Mean Streets [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Mean Streets is the film which cemented the reputation of director Martin Scorsese, launching him to the forefront of American filmmaking. His third feature, this oft-imitated effort establishes many of Scorsese's thematic and stylistic trademarks, including his use of "outsider" heroes, unusual camera and editing techniques, a preoccupation with gangster life, an ongoing fascination with religion and the evocative use of popular music on the movie's soundtrack. Based on Scorsese's own experiences growing up in New York's Little Italy section, the film stars Harvey Keitel as Charlie, the nephew of a local mob boss (Cesare Danova); a deeply religious young man who models his life on the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi, Charlie takes on a reclamation project in the form of Johnny Boy (Robert DeNiro), a young tough whose violent, irrational behavior has landed him in trouble with the local crime lords. Charlie is determined to "save" both Johnny Boy and his epileptic sister Teresa (Amy Robinson) in order to achieve sainthood, but Johnny Boy, a powderkeg waiting to explode, may be beyond salvation.