combative friends and small-time crooks is set amid the bars, pool halls, tenements and streets of Manhattan's Little Italy. Scorsese has said of his childhood neighbourhood, 'its very texture was interwoven with organised crime', and this quality would dramatically inform the tone and restless energy of his seminal film.

Demetrios Matheou's insightful study considers Mean Streets ' production history in the context of the New Hollywood period of American cinema, noting also the key roles played by John Cassavetes and Roger Corman. He analyses the importance of Scorsese's background to the film's characters and themes, including preoccupations with guilt, redemption and criminal subcultures; the development of the director's film-making process and signature style; the way in which he both drew upon and invigorated the crime genre; his relationship with emerging stars Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel, and the film's reception and legacy.

Matheou argues that while Taxi Driver (1976) and Raging Bull (1980) are regarded as Scorsese's greatest films of the period, Mean Streets is the more influential achievement. With it, Scorsese not only paved the way for a new kind of crime movie, not least his own GoodFellas (1990), but also inspired generations of independently-minded film-makers.

Genres: Film

112 pages, Paperback

Published October 5, 2023

Reviews

[Jeff Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

The question is – why has it takes on long for this to be released? Mean Streets is beyond a classic; it’s the seed that both announced Scorsese and set him free of everything he had learned to be the landmark director that he now is. It’s arguably Harvey Keitel’s finest hour and Robert De Niro’s performance is what earned him the role in the Godfather Part 2 and launched an unbelievable director/actor relationship.

I’ll be honest, that whilst there is nothing specifically new or groundbreaking in this BFI book, it is very well presented and shows a real love and understanding of the film.

Well worth a read for anyone with even the most passing interest in cinema.

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

While there are sporadic moments of informative exploration of themes, production, and historical context, its desire to hold its readers along in its scene-by-scene recreation feels more akin to the film with an audio commentary but translated into words for us to endure through. I am assuming the audience has seen the film, and so I felt that its methodology feels viscous and futile. In the end, I am glad this film had an edition within the series as it is clearly deserving of it, I simply think it could have replaced its scene-by-scene pacing with avenues of interpretation or greater exploration of historical influence.

[Leo · Rating 3 out of 5]

read for my class on scorsese. well-written in a film critic-y style, this gave me a lot more appreciation for the several layers of “mean streets.” i already loved the movie, but this takes a dive into the charlie-johnny boy dynamic and the influence scorsese’s upbringing had on the visceral, vérité style and themes. as scorsese said and bong joon ho quoted, the most personal really is the most creative.

[John Bleasdale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book about a brilliant film