Unpolished and gritty. Scorsese is obviously honing his craft here but it's still a fantastic piece of film making. I'm not crazy about the ending but it doesn't detract from the character of the movie. A must-see motion picture for Scorsese, Keitel & DeNiro fans alike.
Amy Robinson, Cesare Danova, David Proval
A young hood in New York's Little Italy contends with saving the neck of his hotheaded best friend from the local loan shark and struggles with the religious guilt prompted by his lifestyle.
DVD Release Date: August 17, 2004
Stats: 1,771 reviews
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Flixster Reviews (1,771)
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November 13, 2009
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September 4, 2009
Scorsese's first gangster film and a taste of what was to come. In many ways its better than his later efforts, the low budget complimenting the gritty reality of the streets.
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May 8, 2009
Shot with a swagger, Scorsese's breakthrough film blazed with rock 'n' roll energy, rebooting the sound of cinema. For me, it is 'Be My Baby' that is one of the most important milestones in the history of cinema and it defines the background of the small-time mob. Harvey Keitel k...( read more)
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January 10, 2009
Martin Scorsese's first film in a genre that he would define in the following decades is also his first pairing with Robert DeNiro in Mean Streets. The film is about a group of low men on the Mafia totem pole mainly focusing on Harvey Keitel's character Chralie who ends up being ...( read more)
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December 13, 2008
Early really good Scorsese. Watch it to see some great actors before they devolved into a bunch of tics that they drag out for every performance.
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November 17, 2009
An amazing movie. Everything about it screams perfection. From casting to soundrack, it is flawless. The story is simple, yet fun and emotional. It's Martin Scorsese's semi-autobiographical narrative that is so obviously close to his heart, it overflows into the screen. Harvey Ke...( read more)
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September 18, 2009
Mean Sreets is one of the first full-length films Scorsese ever directed, and it is an extraordinary start. Although it had a good script, I felt like it was a mess at some points. However, the top-notch cast and the directing by Scorsese is pretty much amazing. His Italian influ...( read more)
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August 21, 2009
Not his first film, but definitely the one that put Scorsese on the map. This film is overflowing with both style and substance and deep personal themes, all of which would make countless return appearances in Scorsese's later films, as well as in the works of those he inspired a...( read more)
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July 24, 2009
Before this second viewing, the praise for Mean Streets had always alluded me. I viewed it as a good work by a great director (Scorsese) who still had his best films ahead of him. Indeed, Scorsese would go on to make great films later, such as GoodFellas and Raging Bull, but now ...( read more)
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