Mean Streets (1973) Dir. Martin Scorsese

As statements of intent go, it’s hard to think of one more representative of a director than Martin Scorsese’s 1973 masterpiece Mean Streets. While not his directorial debut, it was the first in a very distinct blueprint that Scorsese has continued to dip into throughout his career.

Set in New York, it follows Charlie (Harvey Keitel), a low-level hoodlum with the street smarts and connections to work his way up the ranks of organised crime. However, his loyalty to Johnny-Boy (Robert De Niro), who is both a friend and the cousin of Charlie’s girlfriend Teresa, leads to him constantly being brought back down to earth.

While this shares a lot of the DNA that would go into Scorsese’s later pictures such as Goodfellas, Mean Streets is less about the rise and fall of a notorious figure, and more a coming-of-age story. Keitel is magnetic as Charlie, a young man who through choice and circumstance finds himself in a situation that he cannot handle with his charm or his fists. He is still very much a kid, trying to play with ruthless men.

He’s also very much part of a new generation and must reckon with the culture clashes that brings about. Teresa (Amy Robinson) is epileptic and shunned because of this by her traditional family, which limits how much commitment Charlie can show to her. He is also attracted to an African American dancer who works at the bar run by his friend Tony (David Proval) but cannot act on this due to racial tensions of the time. This is without mentioning the inner battle Charlie has trying to marry his devout Catholicism and the sins he commits daily.

In this regard, Mean Streets feels like Scorsese’s most personal film, representing a life that he knew growing up. As if to underline this, Scorsese voices Charlie’s inner monologues, making that disconnect between his feelings and his actions even more stark.

Then there’s Johnny-Boy. De Niro brings a wild, unpredictability to the role, that would serve him well in later Scorsese pictures. Clearly mentally unwell, and digging a hole for Charlie and himself, Johnny-Boy is often the catalyst for the sudden bursts of violence. But while lesser pictures would perhaps vilify him for causing trouble for his friends, Scorsese and De Niro keep him forever sympathetic. He imitates what he sees Charlie do, and yet it’s a child being led by a child. Still in their twenties, they are quick to drink too much, to play fight, to resort to childish pranks late at night, while far more dangerous characters continue to plot over their heads.

While so much of the Scorsese style is visible here, one part of this style that he arguably perfected was the needle drop. The soundtrack here is incredible, from The Roling Stones, to The Ronnettes to Derek & The Dominos, it’s hard not be drawn in when those music cues hit. Thank God it worked as well, since the soundtrack would reportedly make up around half of the film’s budget.

With this release, Second Sight have done an incredible job of bringing one of the quintessential New York films to high definition. The picture is crisp, and the sound is crystal clear, but it has not been sanitised. The world still feels dark and grimy, with just enough grain on the picture to maintain that level of authenticity.

As you’d expect from Second Sight, the release is also crammed with extras, with new commentaries and interviews, a 2011 Q&A session with Scorsese and a feature-length documentary.

Mean Streets remains a visceral and tense watch, one that shows a young director with all cylinders firing, emboldening his cast of unproven actors to throw everything they have at the pictures. Scorsese has so many near-perfect pictures under his belt fifty years on, yet every one owes something to Mean Streets.

★★★★★

5/ 5

Matthew Tilt

Twitter @Matthew_Tilt

Mean Streets 50th Anniversary 4k and Blu-ray arrives 15th January 2024 courtesy of Second Sight Films