Mean Streets was the first important film by the American director Martin Scorsese. Scorsese also was coauthor of the screenplay with Mardik Martin. The film was released in 1973.
Like many of Scorsese’s later films, Mean Streets was set in the Little Italy neighborhood of New York City. It is an often grim melodrama about four young Italian American men who spend much of their time in a local bar. The film partly reflects the director’s urban, Italian American background. It was the first of several important collaborations between Scorsese and actor Robert De Niro. The others included Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), GoodFellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), and Casino (1995).
The grimly realistic tone of Mean Streets comes from the characters rather than from the story. The characters include low-level members of organized crime, mentally unbalanced hoodlums, and small-time criminals who live on the streets of Little Italy. Scorsese underscored the tensions of the movie through jerky, unconventional camera work and an atmospheric musical sound track. Harvey Keitel co-starred in the film with De Niro. Scorsese played a small role as a professional killer called Jimmy Shorts.
See also De Niro, Robert ; Scorsese, Martin .
