Mean Streets

 Year of Release:  1973

Director:  Martin Scorsese

Screenplay:  Martin Scorsese and Mardik Martin, based on a story by Martin Scorsese

Starring:  Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, Amy Robinson, Richard Romanus, David Proval

Running Time:  112 minutes

Genre:  Crime drama

Four friends live in the Little Italy section of New York City:  Charlie (Keitel) is torn between his devout Catholicism and the jobs that he does for his mafioso uncle (Cesare Danova); Johnny Boy (De Niro) is a violent, mercurial wild man whose reckless ways are about to catch up with him; Michael (Romanus) is a small time gangster and money lender who wants to break into the big leagues of organised crime; and Tony (Proval) owns the bar and neighbourhood hangout where these guys all congregate.  Johnny Boy owes Michael a lot of money, and Michael is determined to collect one way or another.  Charlie is sucked in because he has vouched for Johnny, and he is liable to pay if Johnny can't make good on his debts.   To complicate matters further is Charlie's secret relationship with Johnny's epileptic cousin Teresa (Robinson).

Martin Scorsese and Harvey Keitel had previously worked together on Scorsese's debut feature Who's That Knocking at My Door? (1968) and Robert De Niro had already made several features for Brian De Palma, but this was the film that broke all three of them into the big time.  It's shot in an almost semi-documentary style, with a constantly moving, handheld camera (the production were unable to afford to lay down tracks for tracking shots).  Scorsese had intended the film to showcase the world that he had grown up in, and it showcases the trademark criss-crossing dialogue and a soundtrack mixing rock, Motown, pop and Italian opera.  The film is sprawling and loosely plotted, but there is a spiky, kinetic energy that keeps it moving along. It's anchored by two incredible performances by Keitel and De Niro.  Harvey Keitel as Charlie is someone who is trying to be good, but trapped in a violent world, and anchors the film.  Robert De Niro gives an incendiary performance as the unpredictable maniac.  However, in the film's insular and strongly male world, people of colour and women don't really get a look in.  The only female character who really has much to do is Amy Robinson's Teresa, who doesn't really appear until the second half of the film, but she does hold her own in the boy's club.  It's an exciting, dynamic film, where sudden violence is just around the corner.  

Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro in Mean Streets

Jackie Brown

Year of Release:  1997

Director:  Quentin Tarantino

Screenplay:  Quentin Tarantino, based on the novel Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard

Starring:  Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton, Robert De Niro

Running Time:  154 minutes

Genre:  Crime drama

Flight attendant Jackie Brown (Grier) supplements her income by acting as courier for gun runner Ordell Robbie (Jackson).  Returning from one of her trips she is arrested by the police and ATF who are trying to find some evidence against Ordell.  Under pressure from the authorities, Jackie realises that not only her freedom but her life is in danger from Ordell.  However, with the aid of of world-weary bail bondsman Max Cherry (Forster), Jackie decides to play them off against each other in a very dangerous game.

A homage to the "Blaxploitation" films of the 1970s, and adapted from the 1992 novel Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard (to date the only Tarantino film to be adapted from another medium), this surprised many audiences and critics on it's first release.  It lacks the innovation of Pulp Fiction (1994) as well as the stylised carnage that had become the Tarantino trademark in many people's eyes.  Instead it has a level of tenderness and humanity that hadn't really appeared in Tarantino films before.  At it's core is the romance that develops between Jackie and Max, which is rare enough in Hollywood films, a romance between two older people.  While Tarantino does display his trademark stylistic flourishes in places, by and large the film takes it's time, the main pleasure here is less the complex narrative and more the characters who are allowed to develop.  Blaxploitation icon Pam Grier is perfect as the cool but vulnerable Jackie Brown and there is real chemistry between her and the rumpled Robert Forster, who gives Max real emotional weight.  Both Grier and Forster were big stars in the 1970s but hadn't headlined films in years before this revitalised their careers.  Samuel L. Jackson gives one of his best performances as the charming but terrifying gun runner.  In supporting roles are Bridget Fonda as Ordell's stoner girlfriend, Melanie; Michael Keaton as the ATF agent investigating Jackie; and Robert De Niro as Ordell's taciturn friend, all of whom are very good.  Cult actor Sid Haig, who appeared alongside Pam Grier in several Blaxploitation films, has a small role as a judge.  The script is full of Tarantino's typically profane and witty dialogue, it also proved very controversial due to the amount of racial epithets.  I can't comment on the adaptation, having not read the book, but this is definitely a Tarantino film, with many of his trademarks being present and correct, such as the cool soundtrack, references to '70s pop culture, and bare feet.  However Tarantino was frequently criticised for the level of violence, but it is quite restrained here, there are several on screen murders, but they are not particularly nor are they really dwelt upon.  It also has real heart, and is often surprisingly moving.  For a long time it seemed to be overlooked in Tarantino's oeuvre, but it has had something of a reassessment in recent years.  It may not be a perfect film, it is definitely too long, but it is very good, and worth investing the time in, even if you're not a Tarantino fan.

Pam Grier is Jackie Brown 

 

Sleepers

Year of Release: 1996
Director:  Barry Levinson
Screenplay:  Barry Levinson, based on the book Sleepers by Lorenzo Carcaterra
Starring:  Kevin Bacon, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Bruno Kirby, Jason Patric, Brad Pitt, Brad Renfro, Minnie Driver
Running Time:  147 minutes
Genre:  Crime drama

In the summer of 1967 four boys growing up in the tough Hell's Kitchen neigbourhood of New York City, accidentally injure a pedestrian in a thoughtless prank.  They are sentenced to do time at the Wilkinson Home for Boys, a brutal reform school where they are regularly abused by sadistic guards.  By 1981 the four friends, all affected in different ways by their experiences at Wilkinson, have drifted apart until they are reunited by a violent act of revenge.

This stylish crime drama is based on a controversial bestseller by Lorenzo Carcaterra, which he insists is autobiographical, although there are disclaimers at the end of the film denying the events ever took place.  This is an entertaining, if unwieldy film, which is almost like three in one.  The opening scenes of the film depict the boys (played by Joe Perrino, Brad Renfro, Geoffrey Wigdor and Jonathan Tucker) growing up in Hell's Kitchen, under the watchful eyes of suave local crime boss King Benny (Vittorio Gassman) and tough but kindly Catholic priest Father Bobby (Robert De Niro), and is kind of a coming of age street movie, kind of a cross between Mean Streets (1973), which also starred De Niro, and Stand By Me (1986), with shades of the De Niro directed A Bronx Tale (1993).  The second, and by far the most disturbing passage, which depicts the boys' abuse at the hands of the sadistic guards (headed by Kevin Bacon) feels like a mix of Scum (1979) and The Shawshank Redemption (1994).  In the third and longest section, the film turns into a legal drama, with the boys bow adults (played by Jason Patric, Brad Pitt, Billy Crudup and Ron Eldard).  It's a stylishly made film with the opening section having a bright sun-dappled "summer of innocence" look, and the second section has  bleak, wintery look, with muted colours.  The abuse that the boys suffer is depicted an almost impressionistic way, while it is obvious what is happening, none of it is really shown.  The film's tonal changes are sometimes jarring, but it is an entertaining and involving film, with a fantastic cast, although Brad Pitt fans may be disappointed that he doesn't appear until about an hour into the film. 

Jason Patric and Robert De Niro in Sleepers