Mean Streets

Play trailer

Mean Streets

R

1973

1h 52m

Crime

Drama

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

92%

Tomatometer

78 Reviews

84%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

A slice of street life in Little Italy among lower echelon Mafiosos, unbalanced punks, and petty criminals. A small-time hood gets in over his head with a vicious loan shark. In an attempt to free himself from the dangers of his debt, he gets help from a friend who is also involved in criminal activities.

Watch on Fandango

Stream Now

Critics Consensus

Mean Streets is a powerful tale of urban sin and guilt that marks Scorsese's arrival as an important cinematic voice and features electrifying performances from Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro.

Read Critics Reviews

Colin Bennett

The Age (Australia)

09/24/2024

Despite vivid playing by Robert De Niro as the wildest and most self-destructive of them, relationships are not developed very far. Violence finally swamps them -- a brutal slaying which tries to elevate banal characters to some kind of heroic status.

Go to Full Review

Kevin Maher

The Times (UK)

02/01/2024

Freeze frames, casual violence and conversation are there in service of a story about two apprentice hoodlums...

Go to Full Review

Kristin M. Jones

Wall Street Journal

12/05/2023

For all its raw, exhilarating energy, it’s a film that can always break your heart.

Go to Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Nov 29

3.5/4

It was this picture that allowed Martin Scorsese to position himself as one of the most notable of the exciting new directors making their mark on Hollywood during the explosive ’70s.

Go to Full Review

Wael Khairy

The Cinephile Fix

03/10/2025

Mean Streets opens a window to the indoor activities of gangsters. Scorsese uses pool halls, restaurants, bars, and clubs as the backdrop and as with most of his films, the external environment has an internal effect on our protagonist.

Go to Full Review

Katie Hogan

FILMHOUNDS Magazine

01/22/2024

3/5

The violence is frequent and inconsistent, just like the plot direction, but there are decent performances within the film. Scorsese had a decent start to his career, this being his third film, and he only continued to develop his work for the better.

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

tommy d

Feb 3

Absolutely beautiful in a theater. I can only imagine seeing it when it originally released.

See more

Christian K

@ckacar Aug 14

What I will remember from this is being able to see De Niro as the young reckless hot head in a mafia movie.

See more

Gabriel M

@Anonymous12 Jul 25

Excellent 70s De Niro gangster movie

See more

keven Q

@kevenquinlan Mar 31

Ok, I get that it's Scorsese's first movie- but besides some ok dialogue= it's just a bunch of disconnected scenes and NO STORY and every 1970's NYC trope you can think of. Even by the standard of the time- it's not very good. I have most of his stuff but can't keep this one for my collection.

See more

Christian M

@chriss17eu Feb 5

'Mean Streets' doesn’t spark immediate enthusiasm in me. I feel an early distance from both its story and characters. Harvey Keitel feels familiar and compelling, once again embodying the same guilt-driven, Catholic soul. Watching him wrestle with faith and desire is engaging. De Niro takes longer to click, but once he does, he becomes the film’s gravitational center, carrying scenes with pure charisma while the rest mainly serve their dynamic. The story is almost dull at times, drifting between romance, sex, and violence in a masculine world ruled by honor and pride. Yet halfway through, something shifts: the tone sharpens, the pieces fall into place, and my interest grows. The final moments stay with me. They don’t fix everything, but they give it meaning.

See more

Trevor D

@Bozack2000 Jan 31

You can tell that Scorsese was figuring out how to tell a story. This movie is a wonderful mess that has so many direction changes the audience gets whiplash. Lucky for the rest of us he figured it out and learned how to tell amazing stories. Plus it was really cool seeing this on the big screen as I wasn't alive when it was originally released.

See more

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

POST RATING

Martin Scorsese

Director

Robert De Niro

Johnny Boy Cervello

Harvey Keitel

Charlie

Richard Romanus

Michael

Amy Robinson

Teresa

David Proval

Tony

Boxcar Bertha

59%

33%

Boxcar Bertha

Watchlist

Superfly

93%

70%

Superfly

Watchlist

Black Caesar

69%

63%

Black Caesar

Watchlist

Death Wish

66%

69%

Death Wish

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Death Wish

Busting

17%

52%

Busting

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Synopsis

A slice of street life in Little Italy among lower echelon Mafiosos, unbalanced punks, and petty criminals. A small-time hood gets in over his head with a vicious loan shark. In an attempt to free himself from the dangers of his debt, he gets help from a friend who is also involved in criminal activities.

Director: Martin Scorsese
Producer: Jonathan T. Taplin
Screenwriter: Martin Scorsese, Martin Scorsese, Mardik Martin
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Taplin - Perry - Scorsese Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 1, 1973, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 1, 2010
Box Office (Gross USA): $32.6K
Runtime: 1h 52m
Sound Mix: Mono

Join The Newsletter

Join The Newsletter

Cookie Settings