Mean Streets. 1973. The third film.
I watched the movie twice- this morning and yesterday morning- because I was sort of intimidated. There’s pretty much nothing I can say about Mean Streets that hasn’t already been said but here goes anyway.
Technically, it’s really invigorating to see the jump from Who’s That Knocking to Mean Streets. There’s confidence, polish, and ambition that wasn’t all there before. The characters are strongly defined from their opening introductions to the end, and while they all serve a purpose in the plot, they are more than the sum of their parts. The dialogue is still lively and honest, but it feels more honed. It still feels like it came from Scorsese’s direct experiences but you can tell he’s getting stronger as a writer. Every instance of conversation is strong and direct; it begins and ends exactly where it needs to, and tells you a little more about the characters and their friendship. One thing I love about Scorsese’s movies is the strongly character-based sense of humor and back-and-forth which I feel gets overlooked in favor of his style and strong dramatic/violent elements. Scorsese movies are often fairly grim in plot, but they’re fun to watch because the style and writing is so charged and energized.
All of the characters in the main group are great, but the stars are Charlie (Harvey Keitel) and Johnny Boy (Robert Deniro). Charlie is a thoughtful and religious young man whose family ties to mafia and other dangerous characters comes in conflict with his beliefs. Johnny Boy is a charismatic loser, deep in debt to everyone he knows, blowing his money on gambling and suits and getting into vicious fights at the drop of a hat because he can’t keep his mouth shut. They have been friends since childhood but Johnny Boy’s habits are starting to become a more serious problem than he will acknowledge.
Everything about these characters and their arc is told to us within the first 10-15 minutes of the film. Charlie confesses via voiceover narration that he believes that church penitence is bullshit, and that you “pay for your sins in the street”. We see the repeated image of him holding his hand over a lit flame, an excercise in control and a reminder of “the fires of Hell”. That image tells you everything about this character- his trusting, curious and self-sacrificing nature, and his strange need to surround himself with dangerous people and things. He believes that helping Johnny Boy to get his life straight is his way of “paying for his sins in the street”. But Johnny Boy will have to pay for his own sins, and in a much harsher way than Charlie wanted. Everyone tells Charlie that from the very start, but its still painful to see it slowly play out.
The storytelling his much stronger and more focused than it was in Who’s That Knocking. The character bits are fun and interesting but always help to enforce the themes. Charlie’s idolation of St. Francis of Assisi is not only charming but it mirrors how he sees himself- and how he sees Johnny Boy, as a beast in need of salvation. He wants to tame him the way St. Francis tamed a wolf. There’s a scene that pays poetic visual homage to it- Tony the bartender has bought an illegal pet tiger and enters the cage himself. His friends are scared at first, but then come to stand and silently watch with profound and focused curiosity as he sits on his knees and happily coddles a wild animal. It’s a beautiful scene and a great character moment, but it’s also there for a reason.
Mean Streets is often referred to as Scorsese’s first movie, and its true that this is the first one that really feels like it belongs to the “canon”. All the standbys are there- the familiar music cues, the motion of the camera, the back-and-forth. But you can see that story and character are coming into much stronger focus here, and its why Mean Streets is a movie that I couldn’t wait to watch, and watch again.
