I just bought Mean Streets on DVD and I was pissed to find out that it is not letterboxed. Just thought I'd let you guys know in case you are picky about that kind of stuff (like me.)

The soundtrack's also in mono, not 5.1.

Is it me, or does Mean Streets have no plot. Don't get me wrong, I love the film. I actually bought it for just a few shilling on video. The basic plot outline is Jonny Boy's lack of money and his payments he can't pay. But the way the script is written, it seems like more of a secondary plot as we follow Harvey Kietels character more than Jonny boy (De Niro).

Theres not many films that are plotless and good, but two others that come to mind are Scarface and Glengarry Glen Ross.

I also ask a question. Has the DVD copy been remastered because the video version is quite poor but sort of fits the mood right?

To have a plot, generally you need to have an antagonist. I don't think there is an antagonist in Mean Streets, despite what happens at the end of the film (I won't spoil it in case anyone reading this hasn't seen it yet).

It seems like a lot of movies that are based on actual events don't have an antagonist/plot. According to the back of the DVD, "It's a story Scorsese lived." Perhaps the reason there is no plot is because it is semi-autobiography which leads me to the question...which character is supposed to be Martin?

I am pretty sure that the DVD wasn't remastered. I felt the picture/sound quality was the poorest of any DVD I have ever watched.

Mean Streets was made in 1973 so maybe a 30th anniversary DVD will come out with some technical improvements made. I hope so because I thought it was a really good film.

» THE SCORSESE BOX SET

Warner Bros is currently at work on a Martin Scorsese DVD Collection for release in 2003. The set will include new special editions of After Hours, Goodfellas, Mean Streets, and Who's That Knocking at My Door? No official street date has been announced yet.

After closer inspection of the Mean Streets DVD I just noticed that one side of the disc shows the movie in "Standard" format (i.e. formatted to fit your TV screen) and the other side shows it in "Widescreen" format (letterboxed.)

I can now die happy.

Calogero why do you prefer the letterboxed than the Standard format? for me personally, i prefer the standard. . .

GoodFella

Aside from the issue of half the picture being cut off the sides, I find that with letterbox it feels more like watching a 'movie' and not just watching television.

I cannot stand to watch a movie chopped up to fit my tv. Widescreen is all I rent/buy if I can help it. You lose so much of the picture if you have the "standard" version.
Look at the differences below:






you lose a lot of the picture when you watch standard.

Here's a site that will explain everything you want to know about widescreen and anamorphic widescreen: http://www.thedigitalbits.com

Siskel and Ebert did a special on the letterbox vs standard issue and brought up the same arguments that "Sydicate" and "Il capo di capi" mentioned. Ever since I watched that it is very hard for me to watch a movie on TV that is not letterboxed.

Mean Streets is a so-so film, but its great value is in seeing Scorcese's evolution ahead of the great Goodfellas.

I think Mean Streets is very underrated.

I guess the extensive use of a handheld camera means that it often feels more like a fly on the wall documentary with us in the room, but I like that.

The handheld aspect does mean that there is less smoothness in cutting from shot to shot, but I think that it adds to the rawness of the movie.

It's a great contrast with the Godfather (even if
time period taken into account) to see the street guys like Michael (Richard Romanus) having to hustle and that the difficulty of getting out of the life equally applies to the bottom.

Keitel's character Charlie ultimately wants out of that life just like Michael Corleone, but in the same way he has to get deeper into the life to make that possible.