Hexenkessel (1973)

Hexenkessel: Directed by Martin Scorsese. With Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, David Proval, Amy Robinson. A small-time hood tries to keep the peace between his friend Johnny and Johnny’s creditors.

“u0026#39;Mean Streetsu0026#39;, the earliest Scorsese film people have heard of, is the result of an on-form film maker, telling a personal story.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOne thing to immediately note about u0026#39;Mean Streetsu0026#39; is the performance of our two leads, Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro, both looking young and are full of energy. They deliver the goods, big time. They are both so watchable and make up at least half of the movieu0026#39;s appeal. In fact, u0026#39;Mean Streetsu0026#39; is an inherently watchable movie overall, helped by some fine dialogue and Scorseseu0026#39;s trademark energetic and involving camera-work. The main draw is the antics of the characters and their relationships rather than a high-stakes narrative. Dramatic things happen but donu0026#39;t relate intrinsically to the central plot: that of De Nirou0026#39;s character Johnny Boy, his debts to clubs, bars and old pals along with his long-suffering buddy Charlie (Keitel).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn comparison to other Scorsese films (which is inevitably going to happen if this is not your first Scorsese), it is very low on scale and as mentioned before, low on stakes. This is no gangster epic or psychological portrait but simply a 2 hour window into the streets of New York. It is certainly worth watching.”