Tag: Mean Streets

1,188 words

Martin Scorsese is best known for his gangster films: Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), Gangs of New York (2002), The Departed (2006), The Irishman (2019), and Killers of the Flower Moon (2023). Aside from Gangs of New York, these films unsparingly demythologize organized crime.

Thus Scorsese’s first foray into the mafia genre, 1973’s Mean Streets, is something of a surprise, for its depiction of New York’s Italian mafia may be on a much smaller canvas than Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972), but in some ways it is even more romanticized. (more…)

1,746 words

“You don’t make up for your sins in the church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it.” — opening line of Mean Streets

Hollywood collapsed in the 1960s. It proved, if nothing else, that when it comes to big money, even Jews can screw up. A combination of anti-trust actions and the rise of television meant that studio lots fell silent, and the golden age of Hollywood was over. (more…)