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Mean Streets (Special Edition) Starring: Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel, David Carradine, Robert Carradine, Cesare Danova $9.99 Features:
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Editorial Review:
Harvey Keitel plays Charlie, working his way up the ranks of a local mob. Amy Robinson is Teresa, the girlfriend his family deems unsuitable because of her epilepsy. And in the starmaking role that won Best Supporting Actor Awards from the New York and National Society of FIlm Critics, De Niro is Johnny Boy, a small-time gambler in big-time debt to loan sharks. This is a story Martin Scorsese lived, a semi-biographical tale of the first-generation sons and daughters of New York's Little Italy.
DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:by Martin Scorsese
Featurette:"Back on the Block"
Theatrical TrailerAfter Martin Scorsese went to Hollywood in 1972 to direct the low-budget Boxcar Bertha for B-movie mogul Roger Corman, the young director showed the film to maverick director John Cassavetes and got an instant earful of urgent advice. "It's crap," said Cassavetes in no uncertain terms, "now go out and make something that comes from your heart." Scorsese took the advice and focused his energy on Mean Streets, a riveting contemporary film about low-life gangsters in New York's Little Italy that critic Pauline Kael would later call "a true original, and a triumph of personal filmmaking." Starring Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel in roles that announced their talent to the world, it set the stage for Scorsese's emergence as one of the greatest American filmmakers. Introducing themes and character types that Scorsese would return to in Taxi Driver, GoodFellas, Casino, and other films, the loosely structured story is drawn directly from Scorsese's background in the Italian neighborhoods of New York, and it seethes with the raw vitality of a filmmaker who has found his creative groove. As the irresponsible and reckless Johnny Boy, De Niro offers striking contrast to Keitel's Charlie, who struggles to reconcile gang life with Catholic guilt. More of an episodic portrait than a plot-driven crime story, Mean Streets remains one of Scorsese's most direct and fascinating films--a masterful calling card for a director whose greatness was clearly apparent from that point forward. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0 
City Life: 
I have seen this film over and over. It reminds me of my youth growing up in Brooklyn, NY and the characters one meets in his life time. Great film
"You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets.":
Orson Welles said that a director's first film was always his best because he would put more into it and hadn't got into bad habits like developing a style yet. Mean Streets may not be Scorsese's first film, but it otherwise bears out Welles' words. Set in New York's Little Italy, Harvey Keitel plays Michael, who exists on the fringes of crime and whose dreams of managing a restaurant his money-lending uncle is about to take over are threatened by his affair with his epileptic cousin (Amy Robinson) and his...more info
Scorsese's Masterpiece:
If Melville's crime films defined cool, then Martin Scorsese's breakthrough Mean Streets became the trademark of his crime films which defined grit. Mean Streets remains Scorsese's most deeply personal and autobiographical film, as well as his masterpiece. The immigrant culture of Little Italy and the atmosphere of New York City, the Catholic themes of sin and redemption, and daily urban life all became recurrent themes throughout his entire oeuvre. Plus, the use of street language, radical and...more info
In some ways, Scorsese's best:
Goodfellas must be seen by all film students and half the rest of the population, though the violence and MTV-effect soundtrack can be off-putting and create a strange curiosity outside the framework for viewers. Is that curiosity an indicator that we all have that "dark side" - some of us contain it, some don't; some won't.
This 1973 movie, with its' modest production values, has some scenes so penetrating, so memorable, that the viewer must rewind constantly to convince him or herself somethimg so...more info
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