StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

Mean Streets - Movie Review Example

Cite this document
Summary
Mean Streets Film Analysis Name Instructor Task Date Introduction 'Mean Streets, a film written by Martin Scorsese and Mardik martin, produced by Martin Scorsese and Jonathan Taplin, and directed by Martin Scorsese is a 1973 crime film'. Mean Streets stars Harvey Keitel as Charlie, and Roberto De Niro as John ‘’Johnny Boy’’ Civello, as its main casts…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER93.7% of users find it useful
Mean Streets
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Mean Streets"

Download file to see previous pages

Charlie is involved with the local New York Mafia and is tries to move up the command chain. His efforts are frustrated as he takes responsibility of his friend Johnny Boy, who is a reckless and minor gambler, a habit that gets Johnny into a huge amount of debt from many local loan sharks. Charlie who collects debts from individuals who owe his uncle money is an inwardly conflicted man. He does not know whether to follow his Mafia ambitions or to devout himself to the church. After failing to receive liberation in church, Charlie excessively becomes reproachful and disrespectful, but gets it by forfeiting himself on Johnny’s behalf.

The movie ends when a debtor, Michael demands his money from Johnny who insults him and draws out a gun. Michael leaves but pursues Charlie, Johnny and Charlie’s girlfriend Teresa (an epileptic woman), who have decided to escape town for a little while. Michaels gunmen fires shots that land on Johnny’s neck and Charlie’s hand. An ambulance and the police come to the scene and take them away as the movie ends (Iamb, 2012). Critique There are a number of pros in the film, firstly are the characters.

Mean Streets characters are excellently cast as their roles are well executed and nicely edited. The acting is incredibly original, and the director has directed his actors to near- sound acts. Moreover, the characters have given the film a thoroughly, beautiful, spellbinding and memorable feel. The characters demonstrate the Italian- American experience in a groundbreaking way, as they are passionate and mature. The characters in Mean Streets film have portrayed extreme talent in demonstrating male amity in Little Italy in New York.

With Charlie’s character the producer, Martin Scorsese picks two conflicting issues common with young men in New York, religion, and gangster life. The second pro in the film is the cast themselves who are skilled, thus make the film believable. Martin has appropriately cast the actors in Mean Streets. Since the film is based on real life experiences, the producer, Martin Scorsese, puts the pieces quickly. These pieces are well executed by the actors who have in the past, coincidentally, lived in little Italy and have had the same experiences.

De Niro grew up in ‘Bleecker Street, the northern frontier of Little Italy’. The third pro in the film is in the use of camera. Martin Scorsese employs the use of camera, lightning, and space in a much-refined way, thereby showing the viewer only what he feels the viewer should see. In the opening scenes of the film, the key characters have scenes of their own, which introduces the viewer to the main characters (IMDb, 2012). Furthermore, the filtered camera angles usage continues with the director having scenes shot from above and sometimes from below.

A hand held camera is used for dynamic scenes compared to the movable long shot cameras. The lighting creates balance and the intelligent editing ensures the full capacity of the impact to the viewer. The fourth pro in Mean Street is the director’s, Martin Scorsese utility of color. The color used gives the picture an intense tone, which is incredibly striking. The light in the bars are red and outside have an over-exposed and monochrome color (IMDb, 2012). The director chooses to use popular music as the soundtrack in Mean Streets.

In addition, the music is functional as it sets the mood for the film. The theme of the film

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Mean Streets Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/visual-arts-film-studies/1457840-mean-streets
(Mean Streets Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words)
https://studentshare.org/visual-arts-film-studies/1457840-mean-streets.
“Mean Streets Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/visual-arts-film-studies/1457840-mean-streets.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Mean Streets

Analysis of the Mean Streets Film by Martin Scorsese

Insert Name Class Date Title Introduction The film Mean Streets was released in 1973, having been directed by Martin Scorsese and authored by Martin Scorsese himself, and his college, Martin Mardik.... The film also won the National Society of Critics Award, and thereby underscoring its extent of success (Mean Streets, 1).... Thesis statement Success in moviemaking demands the incorporation of a good plotline, believable characters and a socio-cultural strong theme, as is seen in the movie Mean Streets....
4 Pages (1000 words) Movie Review

Media Studies A2 Have Scorsese's gangster films become too violent

I am therefore going to analyze a couple of main scenes from the films The Departed (00's), Goodfellas (90's) and Mean Streets (70's), which reflect three decades of his work.... The first scene to be analyzed is from Mean Streets from 1973.... The USK for Mean Streets is 18.... The iconography in the Mean Streets is overtly religious....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

The Portrayal of Streets as the Symptoms of the Darker Side of the American Society

nbsp;… Though for Jane Jacobs, the streets are a critical part of neighborhood life in particular, and the urban life in general, she does not, in any way, relate it to different discriminatory socioeconomic and cultural issues such racism, discrimination, underestimation, etc, as Thomas Piri does in his novel “Down These Mean Street”....  In one sense, the streets in the novel are the abstraction of the narrator's dark path of life, as in the article “The Use of Sidewalks: Safety” Jacobs comments on how a street can be the abstraction: “A city sidewalk by itself is nothing....
6 Pages (1500 words) Book Report/Review

Employing Strategy in a Competitive Environment

Currently, global technology and transport solutions increasingly target the reduction of cost and emission.... Environmental regulation… as part of enforceable corporate social responsibility challenges the sustainability of ordinary fossil fuel models in the future, with greener innovations appearing in the market....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Organized Crime Group Analysis

Mean Streets: Chicago youths and the everyday struggle for empowerment in the multiracial city, 1908-1969.... The word vice, which is prominent, in the gangs name is said to mean a tight grip.... They have been viewed to be resultant from social disorganization and lack of effectiveness of societal institutions like schools....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Mean Street movie analysis

The origin of College: Mean Streets Introduction Mean Streets is a 1973 fictional movie written by Scorsese and Mardik Martin and directed by Martin Scorsese.... It is prudent to point out that the main pleasure obtained by reviewing the movie Mean Streets is the performance of De Niro.... Mean Streets.... Other tormentors were his loose-canon best pal Johnny Boy and the coterie of cronies, was written by Scorsese and Martin Mardik travelling along the streets of little Italy in the Battered Valiant of Martin....
2 Pages (500 words) Movie Review

Five filsm of Martin Scorsese

Mean Streets and Raging Bulls: The Legacy of Film Noir in Contemporary American Cinema.... We can possibly make substantial claims for his work on both formally and thematically.... Scorsese's work has put a solid mark on American and Hollywood past for being… (Raymond, Marc, 12)....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Studying the Success of the Films The Revenge of the Nerds

This paper "Studying the Success of the Films – The Revenge of the Nerds" focuses on the fact that one of the key areas of studies that have become common in most of the institutions of higher learning in film studies.... This refers to an interdisciplinary program that focuses on theory, history....
6 Pages (1500 words) Assignment
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us