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Mean Streets

Mean Streets

Drama · Crime · 1973

A small-time hood must choose from among love, friendship and the chance to rise within the mob.

Movie details

Mean Streets

“Go to church on Sunday. Go to Hell on Monday.”

1973 Drama · Crime 1h 52m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.2 / 10

124.7K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

92 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

96 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

7.0 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

A small-time hood must choose from among love, friendship and the chance to rise within the mob.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Mean Streets?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.

American Gangster

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Gotti

Gotti

Crime · 1996

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A Bronx Tale

A Bronx Tale

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Belly

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Martin Scorsese

Written by

Mardik Martin · Martin Scorsese

Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro

John 'Johnny Boy' Civello

Harvey Keitel

Harvey Keitel

Charlie Cappa

David Proval

David Proval

Tony DeVienazo

Amy Robinson

Amy Robinson

Teresa Ronchelli

Richard Romanus

Richard Romanus

Michael Longo

Cesare Danova

Cesare Danova

Giovanni Cappa

Victor Argo

Victor Argo

Mario

Court is in session

Put Mean Streets on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.