Mean streets

Scorsese drew on his own childhood and adolescence (Harvey Keitel is his alter ego) in depicting the macho world of small time crime in New York’s Little Italy. He achieves a certain psychological distance from the obsessions of growing up Catholic in a society structured by contradictions and rituals. The loose, jagged structure contains an extraordinary blend of the operatic (the film has been described as a kind of rock opera) and the naturalistic (there was a good deal of improvisation by the actors). The effect of the lighting in bars and streets takes the film to the edge of expressionism; the hand held, rapidly tracking camera amplifies the sense of emotional and physical violence. Much of the film was actually shot in Los Angeles. Cast also includes David Proval, Amy Robinson and Richard Romanus.