Mean Streets by Martin Scorsese

Yet another film by Scorsese, this film continues much of the same dialogue found in Who's That Knocking yet in a more developed way. One of the main characters, Charlie, is in essence an older version of J.R. in Who's That Knocking. This film also has strong ties with religion, and Scorsese himself said that the film has "'more to do with Catholicism than with being Italian-American'" (as cited in Lourdeaux 240). The first scene of the movie even talks about the idea that a person does not make up for their sins in the Church, but in the streets. The film focuses once again on the main character's struggle to reconcile his religion and culture with his real-life situations. While Charlie has good intentions, in the end he is incapable of succeeding because his religion and culture hold him back. He is in love with his friend's epileptic sister, but because of her disease and the fact that she is not a virgin he is incapable of considering here as a serious prospect, and he feels obligated to watch out for his older cousin Johnny Boy because he is family. What we see in this film however, is that he is essentially held back by his beliefs. His hopes can never truly be realized until he can break away from his "naive religious attitudes" (Lourdeaux 242). Until he does he puts himself at risk in the streets. He seems himself as a sort of priest, trying to do the "right thing," but essentially the streets don't work that way. In my opinion, in this film Scorsese is drawing a parallel between the Church and the streets and that while playing by rules is what should be done, neither "institution" plays completely in this manner.