Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Mean Streets Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 9, 2015

Martin Scorsese's "Mean Streets" (1973) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Icon Home Distribution. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film, audio commentary with the American director and actress Amy Robinson, and an archival featurette. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

A mook? What's a mook?

Charlie (Harvey Keitel, Bad Lieutenant) dreams of running a restaurant controlled by his uncle Giovanni (Cesare Danova, Dublin Murders), a respected mafia boss. Any chance he gets, he tries to show Giovanni that he is a man that can be trusted, a man that can take care of things. He reminds people in the neighborhood when it is time for them to pay their dues and collects bad debts for him. He has a good image, but not the status he wants.

Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro, Taxi Driver), Charlie’s best friend, is a violent punk without ambitions who owes money to a lot of people, including Michael (Richard Romulus, Murphy's Law), a loan shark with plenty of friends who like to carry guns. Johnny Boy does not have a steady job and isn’t interested in having one, which is why he keeps borrowing money from people that are willing to give them to him. He has already missed a couple of payments with Michael, which is why Charlie has been asked to talk to him.

Tony (David Proval, Nunzio) owns a small bar where the guys like to hang around. He isn’t making much, but realizes that it is better to be behind the bar than trying to make ends meet on the streets. He likes going out with Charlie and Johnny Boy.

Teresa (Amy Robinson) is Johnny’s sister. Charlie likes making love to her, but is unsure if she is the woman he should spend the rest of his life with. In fact, he is unsure if he wants to have a wife. Women make him feel good, but they also make him feel weak and guilty. Teresa does not understand Charlie. He is a good man, but not like the other men in the neighborhood. She can’t read him.

Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets is about faith and rituals and a group of men with different priorities in life. All of them are Italian-Americans who live in an environment where violence is a way of life. They are friends, but true friendship means little to them.

Charlie, the smartest and most ambitious amongst them, is a man of faith. Part of him realizes that he is surrounded by men who have embraced crime and turned their backs on God, but he cannot walk away from them because he understands that he belongs amongst them. This is why he has assumed the role of a mediator. He maintains order and prevents his friends from committing foolish crimes. It is the best he can do. It is the only thing he can do.

Giovanni does not like the fact that Charlie always tries to help Johnny Boy. They live in a jungle where only the smart and strong should survive. Johnny Boy is weak, unreliable, a recipe for disaster. If Charlie wants to make it big, he should stay away from Johnny Boy. But Charlie can't give up on his friend, which is why Giovanni has started losing interest in him.

Michael has also started losing respect for Charlie, who has not been able to convince Johnny Boy to pay his debts. In fact, he already feels disrespected.

It is easy to declare that Mean Streets is the rawest and purest of director Scorsese’s gangster films. There is a certain sense of unpredictability and powerlessness in it that feels right, because as news reports often reveal, real gangsters aren’t classy and flashy men who are never afraid to face the consequences of their actions. They easily get scared, and they are often struggling with moral dilemmas exactly like the ones Charlie faces in the film.

*In 1974, Mean Streets won Best Supporting Actor Award (Robert De Niro) at the National Society of Film Critics Awards.

Mean Streets Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.77:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Icon Home Distribution.

The release appears to have been sourced from the same master French label Carlotta Films accessed back in 2011 (you can see our review of the French release here). However, the two releases are not identical. The main discrepancies are in the area of color reproduction. The French release appears ever so slightly warmer and favoring marginally warmer yellows, while this release has slightly more prominent reds. The color schemes of the two releases, however, are still quite similar. Depth and clarity are virtually identical. The daylight footage in particular can look quite nice, but even some of the close-ups from the bar boast decent depth (see screencaptures #3 and 4). There are no traces of sharpening adjustments. However, the film can also look somewhat soft. Fluidity and shadow definition could be more convincing and grain better exposed and resolved. The encoding can also be optimized. Ultimately, the Blu-ray release represents a good upgrade in quality over the existing R1 DVD release, but the definitive technical presentation of the film will likely emerge after it is fully restored in 4K. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free Blu-ray player in order to access its content).

Mean Streets Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless tracks allows the film to breathe quite well, but you should not expect a wide range of nuanced dynamics. In fact, you could notice some mild unevenness during select sequences. The dialog is stable and easy to follow, but if one day the audio is remastered I think it will be slightly better rounded. There are no pops, cracks, audio dropouts, or digital distortions to report in this review.

Mean Streets Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for Mean Streets. In English, not subtitled. (4 min).

• Back on the Block - in this archival featurette, director Martin Scorsese talks about the city he grew up in, New York. In English, not subtitled. (7 min).

• Commentary - in this audio commentary, director Martin Scorsese explains how Mean Streets came to exist, what the film represents, how the world of the main characters in the film compares to the one he grew up in, etc. Actress Amy Robinson (Teresa) also recalls her initial encounter with Martin Scorsese, and discusses her contribution to the film as well as the character she plays.

• Cover - reversible cover with original poster art.

Mean Streets Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Icon Home Distribution's Blu-ray release has been sourced from the same master French label Carlotta Films accessed in 2011. While this isn't the definitive presentation of the film, I think that it is a very nice one. Currently, the French release has the best selection of supplemental features, but it does not have the very informative audio commentary with Martin Scorsese and actress Amy Robinson that is included on this release. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.