The first film Robert De Niro made with Martin Scorcese, and also Scorcese's first independent project. Made with a stunningly low budget, it's the hard-hitting realization of a young director's dream to send out his message. The very first line of the movie is said by Charlie, a small-time hood with aspirations of saintliness: "You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it." This is the theme for the rest of the movie. Charlie's own redemption in Little Italy starts with Johnny Boy, his slightly insane friend who he believes is his cross to bear. Throughout the movie he keeps looking out for Johnny Boy (played by De Niro) while tension gradually builds towards the shocking ending. Johnny Boy and Charlie have an interesting relationship--while Charlie is always restrained and controlled, even to a neurotic degree (he practices holding his hand over a flame to remind himself of the horrors of Hell) Johnny Boy has nothing really wrong with him apart from the fact that he sincerely doesn't give a damn about what happens to him. Johnny's intro to the movie is him throwing a bomb into a mailbox and running away...you can predict what the rest of it is like. Ultimately heartbreaking, this study of love and responsibility on the mean streets of New York is a key examination of what adulthood means, ultimately, and how actions affect other people around us.
Review of Mean Streets
