It’s one of the best films of the 1970s, it’s the granddaddy of the modern crime cinema, and it heralded the arrival of screen legends Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel. It’s an unforgettable, knockout classic.

Directed by
Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Wolf of Wall Street)

Starring
Robert De Niro (Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, The Godfather Part 2)
Harvey Keitel (Taxi Driver, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction)
David Proval (The Sopranos, The Shawshank Redemption)
Richard Romanus (The Sopranos)
David Carradine (Kung Fu, Kill Bill)

One of the director’s most personal and powerful films, Mean Streets stars De Niro and Keitel as Johnny Boy and Charlie, Italian-American cousins, small time criminals hustling, fighting and carousing, doing whatever it takes to survive in the rough and ready New York neighbourhoods.

Johnny Boy seems to spend his life getting into trouble, leaving the slightly older, and wiser Charlie to get him out of it. Charlie wants to make enough money to buy a restaurant, and he wants to drum some sense into Johnny Boy. But when Johnny Boy reneges on a debt to a loan shark, things get nasty, and the cousins find themselves having to flee a hired killer.

If you like Tarantino, The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire... well, this is where it all started, with Scorsese’s blistering Hollywood calling card.

There is much to enjoy here – the improvised patter, the ‘mook’ riot in the pool hall, Scorsese’s shock cameo, as well as the sharply-dressed De Niro’s sensational slo-mo entry into the neighbourhood bar to the sound of The Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”.

It’s arguably a pacier and more cohesive film than Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, and on a par with the sheer panache of Goodfellas, but has tended to be overlooked in the director’s oeuvre.

Although initially marketed as a rather dour drama, in actual fact it is a racy and sometime hysterically funny slice of 1970s New York, drenched in wonderful tunes – including “Be My Baby” by The Ronettes, which opens the film with a bang – and featuring quotable lines including De Niro asking the immortal question, “what’s a mook?”.

The film shows off Scorsese’s burgeoning bold and thrilling style that would influence generations of filmmakers in its wake.

“It really was accurate, that was my life.” Martin Scorsese

“One of the best American films of the decade” Time Out

“A perceptive, sympathetic, finally tragic story about how it is to grow up in a gangster environment” Roger Ebert

“An acclaimed classic for a long time but what doesn't get said too often is how wonderfully funny it is... The movie's blazing energy is still astounding” The Guardian

“One of the pivotal films of the 1970s” The New York Times

“I've seen it about 746 times. The first time was at Paddy Considine’s house. I watched it every day when I was thrown out of college: every single day for six weeks. I've never done that with a film, before or since” Shane Meadows

Never before released on Blu-ray in the UK.

Sublime new sleeve artwork.

Never before released extras in the UK including:
- Audio commentary featuring director Martin Scorsese, actress Amy Robinson and co-writer Mardik Martin
- Vintage Featurette: "Back on the Block"
- Theatrical trailer