Mean Streets (Scorsese)

[Oscar Rothman]

Street date: February 16

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mean-Streets...545579&sr=1-50

[Chad Plainview]

Sweet.

[rapta]

FINALLY! All over this of course

[Blu MacReady]

First MS 'gangster' film I saw was Goodfellas. It instantly became my favourite film (although this always changes)
Then Casino, I used to find it hard which I prefered. Now it's a toss up between these and The a Departed.
I might be in a minority, but I loved Gangs of New York.

But I've never seen Mean Steets. I've started it (have the DVD) but not been able to be instantly grabbed. I enjoy films from this era, I enjoyed Taxi Driver. But cannot get into this.

Is it worth sticking with MS, does it 'pick up'? Would anyone reply and suggest it as a Taxi Driver where the action is more the final act and it's just an interesting story up til or is it more Goodfellas with action/violence throughout.

Cheers

[JimDiGriz]

Originally Posted by Blu MacReady

First MS 'gangster' film I saw was Goodfellas. It instantly became my favourite film (although this always changes)
Then Casino, I used to find it hard which I prefered. Now it's a toss up between these and The a Departed.
I might be in a minority, but I loved Gangs of New York.

But I've never seen Mean Steets. I've started it (have the DVD) but not been able to be instantly grabbed. I enjoy films from this era, I enjoyed Taxi Driver. But cannot get into this.

Is it worth sticking with MS, does it 'pick up'? Would anyone reply and suggest it as a Taxi Driver where the action is more the final act and it's just an interesting story up til or is it more Goodfellas with action/violence throughout.

Cheers

About time! I got the French one ages ago.

Mean Streets is like the 'low level crime' of Scorsese's gangster films (with Goodfellas and Casino being the middle and top end of course).

Mean Streets is certainly more rough than his later films. Much smaller budget of course. I dont like it as much as Taxi Driver, Goodfellas or Casino etc but I still love it. Its a must for any collection.

I wonder if they are going with the US version or the French version though? The French one has many different extras including ItalianAmerican which is a must have for any Scorsese fan.

[huntauk]

Glad this is finally coming out. I never got round to importing the French disc.

Interesting all the love for Casino on here though. Personally I found it lacking heart of Scorsese's earlier work such as this. Same with The Departed, which I found to be a much more bloated and less coherent version of the film it remade. Just my personal opinion, not bashing anyone else's.

[HuggyBear73]

I went ahead and ordered the French release. I'm pretty sure the UK will be the same as the US. Light on extras and terrible cover art.

[Huseyin]

Wow this has taken ages to be released!

[HuggyBear73]

Anyone know what the extras are gonna be? I just ordered the French disc too. I just hope this Icon release doesn't have better extras.

[Ill_Be_Back]

It looks like this release isn't happening now.

[tob]

Originally Posted by Ill_Be_Back

It looks like this release isn't happening now.

When did that happen ill be back.

[jono3000]

Amazon finally shipped mine. They are taking their time with super saver delivery at the moment.

[bigshot]

Watched it tonight... not a lot of grain like Taxi Driver, but a great transfer. What an important movie!

[intothewild]

Is there any subtitles on the new Icon version (UK) ?
(I know there is on the amercian version)

[mattyl149]

Originally Posted by intothewild

Is there any subtitles on the new Icon version (UK) ?
(I know there is on the amercian version)

If you look at that first picture, it confirms there are English HOH subtitles

[rapta]

Originally Posted by jono3000

Amazon finally shipped mine. They are taking their time with super saver delivery at the moment.

I got fed up with waiting and complaining with them so ordered it from Rakuten for £6 (when the £5-off deal was working). Looking forward to this one!

[huntauk]

Originally Posted by rapta

I got fed up with waiting and complaining with them so ordered it from Rakuten for £6 (when the £5-off deal was working). Looking forward to this one!

Wish I'd done the same. Instead I ended up getting Nemesis for £5.99. Some reason I thought it would be trashy late 80's/early 90's fun - with Tim Thomerson & Brion James. Instead it was just poorly directed by Pyun - and plain boring.

Hopefully my amazon order ships soon so I get this and Paper Moon in hand for next weekend.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by huntauk

Wish I'd done the same. Instead I ended up getting Nemesis for £5.99. Some reason I thought it would be trashy late 80's/early 90's fun - with Tim Thomerson & Brion James. Instead it was just poorly directed by Pyun - and plain boring.

Hopefully my amazon order ships soon so I get this and Paper Moon in hand for next weekend.

Yeah wish I'd got a couple more as I already had several accounts set up...did manage to get Hobson's Choice and the Max Max Trilogy for around the same price though, so didn't do too bad.

Looking forward to Paper Moon as well...a good week for 70's American cinema! Should be arriving on Tuesday (almost forgot it was a Bank Holiday).

[mojo_navigator]

Mean Streets is my favorite film and I consider it miles superior to other Scorsese flicks. Although those are technically better films, Mean Streets has real soul, something intangible that the other more celebrated works lack (at least to me).

It's such a shame that even though its respected as an influential piece of work, it has never received the full restoration work that Taxi Driver etc has for the home video market.

I’ve seen it over 40 times now, mostly in repertory cinemas, and would like to confirm that this film, though it cost only $250k to make, can look utterly spellbinding. I saw a 30 year restored anniversary print back in 2005 and YIKES!! I would utterly kill to see that kind of quality on Blu. So it is possible, folks. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Regarding the blu-ray versions currently on the market, I have both the US and French and they are both abominations. The US fares worse of the two. The color timing is plain wrong – pale, weak and anemic. Where interiors should be bathed in eye-gouging reds we are instead greeted with lightweight pinks that don’t look anything like the true film.

The French is slightly better and there are many moments when it looks closer to the theatrical presentation. It still suffers from color timing problems though. This time, instead of pink we get…orange! How difficult can it be to get something like this right? At other times, a bizarre green/olive tint makes itself known, again utterly unlike the film. Even for a devout obsessive like myself, it's a real chore to watch.

Originally I wasn't going to buy this one yet again as I'm sick of being conned continuously, but on the basis of the screenshots provided by blu-ray.com, I’ve gone ahead placed an order for this UK version. The screenshots look much more accurate than either the US or French so we shall see if it indeed captures the emotion and power of this truly outstanding and life-changing film.

Third time lucky, I hope

[Nocturnaloner]

Originally Posted by mojo_navigator

Mean Streets is my favorite film and I consider it miles superior to other Scorsese flicks. Although those are technically better films, Mean Streets has real soul, something intangible that the other more celebrated works lack (at least to me).

I caught part of Mean Streets on TCM early this morning. It'd been years since I'd seen it. The shot where Johnny Boy walks into the bar, and we see his POV in slow motion, tracking over to Charlie as the music plays, everything about that carried the essence of Scorsese. The budget didn't allow for a beautiful shot in low light, it's murky and grainy, but there's an energy to it, a sort of first time love and excitement that you can feel. I don't know how that comes out of the screen to me, but it does. There can only be one first time.