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Movies / On DVD / Mean Streets
Mean Streets

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Mean Streets (1973)

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Reviews Counted:43

Fresh:42

Rotten:1

Average Rating:8.9/10

Rated: 18

Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:21-01-2005

Synopsis: Martin Scorsese's electrifying drama tells the story of Charlie (Harvey Keitel), a charming 27-year-old who is supported by his devoutly Catholic mother. He spends his days wandering the streets of... Martin Scorsese's electrifying drama tells the story of Charlie (Harvey Keitel), a charming 27-year-old who is supported by his devoutly Catholic mother. He spends his days wandering the streets of New York City and nights hanging out drinking with his good friend Johnny Boy (the terrifyingly brilliant Robert De Niro), a loose cannon that can't seem to escape trouble. Charlie's extreme affability makes him the middle man between his mob-tied uncle Giovanni (Cesare Danova) and various clients, as well as between Johnny Boy and Michael (Richard Romanus), a bookie who has become fed up with Johnny Boy's constant debt dodging. As the city's San Gennaro Festival takes over the streets of Little Italy, Michael seeks revenge on Johnny Boy once and for all. MEAN STREETS is the film in which Scorsese blossomed into one of the world's most ferociously distinct visionaries, a vision which has, for better or worse, become one of the most mimicked in the history of modern cinema. While his usage of a nostalgic pop music soundtrack, long one-takes and handheld cameras, and brutally realistic performances, spawned a generation of imitators, MEAN STREETS proves that while others may try to imitate, there is only one original. MEAN STREETS is a work of sheer cinematic bravado. [More]

Starring: Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel, David Proval, Amy Robinson

Starring: Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel, David Proval, Amy Robinson, Richard Romanus, Cesare Danova, Victor Argo, George Memmoli

Director: Martin Scorsese

Director: Martin Scorsese
Producer: Jonathan Taplin
Screenwriter: Martin Scorsese, Mardik Martin

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Mean Streets

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Bubble View | 1 2 3 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
Reviews
Tomatometer Critic Review Category
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Philip French

[I] commend it without reservation.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 31 2008 01:18 PM

Observer [UK]

tomato
5/5

Peter Bradshaw

The movie's blazing energy is still astounding; the vérité street-scenes are terrific and Scorsese's pioneering use of popular music is genuinely thrilling.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 31 2008 01:17 PM

Guardian [UK]

tomato
4/5

A tight, intense masterpiece from Scorsese, writing collaborator Mardik Martin and the iconic stars.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 31 2008 01:17 PM

Channel 4 Film

tomato

One of the best American films of the decade.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 09 2006 03:16 AM

Time Out

tomato
5/5

Simon Braund

Terrific. Top shelf talent at the top of their game, working immediately before they would change Hollywood.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Nov., 03 2005 03:15 AM

Empire Magazine

tomato
5/5

Nev Pierce

The Godfather made the mob glamorous. Mean Streets made it real. Martin Scorsese's ferocious, grimy 1973 classic is just as good as Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece, but it shows us criminal life lower down the food chain.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 25 2005 10:15 PM

BBC

tomato
5/5

Mark Dinning

A true rough diamond, Scorsese's breakthrough may be uneven, but at its heart lies fledgling genius.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 03 2001 05:20 PM

Empire Magazine

tomato

Sean Axmaker

Passionate, energetic, stylistically inventive and personally driven, it is the first mature, full blooded "Martin Scorsese Film."

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jun., 20 2009 10:09 AM

Turner Classic Movies Online

N/R

Urban Cinefile Critics

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 18 2008 08:57 AM

Urban Cinefile

tomato
5/5

Cole Smithey

Outstanding for its originality and depiction of urban savagery.

comment Comment | Jun., 14 2008 08:23 AM

ColeSmithey.com

tomato

Dave Kehr

The acting and editing have such an original, tumultuous force that the picture is completely gripping.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 31 2008 01:16 PM

Chicago Reader

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Variety Staff

Scorsese is exceptionally good at guiding his largely unknown cast to near-flawless recreations of types. Outstanding in this regard is De Niro.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 31 2008 01:15 PM

Variety

tomato
A

Emanuel Levy

Emphasizing charcaterization over plot, and exploring male camaraderie and street violence in a humorous, spontaneous, and nonjudgmental way, Scorsese's Mean Streets (his third feature) is arguably the most influential film of the 1970s.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 21 2008 05:42 PM

EmanuelLevy.Com

tomato
3.5/4

Jay Antani

showcases Scorsese's artistic strengths and weaknesses as they stood at the outset of his career

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 27 2006 03:40 PM

Perihelion Journal

tomato

Ryan Cracknell

A modern masterpiece where the setting is the star, even among a cast that is highlighted by Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 08 2006 07:47 PM

Movie Views

tomato
88/100

Dan Jardine

The film feels authentic, the characters are true, the situation hopeless

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jun., 09 2006 08:45 PM

Cinemania

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A+

Dennis Schwartz

This film showed the world that a major talent had arrived on the scene.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 25 2006 06:22 PM

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

splat
2/5

Luke Y. Thompson

Doesn't do it for me, I'm afraid.

comment 1 Comment | Nov., 10 2005 02:10 AM

New Times

tomato
5/5

Dan Lybarger

Scorsese's first masterpiece is still gripping.

comment Comment | Aug., 19 2005 05:34 AM

Nitrate Online

tomato
4/5

Clint Morris

One of cinema's finest moments....you'll never forget it

comment Comment | Mar., 11 2005 04:07 AM

Moviehole

 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Bubble View | 1 2 3 >> >|
all

Latest News for Mean Streets

September 17, 2009: Five Favourite Films with Nick Love
Nick Love isn't known for heart. The film which earned him his "From the director of..." title card, The Football Factory, is nothing if not violent, loud and not particularly... More...

April 02, 2009: Five Favourite Films with Bill Nighy
There can be few actors better suited to starring in a film about the golden age of British rock and roll than Bill Nighy. No wonder, then, that he's front and centre as part of... More...

November 15, 2005: De Niro Might Just Rejoin the Mafia
Variety reports on a project that might bring master actor Robert De Niro back to the genre that made him famous: the mafia-type one. Paramount snagged the rights to an... More...

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