Mean Streets

VHS, R, 110 minutes, WARNER

"Mean Streets" is an instant classic, a movie at once "exquisite, savage and brilliant" (Newsday). It announced Martin Scorsese's arrival as a new filmmaking force - and marked his first historic teaming with Robert De Niro, the most powerful actor/director match of the last two decades. It's a story Scorsese himself lived, a semi-autobiographical tale of the lifestyles of the first-generation sons and daughters of New York's Little Italy. Every raw situation in "Mean Streets" arises from Scorsese's experiences or observations during his early years in "the neighborhood." Harvey Keitel plays Charlie, working his way up the ranks of a local mob. Amy Robinson is Theresa, the girlfriend his family deems unsuitable because of her epilepsy. And in the starmaking role that won Best Supporting Actor Awards from the New York and National Society of Film Critics, De Niro is Johnny Boy, a small-time gambler in big-time debt to the loan sharks. Original Theatrical Trailer, NTSC.