Mean Streets

(1973)

The line between student and independent filmmaking is blurry at best. Yet there are features that act as a de facto graduation ceremony. The key is to retain the guerrilla tendencies inherent in the student aesthetic balanced with the legitimacy of an industrial product of cinema. In this sense, MEAN STREETS may be the best of its kind. Martin Scorsese walks us through the evolution of a director, starting with amateur documentary. A title sequence comprised of 16mm home movies depicting milestone family events is offered to us in lieu of exposition, and it is hard to imagine a single device that would do a better job of it. The experimentation of film school is showcased in the repetitious and out-of-sequence shots, non-naturalistic soundscapes, and avant-garde camerawork. At the same time, he is building an audio-visual language for cinema to come. A set piece in which Harvey Keitel is strapped to a moving camera as his character staggers drunkenly around a bar has become a standard. There is a major step-up in so many other areas. Though fortunate to sneak away the rights when they did, the inclusion of a major British 1960s rock-n-roll outfit like The Rolling Stones on the soundtrack turns atmosphere into metatextuality. The film is not merely allusive in its cinematic referencing – as so much of New Hollywood was – but also incorporates scenes and shots from classical American auteur cinema such as Fritz Lang’s THE BIG HEAT and John Ford’s THE SEARCHERS, creating a filmic tableau.