Mean Streets
Movie, 1973, The '70s, Set in Little Italy
Mean Streets is #3 of 26 in release order and #3 of 26 in chronological order in the Martin Scorsese.
The story
A small-time hood must choose from among love, friendship and the chance to rise within the mob.
Mean Streets recap
Mean Streets (1973) follows Charlie Cappa, a small-time hood in Little Italy who tries to square his Catholic faith with his work for his mafioso uncle. Martin Scorsese directed and co-wrote it with Mardik Martin. Harvey Keitel plays Charlie and Robert De Niro plays John "Johnny Boy" Civello, his reckless friend who gambles, borrows from every loan shark in the neighborhood and pays none of them back. Charlie collects debts for his Uncle Giovanni (Cesare Danova), who expects to give him a restaurant and warns him to drop both Johnny Boy and Teresa (Amy Robinson), Johnny's cousin, who has epilepsy and with whom Charlie is secretly sleeping. Charlie looks for penance in the street rather than in church, protecting Johnny Boy as a kind of sacrifice. Michael Longo (Richard Romanus), owed money, loses patience, and Johnny Boy humiliates him in a bar and pulls a gun. The film is Scorsese's third feature and his first with De Niro; it follows Boxcar Bertha and precedes Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.
Mean Streets ending explained
Mean Streets ends with gunfire: Charlie, Teresa and Johnny Boy try to leave town for a while, but Michael follows them, and his gunman Jimmy Shorts, played by Scorsese himself, shoots into the car. Johnny Boy is hit in the neck and Charlie in the arm, and the car crashes into a fire hydrant. Teresa is hurt. Johnny Boy staggers down an alley toward the lights of a police car, and Charlie kneels in the spray of water, bleeding. Paramedics take Charlie and Teresa away, and Johnny Boy's fate is left unknown.
Post-credits scenes
No. Mean Streets has no mid- or post-credits scene.
Where to watch Mean Streets
Mean Streets is streaming on Plex and Tubi in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 7.1/10, Rotten Tomatoes 92%
Where it fits
- Release order: after Boxcar Bertha, before Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.
- Chronological order: after Boxcar Bertha, before Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.
Cast
- Robert De Niro as John 'Johnny Boy' Civello
- Harvey Keitel as Charlie Cappa
- David Proval as Tony DeVienazo
- Amy Robinson as Teresa Ronchelli
- Richard Romanus as Michael Longo
- Cesare Danova as Giovanni Cappa
- Victor Argo as Mario
- George Memmoli as Joey 'Clams' Scala
- Lenny Scaletta as Jimmy
- Jeannie Bell as Diane
- Murray Moston as Oscar
- David Carradine as Drunk
Directed by Martin Scorsese.