Despite vivid playing by Robert De Niro as the wildest and most self-destructive of them, relationships are not developed very far. Violence finally swamps them -- a brutal slaying which tries to elevate banal characters to some kind of heroic status.

| Sep 24, 2024

Freeze frames, casual violence and conversation are there in service of a story about two apprentice hoodlums...

| Feb 1, 2024

For all its raw, exhilarating energy, it’s a film that can always break your heart.

| Dec 5, 2023

Harvey Keitel is clearly Scorsese’s protagonist -- as well as his on-screen surrogate. But as good as he is, the movie gets stolen by De Niro’s wild and crazy Johnny Boy.

| Original Score: A | Oct 10, 2023

Mean Streets is a true original of our period, a triumph of personal filmmaking.

| Sep 19, 2023

There is much to admire about Mean Streets, a film that admirably reflects the adjective in its title and that shows a fine talent in director Martin Scorsese.

| Aug 8, 2022

If a movie can be faulted for packing in a little too much realism, this is definitely one of them. But, you know, cinema isn't always about being comfortable.

| Jul 9, 2019

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

| Original Score: 5/5 | Mar 31, 2008

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

| Mar 31, 2008

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

| Mar 31, 2008

One of the best American films of the decade.

| Feb 9, 2006

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

| Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 3, 2005

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.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jan 25, 2005

No matter how bleak the milieu, no matter how heartbreaking the narrative, some films are so thoroughly, beautifully realized they have a kind of tonic effect that has no relation to the subject matter.

| Original Score: 5/5 | May 20, 2003

While a product of its time -- freewheeling, energetic and raw -- Mean Streets is well worth seeing for the brilliance of De Niro.

| Mar 7, 2003

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

| Original Score: 5/5 | May 3, 2001

Its greatness lies in its leanness, with nary a word, a move, a gesture that's nonessential.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Feb 14, 2001

In countless ways, right down to the detail of modern 온라인카지노추천 crime shows, Mean Streets is one of the source points of modern movies.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 1, 2000