Review of Mean Streets (1973) by Grant L — 14 Oct 2010

Everybody that has looked over my profile you should all see that I have the master himself Martin Scorsese listed as my favorite director of all time. I finally got to see his first gangster film and the film that really got him started, "Mean Streets".

I was expecting many many things before watching this and I have to say everything I was expecting was exactly right. First I have to talk about all the great performances in this film stating with Harvey Keitel who to me gave his best performance of his carrer which is saying a lot for him.

He could change his reactions perfectly when something went down out of nowhere. Also this was the first film that De Niro and Scorsese ever teamed up for and watching this you should know that it would only get better form there.

De Niro's performance was one of the best of his carrer as well I would probably put this in his Top 10 thats how I good I thought it was. As he usually does he leaves Robert De Niro and became the sleezy Johnny Boy who liked to do nothing but dodge people and piss them off some more which is perfect De Niro to do.

Keitel and De Niro created the best scenes with their chemistry being perfect with no flaws at all, they acted like best friends then they acted like worst enemeies just like that. Scorsese's direction as usual was masterful, making every one of his scenes seem as real as possible.

The fight scenes, the meeting scenes, the sex scene, all looked like it wasent even a movie and you were watching real life. If you watched other Scorses's films before you watch this then you should know that everybody always dies at the end of the film and you should know at the end of this film De Niro was going to get his and thats exactly what happened with one of my favorite ending scenes I have seen.

The writing in this was great as well with very authentic Italian language and some slick jokes fitted in there as well. If I had to say any flaws it would probably be that this film isnt for everybody, its heavy, at times viloent but thats it.

And speaking of viloence this is actually one of Scorsese's less vilonet films especially when you compare it to films like Goodfellas and Casino. So this film has a lot of great things in it and is easily one of my favorite films of all time and its also one of the best acted films i've ever seen.

I woulden't put it over Goodfellas or Raging Bull which I think are Scorsese's best but its up there maybe in the Top 10 or Top 15. So if you haven't seen this film you should see it no matter what knid if films you like you should just see it for yourself.

Another Scorsese matserpiece. 100%.