Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
3/4
Cue Van Halen's Mean Streat...from '81
Gabe - wrote on 02/05/2015
In only his third full-length feature film (non-documentary), Martin Scorsese already is using the tropes that would come to define his work, NYC, the mob, De Niro. It's a film about small-time hustler Charlie (Keitel) who's just on the verge of making it big in the local mob-scene, but is tied-up with the exploits of the no-good Johnny (De Niro, with weird long hair).
The film drags at times, but the ending is quite powerful. Some questions I want answered: Was Charlie in on the whole thing? Did his uncle set them up? Does Johnny die?
Also, the soundtrack is killer, the opening credits with the Ronettes' Be My Baby is classic, I also love the use of early Rolling Stones. Another thing the Scorsese would come back to, the Stones.
It's an interesting film, especially when …
Rating of
2/4
"Mean Streets" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 04/02/2012
Mean Streets concerns the comings and goings of a group of small time criminals operating in the seedy under belly of New York City. It's an early Scorsese, and you can certainly see him learning his craft as the story unfolds; there are some great scenes and you can see the prototype versions of many from his coming classics. But having said that, a lot of the film is rather aimless and lacking in focus, and many of the minor supporting characters are poorly acted caricatures. It seems more concerned with capturing the characters and essence of this side of New York and often wanders off onto tangents which left me rather restless, and dare I say it, bored? Sacrilege I know, and the ending of the film is very powerful, but the journey there is rather flawed. An interesting film for …
