Martin Scorsese names the one movie that inspired ‘Mean Streets’
Of the iconic 20th-century filmmakers, only a select handful remain in operation in contemporary cinema. The great Martin Scorsese is one such creative, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Werner Herzog, Ridley Scott and Steven Spielberg, who are each still making movies to this very day, with the director behind such classics as Taxi Driver and Goodfellas still making iconic movies.
Such movies as The Wolf of Wall Street, Silence and Killers of the Flower Moon have been championed by modern critics and audiences alike, being praised for their astounding cinematic vision. Yet, the quality of such projects has only been possible thanks to Scorsese’s remarkable early filmography, making some of the most innovative movies of the 1970s and 1980s.
Known for his work in the genre of crime cinema, making such greats as Goodfellas and Casino, Scorsese’s career all started back in 1973 with the release of his major debut, Mean Streets. Starring Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel and David Carradine, the film is one of the most important texts in Scorsese’s filmography, telling the story of a small-time crook who has to try and wrangle the fiery temper of his friend.
When speaking about his companion movies on Letterboxd, Scorsese pinpointed the one film that inspired Mean Streets more than any other, picking out the 1964 Bernardo Bertolucci film Before the Revolution.
“Bernardo’s film—actually his second but it felt like his first—took place in the artistic/political milieu in which he grew up, several universes away from my own,” Scorsese said of the lesser-known Bertolucci movie. Continuing, he explained, “But the desire to express what you felt about your own world through cinema…that was a huge inspiration”.
Only Bertolucci’s second movie, made long before such later classics as The Conformist and the 1988 ‘Best Picture’ winner The Last Emperor, Before the Revolution told the story of a young Italian man who experiences the death of his friend and becomes increasingly close to his aunt as a result. Largely ignored by film festivals and awards shows at the time, the film has since gained contemporary popularity.
Elsewhere, Scorsese named the 1957 film Guns Don’t Argue by Bill Karn and Richard C. Kahn as a key inspiration for his previous movie Boxcar Bertha. Speaking about the film, he stated, “Guns Don’t Argue is pure visceral exploitation, in a sense the ultimate exploitation picture, made for pennies. But out of their extremely limited means, the filmmakers distilled everything to its essence, and they created some kind of art—the picture resonates with a minimalism that I can only call avant-garde. It’s a reminder of why Godard dedicated Breathless to Monogram Pictures”.
Take a look at the trailer for Before the Revolution below.
