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Martin Scorsese' Mean Streets

            The film Mean Streets by Martin Scorsese is heavy influenced by what the French called "film noir" or black film. "You don't make up for your sins in church.you do it in the streets." This voice over starts the movie off and is very similar to Naked City from the classic film noir genre. The subject is also very similar: the depiction of what goes on in dark streets of New York City. .
             The opening scene of Charlie waking up from the nightmare is filmed in an almost dark room except for the light coming through a venetian blind. The venetian blind is used extensively in film noir because of the different moods of the light and the play of shadows. Charlie's face is caught in this shadow and chaiscuro lighting suggesting impending doom from the moment he wakes up. Charlie checks the mirror for reassurance, as cars and traffic can be heard in the background. Already one can tell that Mean Streets is set in the city during the mirror shot. A police siren can be heard creating a distubing off-screen space. Scorsese has a catholic background and a crucifix can be seen hanging on the wall as Charlie walks by and returns to bed. The venetian blind is seen again in a close up of Charlie's face with alot of contrast and character introspection.
             An 8mm intro of what seems to be family movies is shown and the first shot is of flashing police lights on a squad car. Showing that this is a dangerous life in the city, this is also depicted in the classic film noir genre and is often the main subject. At the end of the 8mm film "Mean Streets" is shown in blood red straight through the picture in the center, over shadowing the 8mm film.
             After 8mm intro, scorsese shows what seems to be a charcter introduction. Tony catches a man shooting up heroine in the backroom of his bar and kicks him out. Michael is quickly trying to get most likely stolen merchandise unloaded under a bridge while sirens can be heard almost in the foreground.


Essays Related to Martin Scorsese' Mean Streets

1. Scorsese as an Auteur

Martin Scorsese is a great example of an Auteur. ... Mean Streets, Taxi Driver , and Raging Bul are perfect for this type of approach. ... Mean Streets and Raging Bull take place in Italian-American neighborhoods, and there is some aspect of the mafia in these movies. ... In Mean Streets we see a small group of characters, who spend their time fighting, drinking, womanizing, and hustling. ... The repeating characyers, the repeating themes, the repetitious cinematography, and use of music are the key elements that make Martin Scorsese such a perfect example of an auteur. ...

  • Word Count: 856
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Scorsese's autobiography as a 3rd generation Italian America

Martin Scorsese's roots, as also for many Italian Americans, began in Sicily. ... Almost from the moment he was born, Martin Scorsese was a sickly child. ... Mean Streets, Scorsese's first important feature film, describes an intense stereotypical thinking about Italians in which many Italian Americans have been victims of in our society. ... Another point which is applied in Mean Streets is a middle-class bias against the working class (Connelly). ... Mean Streets is a memoir in which Scorsese looks back at the neighborhood in which he grew up and it is autobiographical by which he ...

  • Word Count: 1101
  • Approx Pages: 4
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3. Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese has been acknowledged as he is widely regarded as one of the most significant and influential filmmakers in cinema history. ... " (Tribute.ca, 2011) He has directed landmark films such as the crime film Mean Streets (1973), the dramedy Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), the psychological thriller Taxi Driver (1976), the biographical sports drama Raging Bull (1980), the black comedy The King of Comedy (1983), and the crime film Goodfellas (1990), all of which he collaborated on with actor and close friend Robert De Niro. ... " (Andsoitbeginsfilms.com, 2013) ...

  • Word Count: 2365
  • Approx Pages: 9
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  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

4. Taxi driver compared to the searchers

One of Martin Scorsese most acclaimed picture, Taxi Driver (1976), is on the surface very different from the Searchers (1956) by John Ford, but in many ways the movie is actually The Searchers revisited. ... So this paper will demonstrate that Martin Scorsese drew upon The Searchers for inspiration for Taxi Driver, therefore containing certain characteristics of the Western genre. ... Similarly after Travis awakens from a comatose state he returns to driving his taxi through the streets of New York City. ... What I mean by that are members in America that are threatening or corrupting the Am...

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