Mean Streets (1973)

Rated R for violence, language, sexuality, blasphemy, nudity, and general cruelty.  It's 1973 Scorsese.  It's gritty and raw.  It treats the misery of the world as something commonplace.  In some ways, this is quintessential R-rating, simply because it lacks all hope.  R.

DIRECTOR:  Martin Scorsese

Truths.  It's time for them.  I've seen this movie.  It's been checked off on my list because I remember talking about this movie two decades ago.  Also true?  I remembered absolutely zero parts of this movie once it started.  Apparently, when you watch a billion movies, some of the good ones start disappearing.  I know.  It's not like I'm the guy who has seen the most movies.  I am just the guy who has seen the most movies in my small biome.  Mean Streets, guys.  Mean Streets is one heck of a movie.  It's a flawed movie, but it's still a tank of a film.  Also, I'm the guy who is privileged to have seen it twice for the first time.

Because it is so on my mind, I have to talk about the end.  Again, I watched this with no memory of this movie.  Maybe if I watch it a third time (sometime soon, ideally) I'll have a different perspective on the movie.  Part of the idea is that I thought that this was a very different character arc for Charlie.  In my head, Mean Streets was an immoral Of Mice and Men. Charlie is this guy who is corrupt by the very nature of his job.  But he's got this moral code.  He is true to his friends and will do anything for them.  He sees that the rules say that Johnny Boy can't behave the way he is.  Johnny Boy's entire character is about spiraling and lashing out at those who are close to him.  Charlie is in a constant state of damage control, making sure that Johnny Boy can still live the life he chooses.  But Johnny Boy, and no one else, is sabotaging that life.  I can't help but see Lennie when I see Johnny Boy.