Film Review: MEAN STREETS (1973)

Director: Martin Scorsese
Writers: Martin Scorsese (story/screenplay), Chris Henchy (screenplay)
Running time: 112 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18

Genre: Crime/Drama
USA Release date: 14^th October 1973

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 6^th May 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This is part of my ongoing mission to try and see all of Martin Scorsese’s films; well at least all the major ones he’s directed. Checking the list on IMDb, this is the eleventh one I’ve seen although not all have been reviewed. I must say even back in 1973 you could see the quality of his filmmaking, although a little raw, it still stands out. I will give you my thoughts after this brief summary.

A small-time hood, Charlie, is trying to make ends meet on the mean streets of Little Italy in New York. Matters aren’t helped by his best friend Johnny Boy who has run up a debt with Michael, a local moneylender who also happens to be friends with Charlie. Now Charlie is connected, his uncle is quite well up in, shall we say, the local business association and he has plans to bring Charlie into the fold. To add to Charlie’s woes, his girlfriend, Johnny Boy’s cousin Teresa, is putting pressure on him to get an apartment together. As time goes by Johnny proves more and more unreliable and Michael is losing patience with him. Charlie is in the middle but still loyal to his friend Johnny. How’s it gonna resolve itself? Well I guess I had better not tell you that or the Spoiler Police (Local Business Association Division) will be taking me to be fitted with some cement shoes (again).

The film has a very raw edge to it like many films of the era, I guess it was either an effort to make it feel more realistic or they just didn’t have the budget to make it any better (my money’s on the former). All the performances were excellent with Robert De Niro as Johnny Boy and Harvey Keitel as Charlie taking centre stage. They were ably supported by; David Proval as Tony, Amy Robinson as Teresa, Richard Romanus as Michael and Cesare Danova as Giovanni. Oh and look out for a very brief appearance from David Carradine as a drunk.

Although the editing is not as slick as in Scorsese’s latter works and some of the scenes seem a bit chaotic, I still really enjoyed this one. I think it is as much for the performances of both De Niro and Keitel as for the way the thing is put together. I must also mention the score, an interesting mix of Italian opera and popular songs of the day makes for some entertaining themes throughout. Over all, although it’s gritty and a little rough at the edges, a highly enjoyable watch… Recommended.

My score: 8.4/10

IMDb Score: 7.5/10 (based on 37,520 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0070379/

MetaScore: NO DATA: (Based on 0 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 98/100 (based on 47 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 83/100 (based on 49,005 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mean_streets/

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FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Giovanni Cappa: This Johnny Boy is like your mister Groppi...a little crazy. It's nice you should help him out because of his family and our family but watch yourself...Don't spoil anything. His whole family has problems...his cousin, the girl who lives next door to you...
Charlie: Teresa.
Giovanni Cappa: ...The one who's sick, right? In the head.
Charlie: No, she's got epilepsy.
Giovanni Cappa: Yeah. That's what I said, sick in the head.

Oscar: Look Charlie, you're a good boy. Will you just tell your uncle that I have nothing. There is nothing to give him. No envelopes with cash inside, no checks, nothing.
Charlie: That bad, huh?
Oscar: I can't make this week's payment and if this keeps up not next week's either.
Charlie: Not next week's either... listen... you tell that to Giovanni, not me.
Oscar: Listen, I should wrap up this place in a ribbon and hand it to him, you know that. I don't need this aggravation. I'm getting old.
Charlie: He'd rather have the loan payed, you know that.

Johnny Boy: What's the matter, you too good for this ten dollars? Huh? You too good for it? It's a good ten dollars. Know somethin' Mikey? You make me laugh. You know that?

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Trailer:

Film Review: TAXI DRIVER (1976)

Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: Paul Schrader
Running time: 113 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18

Genre: Drama/Thriller
USA Release date: 8^th February 1976

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 5^th February 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

Believe it or not but this is the first time I’ve ever seen this film. It’s one that has always been on my radar but I never got around to it until now. What’s galling about it is that the film is so very good and I feel bad that I hadn’t watched it sooner. But there’s no use worrying about it now, it’s a great film and no mistaking, Scorsese was really on form back in the ‘70’s and it really shows in this one! More of my thoughts after this brief summary.

Travis Bickle is an ex-marine who has trouble sleeping and in order to relieve the tedium he takes a job as a taxi driver. He works all hours and doesn’t mind which parts of New York City he visits. He sees a girl he likes, Betsy, who works in the campaign office of Charles Palantine, who is going for the nomination to be President. They go out a few times but things don’t quite go according to plan. Bickle begins to get worse and focuses his attention on a young prostitute, Iris, who he decides to save from the life she’s found herself in. He gets himself a gun and deals with the situation in the only way he feels he can. I will leave it there or the Spoiler Police will be impounding my cab (again).

A really well made film with all the hard edges you’d expect from a gritty 1970’s drama. I love the look and feel of it and it’s all nicely knitted together with a hauntingly melodic musical score by Bernard Herrmann. On the performance front, well, Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle was breathtaking. I can see why many say this was his finest moment on film! Jodie Foster also did a great job as Iris, as did Cybill Shepherd as Betsy. Honourable mentions must go to; Peter Boyle as Wizard and Harvey Keitel as Sport.

This is a film that many have given high praise to and I can see why. It has everything you would want from a drama; not only is a story that sucks you in, but the performances are so good they make you believe in the characters. It does seem a little flat here and there, but you never really know just what’s going to happen next and I loved every minute of it!... This one comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

My score: 9.2/10.

IMDb Score: 8.5/10 (based on 217,939 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0075314/

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 98/100 (based on 60 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 93/100 (based on 207,339 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/taxi_driver/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
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FAVOURITE QUOTES:
WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE:
Personnel Officer: Wanna work uptown at nights? South Bronx? Harlem?
Travis Bickle: I'll work anytime, anywhere.
Personnel Officer: Will you work on Jewish holidays?
Travis Bickle: Anytime, anywhere.

Iris: God, you're square.
Travis Bickle: Hey, I'm not square, you're the one that's square. You're full of shit, man. What are you talking about? You walk out with those fuckin' creeps and low-lifes and degenerates out on the streets and you sell your little pussy for peanuts? For some low-life pimp who stands in the hall? And I'm square? You're the one that's square, man. I don't go screwing fuck with a bunch of killers and junkies like you do. You call that bein' hip? What world are you from?

Sport: See ya later, copper!
Travis Bickle: I'm no cop, man.
Sport: Well, if you are, then it's entrapment already.

Travis Bickle: All the animals come out at night - whores, skunk pussies, buggers, queens, fairies, dopers, junkies, sick, venal. Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets. I go all over. I take people to the Bronx, Brooklyn, I take 'em to Harlem. I don't care. Don't make no difference to me. It does to some. Some won't even take spooks. Don't make no difference to me.

Travis Bickle: [Travis is trying his guns on the mirror] Huh? Huh?
[Draws]
Travis Bickle: Faster than you, fucking son of a... Saw you coming you fucking... shitheel.
[Reholsters]
Travis Bickle: I'm standing here; you make the move. You make the move. It's your move...
[Draws]
Travis Bickle: Don't try it you fuck.
[Reholsters]
Travis Bickle: You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talking... you talking to me? Well I'm the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you're talking to? Oh yeah? OK.
[Draws]

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Trailer:

Film Review: RESERVOIR DOGS (1992)

Co-Writer/Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writers: Quentin Tarantino & Roger Avary (Background radio dialogue)
Running time: 99 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18

Genre: Crime/Thriller/Mystery
UK Release date: 15^th January 1993

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 14^th January 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

Lauded by many, despised by a few, it’s been a long time since I saw ‘Reservoir Dogs’ and I have to come clean… I didn’t really rate it first time around. So I thought it was time I gave it another shot since it aired on TV (again) recently. How did it fair this time around? Well I’ll tell you after this brief summary.

A jewellery heist has gone wrong and the perpetrators make their way back to a pre-arranged rendezvous, a warehouse. The cops knew about the robbery and they have a traitor in their midst. To keep themselves anonymous, Joe, the organiser of the heist had given them all names of colours. Mr Brown and Mr Blue were both killed during the heist and Mr Orange is injured. He and Mr White are the first to arrive, soon followed by Mr Pink. Later Mr Blonde turns up with a surprise in the trunk of his car… a cop. They start beating up on the cop trying to find out if he knows who betrayed them, but he knows nothing. Nice Guy Eddie, Joe’s son, turns up next and tells them to move the cars; leaving the psychotic Mr Blonde with the injured Mr Orange and the cop. At this point I’ll leave it or the Spoiler Police (Tarantino Division) will have me making films with scenes stolen from just about every film I’ve ever seen (again).

I must admit I do like the rough style with which this film is made, there seems to be a lot of ad-libbing from the actors and, for the most part, it works pretty well. There are flashbacks telling us how some of the major players got involved in the job and these (to me) are more interesting than some of the stuff going on in the warehouse. As far as performances go, well Harvey Keitel as Mr. White - Larry Dimmick, Tim Roth as Mr. Orange - Freddy Newandyke, Michael Madsen as Mr. Blonde - Vic Vega and Steve Buscemi as Mr. Pink all did an excellent job. Honourable mentions also go to; Chris Penn as Nice Guy Eddie Cabot and Lawrence Tierney as Joe Cabot.

As with many of Tarantino’s works there is an awful lot of dialogue (just see my ‘Favourite Quotes’ section below for a taster). This, I find can be both confusing and distracting if not properly choreographed with what the audience is watching. Two talking heads in a room can get pretty uninteresting after a while and this is what you get in some scenes. There is no incidental music, the only music we here is from the radio that always plays hits from the ‘70’s. For me second time around?... Well I can see some good things in there, but not enough for me to rave about it. I will deem it ‘Recommended’ but only for these good points (about three quarters of the way through… the back-story of Mr. Orange… definitely NOT the torture scene).

My score: 7.8/10.

IMDb Score: 8.4/10 (based on 277,019 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0105236/

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 96/100 (based on 48 reviews counted at the time of going to press).
Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 93/100 (based on 381,822 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/reservoir_dogs/

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FAVOURITE QUOTES: (WARNING: Strong Language)
Nice Guy Eddie: Did you see that, daddy?
Joe: What?
Nice Guy Eddie: That guy got me on the ground and he tried to fuck me.
Mr. Blonde: You wish.
Nice Guy Eddie: Listen, Vic. Whatever you wanna do in the privacy of your own home, go do it. But don't try to fuck me in my father's office - I don't think of you that way. I like you a lot man, but I don't think of you that way.
Mr. Blonde: Eddie, if I was a butt cowboy, I wouldn't even throw you to the posse.
Nice Guy Eddie: Of course not, you'd keep me for yourself, you sick bastard. Four years of fuckin' punks up the ass you'd appreciate a piece of prime rib when you see one.

Mr. Orange: What happens if the manager won't give you the diamonds?
Mr. White: When you're dealing with a store like this, they're insured up the ass. They're not supposed to give you any resistance whatsoever. If you get a customer, or an employee, who thinks he's Charles Bronson, take the butt of your gun and smash their nose in. Everybody jumps. He falls down screaming, blood squirts out of his nose, nobody says fucking shit after that. You might get some bitch talk shit to you, but give her a look like you're gonna smash her in the face next, watch her shut the fuck up. Now if it's a manager, that's a different story. Managers know better than to fuck around, so if you get one that's giving you static, he probably thinks he's a real cowboy, so you gotta break that son of a bitch in two. If you wanna know something and he won't tell you, cut off one of his fingers. The little one. Then tell him his thumb's next. After that he'll tell you if he wears ladies underwear. I'm hungry. Let's get a taco.

Mr. Pink: Hey, why am I Mr. Pink?
Joe: Because you're a faggot.
Mr. Pink: Why can't we pick our own colors?
Joe: No way, no way. Tried it once, doesn't work. You got four guys all fighting over who's gonna be Mr. Black, but they don't know each other, so nobody wants to back down. No way. I pick. You're Mr. Pink. Be thankful you're not Mr. Yellow.
Mr. Brown: Yeah, but Mr. Brown is a little too close to Mr. Shit.
Mr. Pink: Mr. Pink sounds like Mr. Pussy. How 'bout if I'm Mr. Purple? That sounds good to me. I'll be Mr. Purple.
Joe: You're not Mr. Purple. Some guy on some other job is Mr. Purple. Your Mr. PINK.
Mr. White: Who cares what your name is?
Mr. Pink: Yeah, that's easy for your to say, you're Mr. White. You have a cool-sounding name. Alright look, if it's no big deal to be Mr. Pink, you wanna trade?
Joe: Hey! NOBODY'S trading with ANYBODY. This ain't a goddamn, fucking city council meeting, you know. Now listen up, Mr. Pink. There's two ways you can go on this job: my way or the highway. Now what's it gonna be, Mr. Pink?
Mr. Pink: Jesus Christ, Joe, fucking forget about it. It's beneath me. I'm Mr. Pink. Let's move on.
Joe: I'll move on when I feel like it... All you guys got the goddamn message?... I'm so goddamn mad, hollering at you guys I can hardly talk. Pssh. Let's go to work.

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Trailer:

Film Review: THELMA & LOUISE (1991)

Director: Ridley Scott
Running time: 125 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Crime/Drama
UK Release date: 12^th July 1991

Watched on Sky+ Friday 30^th September 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

Ridley Scott directed some of my favourite films and so I thought I’d take a look at some of his other works. I must admit to having seen this one before, but I only remember bits and pieces of the story. It was nice to see it again so I could cast my critical eye over it. It’s great to look at with some iconic American scenery, not to mention Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis! I enjoyed it although there were a couple of niggles that I will tell you about after this brief summary.

Repressed housewife Thelma decides to not tell her husband, Darryl, when she goes off on a trip with her friend Louise Sawyer. They are headed to a cabin in the mountains for a couple of days fishing and chillin’ out. On the way they stop at a bar for something to eat and things get a bit out of hand; I won’t say how or why (spoilers), but it is pretty serious. They make a break for it and hole up in a motel while they decide what to do. Eventually Louise makes the decision that they will escape to Mexico. For this they will need money and her boyfriend, Jimmy, proves to be the solution to that. Meanwhile the police, in the guise of Hal and Max are on their trail. Add to the mix a young hitchhiker called J.D. that Thelma takes a shine to and we got us a road trip to remember! I won’t say any more or the Spoiler Police will be tailing me right to the edge of the Grand Canyon.

As I’ve already mentioned, this film is beautifully shot with some fantastically cinematic moments. Ridley Scott certainly has an eye for these things and they are a feature of all of his films. I couldn’t fault any of the performances either; Susan Sarandon as Louise Sawyer and Geena Davis as Thelma are both fantastic. Harvey Keitel did an excellent job as the caring cop, Hal, as did Michael Madsen as Jimmy. Also worthy of note were Christopher McDonald as Darryl and Stephen Tobolowsky (whose podcast is great by the way… link below), as Max. Oh, and there was this young actor… eye-candy (for the ladies) really… some guy called Brad Pitt played the part of J.D.

I said at the beginning that I had a couple of niggles, well, here goes, one is that the film starts off really well and then has a bit of a dull stodgy middle part before picking up again towards the end. I see this far too often in films and it’s beginning to get a bit old (for me) I’m afraid. Secondly, I found the film a little too long, cut out some of the stodgy middle and I would have been a little happier. Ok, that’s all for the niggles. I found there was a lot more humour in it than I remember, but it was quite sporadic. The ending was very touching and did make up for some of the niggles, (but not all of them). The musical score mostly consists of Country songs, but I much preferred the incidental music by Hans Zimmer, in fact I had a bet that he wrote it while I was watching the film! I now owe myself a pint. Over all, though, I still thought this film was great, superb performances, great cinematography, some great music, oh, and a pretty good plot too… Recommended.

My Score: 7.8/10.

IMDb Score: 7.3/10 (based on 50,471 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0103074/

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92/100 (based on 50 reviews counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/thelma_and_louise/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Louise Sawyer: [talking about their cabin vacation in the mountains later in the day] You mean you haven't asked him yet? Thelma, for Christ's sake. Thelma, is he your husband, or your father. It's just two days for God's sake. Don't be a child. Tell him you're with me.
[grins mischieviously]
Louise Sawyer: Tell him I'm having a nervous breakdown.
Thelma Dickerson: That don't carry much weight with Darryl. He already thinks you're out of your mind.

-o0o-

[the ladies are just starting off on their road trip. Thelma lifts out Darryl's pistol]
Thelma: Oh, Louise, umm, will you take care of this gun?
Louise: What in hell did you bring that for?
Thelma: Oh, come on! Psycho killers, or bears or snakes? I just don't know how to use it. Will you take care of it?
Louise: Put it away! Just, here, put it in my purse. Thelma, good lord!

-o0o-

Louise Sawyer: You shoot off a guy's head with his pants down, believe me, Texas ain't the place you want to get caught.

LINKS:
The Tobolowsky files (more details here): http://www.slashfilm.com/category/features/slashfilmcast/the-tobolowsky-files/
Trailer:

Film Review: WRONG TURN AT TAHOE (2009)

Director: Franck Khalfoun
Running time: 87 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18

Release date: 12th January 2010

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 26th December 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I do enjoy a crime thriller and this, even though it went straight to DVD, isn’t a bad one. Some great performances, plenty of violence and a pretty strong plot all add up to an entertaining watch (if you like that kind of thing). I’ll tell you more of my thoughts after the following summary (summary haters please wait in the car with Joshua; he’ll take you for a ride if you ask him nicely).

Joshua is the number one guy to Vincent, a medium sized drug lord and crime boss on the East coast of the United States. He hears, through a third party, that a dealer by the name of Frankie Tahoe is out to kill Vincent. Of course Vincent won’t stand for that and they go and take care of Frankie. Now, unfortunately Frankie works for the biggest boss on the East coast, Nino, and he’s upset at losing one of his best dealers. They meet and, well, let’s say they didn’t part as best buddies. After Nino takes his revenge on Vincent the gloves come off and it gets very violent indeed. Of course there is a lot more to tell but I’m not going to spoil it for you.

This is a very dark and a very violent film with some great performances. I thought Cuba Gooding Jr. was excellent as the brooding Joshua who has a dark secret he has been carrying since childhood; in fact it’s the best performance I’ve seen from him in quite a while. Miguel Ferrer plays the part of the, sometimes psychotic, crime boss Vincent perfectly and Harvey Keitel is also excellent, as ever, as Nino.

It’s a pretty well made film which, although the budget was obviously pretty small still manages to excite and enthral. It has a very well written script but it is one of those that you have to watch, you can’t have it on in the background and expect to follow it. So, if you like a good crime drama and you’re not bothered too much by some rather graphic violence, then this one’s definitely recommended… otherwise, I would give it a miss.

My score: 6.5/10

LINKS:
IMDb Page: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1393000/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/screenplay/vi3302163481/

Film Review: THE DUELLISTS (1977)

Director: Ridley Scott
Running time: 100 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): PG

UK release date: December 1977

Watched on Sky+ Friday 27th August 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I noticed this was on TV this week and, as a fan of Ridley Scott, I couldn’t pass up the chance to see the film that made his directorial debut. Released two years before the seminal Alien, this was his first feature film, having directed several TV shows and one short beforehand. It is set at the beginning of the 1800’s at the start of Napoleon’s rise to power in France.

Two soldiers, Lieutenants in Napoleon’s army, D'Hubert and Feraud come to blows over an off-hand remark made by one of them. We then follow the life of D'Hubert as he progresses through the ranks, a life that is interspersed with duels against Feraud whenever they cross paths. Somehow both survive each duel and so the cycle begins again. Even after Napoleon is deposed the pair still continues their quest for honour. That is until the final duel, but I’m not going to spoil the ending for you.

This is a beautifully shot film; some of the scenes could be oil paintings if they didn’t move. Decent performances from both Keith Carradine as D’Hubert and Harvey Keitel as Feraud. Honourable mentions must also go to Albert Finney as Fouche, Edward Fox as the Colonel, Cristina Raines as Adele, Tom Conti as Dr. Jacquin and Diana Quick as Laura.

There is quite a slow pace to the story which I found a little frustrating at times, but didn’t distract me too much. The thing that really did let this film down was the quality of the soundtrack. At times the speech was hardly discernable and this didn’t aid my enjoyment one bit. It’s a shame, but I guess there’s little that can be done about it now. So, to summarise, I found this an interesting film, if slightly flawed, beautifully shot and a very good first effort from Ridley Scott, oh yes, and some great moustaches! Recommended.

My score: 6.9/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0075968/