Mean Streets - 1973. Streamed on TCM VOD.
Martin Scorcese directs Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Amy Robinson, and Richard Romanus in this tale of life in Manhattan's Little Italy in the 1960s.
Charlie (Keitel) is running numbers for his mafioso uncle, struggling with his Catholic guilt, having a secret affair with an epileptic neighbor, Teresa (Robinson), and trying to protect her wild cousin, his friend Johnny (De Niro), from a loan shark (Romanus). As the uncle is considering promoting him to running a restaurant he's taking over, Charlie tries to distance himself from Teresa and Johnny, two people his uncle disapproves of. That doesn't work out so well.
These themes have become commonplace since this movie was made, but this is the original. One of the cornerstone movies of the last 50 years of movie-making. Fresh, raw, a portrait of a man fighting a three-cornered war between love, ambition, and guilt. Excellent soundtrack. Highly recommended.
Martin Scorcese directs Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Amy Robinson, and Richard Romanus in this tale of life in Manhattan's Little Italy in the 1960s.
Charlie (Keitel) is running numbers for his mafioso uncle, struggling with his Catholic guilt, having a secret affair with an epileptic neighbor, Teresa (Robinson), and trying to protect her wild cousin, his friend Johnny (De Niro), from a loan shark (Romanus). As the uncle is considering promoting him to running a restaurant he's taking over, Charlie tries to distance himself from Teresa and Johnny, two people his uncle disapproves of. That doesn't work out so well.
These themes have become commonplace since this movie was made, but this is the original. One of the cornerstone movies of the last 50 years of movie-making. Fresh, raw, a portrait of a man fighting a three-cornered war between love, ambition, and guilt. Excellent soundtrack. Highly recommended.
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