Review of Who's That Knocking at My Door (1968) by Tyler B — 14 Jan 2009

While I don't feel this is one of the all time great debuts (like Blood Simple, Reservoir Dogs, Shaun of the Dead), it is a good film.

I don't think the film will ever have the resonance with me that it did with people like Roger Ebert, who grew up in a Catholic neighborhood and did the kinds of things and felt the way J.R. feels in this picture about sex and purity. I also didn't grow up in the 60's. So any chance to relate to J.R. and his friends and this story is difficult. I've no doubt they are presented by Scorsese in a realistic way, but without the emotional connection it's hard to find a masterpiece in any sense of the word here. As for the directing, Scorsese had originally made this as a student film while in NYU and it shows. Endless close ups, pull backs, muti-angle cutting, and so on as though Scorsese was trying everything out just to see how it looked. The acting is great, Keitel, who has become one of the great actors of his generation, seems to be channeling Scorsese himself at times.

Scorsese would take this type of story to the next level, in just about every sense, with Mean Streets, and perfect the formula with Goodfellas, but this is a good jump off point in one of the greatest bodies of work in film history.