Mean Streets

[cine]

This film fuckin' floored me and I was wondering if there is another DVD release in the future?

This is asked very often around here and I'll bet that a new 2 disc release will be with GoodFellas in September.

[Finn]

I hope so.

[jasper_window]

I always thought Sylvester Stallone stole his look for Rocky from De Niro's lookin Mean Streets, Check out De Niro in the beginning when he blows up the mailbox.  Stallone's look in Rocky is a blatant rip off.

[Just Withnail]

I always thought Sylvester Stallone stole his look for Rocky from De Niro's lookin Mean Streets, Check out De Niro in the beginning when he blows up the mailbox.  Stallone's look in Rocky is a blatant rip off.

Yeah, kinda. DeNiro completely owns that image, and has the acting talent to back it up. Stallone on the other hand has this expression that probably wouldn't change if you blew up a house in front of him. DeNiro should patent it, and lease it to other actors for ridiculously high prices: The Hunched DeNiro In Leather Jacket LookTM

Hopefully Stallone won't afford it.

[cine]

Anyway, it's been mentioned 1000 times on Xixax but Warner Bros. made it official by stating that the GoodFellas Special Edition and Mean Streets Special Edition will be released in 2004. They even said Mean Streets SE will be released "sooner than you think".

[SHAFTR]

Could someone post Pauline Kael's Mean Streets review?

[ono]

Can't seem to find it on the 'net anywhere, but I have it in her "For Keeps" collection.  It's over six pages long, small type, not anything for transcribing unless you wish your hands to fall off.  Maybe later if no one else can find it and I'm feeling especially bored.

[SHAFTR]

Alright , well maybe someone can help me out with something.

In the scene in the beginning with Charlie, the confession scene.
It is Scorsese's voice that starts out with

"Lord, I am not worthy to eat your flesh
Not worthy to drink your blood.
"

Then it's Keitel? who says:
"Not worthy to drink your blood.

Ok. Ok, I"d just come out of confession, right?
Right, And the priest gives me the usual penitence, right?
10 Hail Marys, 10 Our Fathers, 10 whatever.  
Now...You know that next week I'm going to come back and he's going to give me another 10 hail marys and 10 our fathers.  You know how I feel about that shit.  Those things, they don't mean anything to me.  They're just words.

Now, that may be ok for the others, but it just doesn't work for me.  I mean, if I do something wrong, I just want to pay for it my way.  SO I do my own penance for my own sins.  What do you say, huh?
"

Now, after this, he (keitel?) says:
"That's all bull shit except the pain, right?  The pain of hell.  The burn from a lighted match increased a million times.  Infinite.  Now, you don't fuck around with the infinite.  There is no way you do that.

Pain in hell has 2 sides.  The kind you can touch with your hand, the kind you can feel in your heart, your soul, the spiritual side.  And you know, the worst of the two, is the spiritual.
"


My question is, after the part that I've designated as Scorsese, is the rest Keitel or is some of it Scorsese speaking?

[Gamblour.]

I saw this for the first time a few days ago. UNBELIEVABLE! The whole time I was watching it, I kept thinking how ahead of its time it was. The whole film 'felt' like it was from the 90s. It was so slick with everything, it totally blew me away. It didn't even have to try for my attention, I loved it from the minute it started. I can't believe this was made 1972 and people didn't make more of it, it's so amazing.

I love how Keitel is always on the verge of hitting de Niro but then playfully messes with him, he always reverts to a childlike affection for him, like unconditional love. And that fight in the poolhall is hilarious and fantastic.

[soixante]

Mean Streets is my favorite film of all time.  Repeated viewings will yield countless aesthetic dividends.  I think the ensemble acting is the best I've ever seen.  De Niro and Keitel are brilliant, but so are Romanus and Proval.  The interplay between these four actors is simply outstanding.  Watch it 20 times or more like me, and you'll see new things each time.

Also -- the use of music, a mixture of rock and Italian opera, is groundbreaking.  The sense of mood, the claustrophobia and comfort to be found in an insular neighborhood, is palpable.  The compositions, the cutting, the blocking -- all outstanding.  Every film student should study this film for hours on end.