Mean Streets

On the surface, New York City appears to be the physical embodiment of the American Dream. The wide, leafy spaces of Central Park nestled amongst the glittering spires of the skyscrapers that house the largest financial district in the world project a symbol of prosperity and success across the Atlantic. However every city has an underbelly and the seedy alley's beneath the behemoths of capitalist wealth and highrise apartments have proved irresistible for scores of directors since John Schlesinger's Academy Award winning classic Midnight Cowboy. John Voight's iconic portrayal of a hustler slumming it with Dustin Hoffman's crippled conman introduced American audiences to a new brave style of filmmaking, far from the glitzy optimism of the classic Hollywood aesthetics, and soon a young upstart director was ready to stamp his own impression of this city of contradictions on celluloid.

Martin Scorsese's most personal film Mean Streets launched his career and sent him on a dizzying ascent to the top of the film world. As Robert de Niro's unhinged character Johnny Boy swaggers down a bar with a girl on each arm, accompanied by the Rolling Stones' Jumping Jack Flash, all the elements which would make his style so iconic are present: the tracking shots, camera angles, snappy editing and soundtrack. A more masculine Harvey Keitel stands in for Scorsese, dealing with Catholic guilt and the pressures of balancing a liberal American lifestyle with traditional Sicilian values. The plot is uncomplicated, with Charlie (Keitel) spending his time picking up protection money for his Mafioso uncle whilst desperately trying to keep his out-of-control best friend Johnny Boy from a path of self-destruction.

Although the ending of Mean Streets seems a bit unfinished, with De Niro Scorsese found a soulmate and they will collaborate on further classics including Taxi Driver and Raging Bull.