i dig bringing out the dead, maybe mostly because it looks fantastic and i find it to be a genuinely weird movie w/r/t tone and acting.
― omar little, Friday, 15 August 2008 17:08 (fifteen years ago) link
in Joe Pesci Casino has one of the worst accent and performances I've ever seen. Is he speaking English?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 15 August 2008 17:14 (fifteen years ago) link
i give him props for being the only one in the movie to attempt a chicago accent~
― omar little, Friday, 15 August 2008 17:16 (fifteen years ago) link
Pesci's a terrible actor
― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 15 August 2008 17:18 (fifteen years ago) link
I guess I've read more people criticize the taxi driver score in recent times than I've read praise of it.
if you want to talk underrated scorsese check out his first full length, who's that knocking at my door. it's like a dry run for mean streets, and I'm always impressed by how many of his trademark tricks were already fully realized in the late 60s. from the opening montage you know you're watching a scorsese film. it's light on plot but there are a number of impressive sequences, including a rape scene played with no sound other than an incongruous doo wop song.
then again, I really like the color of money and never understood the general lambasting it gets. yeah, it's not the greatest movie in the world, but it's a solid flick. and forrest whitaker has a great bit part in it.
agree that boxcar bertha is his personal nadir. its sole cinematic moment of grace is keith carradine crucified to a boxcar.
― Edward III, Friday, 15 August 2008 17:19 (fifteen years ago) link
if bringing out the dead was made by some up and coming director nobody heard of, I think people would give it more slack. again, not the greatest movie ever, but it's a quirky, small film with some interesting takes on redemption.
― Edward III, Friday, 15 August 2008 17:22 (fifteen years ago) link
the scene of the drug dealer being sawed out of his impalement has this weird ecstatic quality to it.
― Edward III, Friday, 15 August 2008 17:24 (fifteen years ago) link
omar otm.
― wanko ergo sum, Friday, 15 August 2008 17:26 (fifteen years ago) link
and i like casino a lot too! some days i prefer it to goodfellas because some days i prefer its really grim tone (not that goodfellas is a comedy, but then again it sort of is in a weird way). i have a fair amount of admiration for his trio w/dicaprio as well. the obvious ones (mean streets, taxi driver, raging bull) are all great though i don't think raging bull's greatness really appeals to me as much as taxi driver's, and i prefer mean streets to both by a fair amount.
― omar little, Friday, 15 August 2008 17:39 (fifteen years ago) link
sole cinematic moment of grace is keith carradine crucified to a boxcar.
That's David Carradine, and Boxcar Bertha is certainly better than Cape Fear (or Kill Bill).
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 15 August 2008 17:43 (fifteen years ago) link
Goodfellas, easy.
-- nate woolls, Friday, August 15, 2008 7:07 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link
-- rent, Friday, August 15, 2008 2:21 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Link
― Jordan, Friday, 15 August 2008 17:45 (fifteen years ago) link
haha yeah david carradine. cape fear seems pretty dire but I actually haven't seen it in its glorious entirety.
imdb trivia on boxcar bertha After he finished this film, Martin Scorsese screened the film for John Cassavetes. Cassavetes, after seeing this film, hugged Scorsese and said, "Martin, you just spent a year of your life making shit!"
― Edward III, Friday, 15 August 2008 17:59 (fifteen years ago) link
tho I'm happy you're willing to rep for a movie with BOXCAR in the title
After Hours Kundun
― remy bean, Friday, 15 August 2008 17:59 (fifteen years ago) link
kundun's only redeeming feature is making mao a campy b-movie villain
― velko, Friday, 15 August 2008 18:18 (fifteen years ago) link
Casavetes, (semi-)wrong again!
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 15 August 2008 18:27 (fifteen years ago) link
Fuck you.
― Pleasant Plains, Friday, 15 August 2008 18:32 (fifteen years ago) link
Pay me.
-- Jordan, Friday, August 15, 2008 12:45 PM (Friday, August 15, 2008 12:45 PM) Bookmark Link
somehow still haven't seen Casino. Of the ones I've seen (which i guess is about 3/4 of them) my favorites are King of Comedy, Raging Bull, and After Hours.
I think the Age of Innocence is a really underrated film.
― akm, Friday, 15 August 2008 18:40 (fifteen years ago) link
Most overrated: Goodfellas -- Eric H., Friday, August 15, 2008 2:32 PM (2 hours ago)
silly. wouldn't most overrated go to say, taxi driver? or raging bull? -- s1ocki, Friday, August 15, 2008 4:54 PM (1 hour ago)
Goodfellas, easy. -- nate woolls, Friday, August 15, 2008 7:07 AM (2 hours ago) -- rent, Friday, August 15, 2008 2:21 PM (3 hours ago) -- Jordan, Friday, August 15, 2008 12:45 PM (Friday, August 15, 2008 12:45 PM) -- Pleasant Plains, Friday, August 15, 2008 6:32 PM (6 minutes ago)
― Eric H., Friday, 15 August 2008 18:41 (fifteen years ago) link
Taxi Driver is too great to be overrated.
otm
― Edward III, Friday, 15 August 2008 18:43 (fifteen years ago) link
All I'm saying is that no president has ever been shot because the assassin had been watching too much GoodFellas.
― Pleasant Plains, Friday, 15 August 2008 18:46 (fifteen years ago) link
that's some prime sub custos bait
― omar little, Friday, 15 August 2008 18:47 (fifteen years ago) link
(xpost) That's right. Which makes me feel even better for voting Taxi Driver.
― Eric H., Friday, 15 August 2008 18:48 (fifteen years ago) link
I also enjoyed The Aviator which I guess makes me crazy. Voting KoC.
― Trip Maker, Friday, 15 August 2008 18:51 (fifteen years ago) link
"one day, a great rain will come and wash the scum BLAH BLAH BLAH FUCK YOU PAY ME.
― Pleasant Plains, Friday, 15 August 2008 18:52 (fifteen years ago) link
Cassavetes, after seeing this film, hugged Scorsese and said, "Martin, you just spent a year of your life making shit!"
As if there weren't enough reasons already to worship JC.
Boxcar Bertha is certainly better than Cape Fear
Cape Fear is definitely towards the bottom of his oeuvre. But even there, Scorsese shows some remarkable subtlety. For the first thirty, forty minutes or so, his camera never meets a tripod, gliding all over the place as if it were resting on melted butter....until the scene where the killer and the daughter first talk (on a deserted stage, IIRC). And finally the camera calms down and we get a classic, even rote shot-reverse shot editing pattern during the conversation. Only now, after all that swirling, the rigid back-and-forth becomes unbearably intense.
There's nothing remotely like that in Boxcar Bertha.
― Kevin John Bozelka, Friday, 15 August 2008 18:53 (fifteen years ago) link
No, but there is Barbara Hershey's tits.
― Pleasant Plains, Friday, 15 August 2008 19:04 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah but there is no De Niro's tits.
― Eric H., Friday, 15 August 2008 19:05 (fifteen years ago) link
to be fair scorsese didn't have much involvement in producing those
― Edward III, Friday, 15 August 2008 19:07 (fifteen years ago) link
at least he didn't spend a year of his life making A Woman under the Influence...
Hinckley's lousy aim is not Schrader & Scorsese's fault.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 15 August 2008 19:14 (fifteen years ago) link
CONTROPS
― Edward III, Friday, 15 August 2008 19:17 (fifteen years ago) link
"Marty! Kundun! I liked it!"
― goole, Friday, 15 August 2008 19:20 (fifteen years ago) link
definetely After Hours, no contest at all.
― Ludo, Friday, 15 August 2008 19:22 (fifteen years ago) link
(btw just watched the original Cape Fear and it beats the .. out of his remake, which, I guess was supposed to be funny)
― Ludo, Friday, 15 August 2008 19:24 (fifteen years ago) link
Oooh looks like a JC poll is up next if it hasn't been done already. That should bring out all the lovers.
― Kevin John Bozelka, Friday, 15 August 2008 19:24 (fifteen years ago) link
wait til the box set comes out, KJ. (Chinese Bookie for me)
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 15 August 2008 19:28 (fifteen years ago) link
also, if King of Comedy wins this poll, Eric might watch it.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 15 August 2008 19:29 (fifteen years ago) link
Looking at this list makes me realise that I only really like Taxi Driver, The King Of Comedy and After Hours. And The Big ShaveCape Fear.
fixed
― DavidM, Friday, 15 August 2008 19:33 (fifteen years ago) link
Voted After Hours, anyway.
― DavidM, Friday, 15 August 2008 19:34 (fifteen years ago) link
Another Cassavetes box set is coming out? Links? (Love Streams forever and always)
― Kevin John Bozelka, Friday, 15 August 2008 19:36 (fifteen years ago) link
Voting Casino in the absence of Gangs.
― Johnny Fever, Friday, 15 August 2008 19:38 (fifteen years ago) link
absence of gags
― goole, Friday, 15 August 2008 19:40 (fifteen years ago) link
oh I'm sorry; they're releasing Cassavetes titles from an old Criterion box as singles. My mistake.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 15 August 2008 19:45 (fifteen years ago) link
lololololol
― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 15 August 2008 19:48 (fifteen years ago) link
I like New York New York (first one I saw in a theater)
Italianamerican is a hoot
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 15 August 2008 19:49 (fifteen years ago) link
Ever see the Freaky Friday remake with Lindsey Lohan? Her waking up out of bed with her mom inside her body was straight up "Rubber Biscuit" Harvey Keitel.
― Pleasant Plains, Friday, 15 August 2008 20:01 (fifteen years ago) link
wish this would come out on dvd already
― Edward III, Friday, 15 August 2008 20:05 (fifteen years ago) link
Is “mook” an ethnically offensive word, or does it just have that association because the guys in Mean Streets say it? I ask that because I occasionally use the word IRL.
― Josefa, Thursday, 23 November 2023 23:07 (five months ago) link
According to that link to the Scrabble dictionary, it just means "a foolish or contemptible person," no ethnicity involved. Which is how I always took it from the film too.
― clemenza, Friday, 24 November 2023 01:48 (five months ago) link
Good to know. I will be less self conscious about calling people mooks going forward.
― Josefa, Friday, 24 November 2023 01:53 (five months ago) link
A mook is a mook is a mook. The word cuts across race, ethnicity, gender, everything. They're everywhere.
― clemenza, Friday, 24 November 2023 02:10 (five months ago) link
And they all worship the same god.
https://i.postimg.cc/0QQjhWKg/mook.jpg
― clemenza, Friday, 24 November 2023 02:12 (five months ago) link
Watched Who's That Knocking at My Door? for maybe only the second time in my life (the DVD I used was a still-sealed $3 copy I bought at least 10 years ago). Whatever I may have posted in the past working from memory, didn't think it was great at all--one incredible four-minute musical cue ("El Watusi"), some technical interest, a very good performance from Keitel (also Zina Bethune, who basically disappeared from movies afterwards), and not a lot else. Endless conversations that go around in circles--which anticipate the same in later films, but they're not at all funny here. I can understand why someone like Ebert would have made a fuss over it in 1969, and there are other directors where I prefer early rough work to polished later stuff--and honestly, I'd take it over Killers of the Flowers Moon. But not over Mean Streets, which is exponentially better.
― clemenza, Monday, 26 February 2024 12:47 (two months ago) link
We posted the first of these on May 18, 2020 (20th Century Women), the early days of the pandemic; we've got two more to go after this one, on three Scorsese films:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAuMg5zjgIo
Some confusion over whether the "Steppin' Out" in Mean Streets is John Mayall's or Cream's. I guess it is Cream (not on any of the studio albums)--I always thought it was from the first John Mayall album.
― clemenza, Sunday, 3 March 2024 18:11 (two months ago) link
Cream did a long version of "Steppin' Out" on Live Cream II, an archival release from '72.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 3 March 2024 18:50 (two months ago) link
It was initially mistitled/credited as "Hideaway", which IIRC carried over to some prints of Mean Streets.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 3 March 2024 18:55 (two months ago) link
Both songs being instrumentals first recorded by Clapton during his time with Mayall.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 3 March 2024 18:57 (two months ago) link
That's it--I distinctly remember seeing "Hideaway" in the music credits more than once. Mystery solved, thanks.
― clemenza, Sunday, 3 March 2024 18:59 (two months ago) link
The song in question (1:45):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA2XMiK12VQ
― clemenza, Sunday, 3 March 2024 19:05 (two months ago) link
We talk a lot about this, which--dead serious--I think is the greatest four minutes of any Scorsese film ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVIA1vqQfb8
(I may have posted this clip upthread--if so, that link is broken.)
― clemenza, Sunday, 3 March 2024 19:14 (two months ago) link
Just watched The Age of Innocence for the first time. It was a pleasure to be sunk in that milieu for a couple of hours. There is a sense that with such strong source material, it's your set designers and casting agent you're going to rely on most of all but I thought it was handled well. I think it's aged well (a bit like DDL. tbf), albeit the editing in the final scenes in the Paris courtyard is kinda clunky.
Curious whom Alfred would have cast instead of Pfeiffer...
― I would prefer not to. (Chinaski), Sunday, 17 March 2024 22:19 (one month ago) link
Right?!?
Sigourney Weaver?
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 17 March 2024 22:45 (one month ago) link
I appreciate that Marty is this level of nerd. With staff helping of course.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/25/martin-scorsese-vhs-video-collection-archive
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 25 March 2024 20:33 (one month ago) link
Looks like he was cool using SLP
― Rich E. (Eric H.), Monday, 25 March 2024 21:19 (one month ago) link