Hash Import 2026 05 18 12 34

Mean Streets (1973)

★★★ — Mean Streets (1973)

Mean Streets was the film that properly announced Martin Scorsese as a director worth watching, arriving in 1973 on a budget of just $500,000 after his earlier, rougher work on Who's That Knocking at My Door. Shot largely on location in New York's Little Italy (the neighbourhood where Scorsese himself grew up), the film drew heavily on his own experience of that world, giving it an autobiographical texture that sets it apart from more studied crime pictures of the period. It came out of the early 1970s New Hollywood moment, when studios were willing to gamble on personal, low-budget films from younger directors. Crucially, it also marked the first proper collaboration between Scorsese and Robert De Niro, a pairing that would define both careers for decades.

I watched this with toothache. Worst toothache I've ever experienced in my life so I wanted something to take my mind off it. Not sure if that's clouded my judgement somewhat. As far as I recall... this movie boils down to 1 thing. De Niro owes someone money and avoids him about it the entire film until the end. Soundtrack is great. Acting is really good. Just not sure the story really holds up that well.

Rating: ★★★ | Year: 1973 | Watched: 2025-05-10

View on Letterboxd →

Where to watch (UK)

Stream: Amazon Prime Video · Amazon Prime Video with Ads · Channel 4 Plus
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK

Affiliate disclosure: Movies With Macca may earn a small commission on purchases or subscriptions started via these links. It costs you nothing extra.

Related on Movies With Macca

More from Martin Scorsese: Italianamerican (1974) · The King of Comedy (1982) · Gangs of New York (2002) · Cape Fear (1991)
More with Robert De Niro: The Untouchables (1987) · The King of Comedy (1982) · Shark Tale (2004) · Little Fockers (2010)
More from the 1970s: Fantastic Planet (1973) · Here and Elsewhere (1976) · Italianamerican (1974) · Punishment Park (1971)
More drama: Viy (1967) · Wonder (2017) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Beautiful Boy (2018)
More crime: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Angst (1983) · Stolen Face (1952) · Cairo Station (1958)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Don Siegel’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) arrived at a strange crossroads in American cinema: too modest to be a prestige picture, too unsettling to be a forgettable B-movie. Adapted from Jack Finney’s serialised novel The Body Snatchers and shot at Allied Artists on a budget barely

Fantastic Planet (1973)

René Laloux’s Fantastic Planet (1973) is one of those films that doesn’t really fit anywhere: too cerebral for kids, too odd for animation festivals, too steeped in European political theory for the Saturday-morning slot, and too visually fearless to ignore. A 72-minute French–Czech co-production designed by the

Viy (1967)

Viy (1967) is a strange and almost solitary object in Soviet cinema: a horror film, an actual horror film with monsters and demons and supernatural set-pieces, in a national cinema that mostly didn’t make horror at all. Officially endorsed by Mosfilm and based on a Nikolai Gogol folktale, it

Alice in Wonderland (1951)

Disney’s Alice in Wonderland (1951) is the studio’s middle-period work par excellence: technically polished, commercially tested, narratively cautious, and just slightly off. Made between two of Disney’s commercial successes (Cinderella in 1950, which had rescued the studio from one of its periodic financial near-misses, and Peter Pan

Read more

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Fantastic Planet (1973)

Viy (1967)

Alice in Wonderland (1951)