This Mean Streets essay contains spoilers. Martin Scorsese’s 1973 film features Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel and David Proval. Check out VV movie reviews, along with cast/character articles, streaming guides and complete soundtrack song listings, at the home page.

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Throughout Martin Scorsese’s career, he has incorporated popular music sequences into his stories. One of the most renowned scenes is the haunting piano coda of “Layla” by Derek and the Dominos orchestrating a grisly montage of mafia murders in Goodfellas (1990). There is also the rambunctious Irish rocker “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” by Dropkick Murphys introducing the main player in the scrappy cat-and-mouse thriller The Departed (2006) or The Lemonheads’ gnarly cover of “Mrs. Robinson” unraveling the chaos of Jordan Belfort’s greed in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). All of these moments demonstrate Scorsese’s understanding that pre-recorded music can deepen our relationship with the characters and get to the emotional core of a scene. Many of the Italian-American filmmaker’s movies feature a dynamic marriage between sound and visuals.

But very few of Scorsese’s films have music play such a crucial role as his third feature, Mean Streets (1973), which currently celebrates its 50th anniversary and a Criterion Collection release. Rather than following a linear storyline, Mean Streets is a patchwork of vignettes centering on Charlie (Harvey Keitel), a small-time hood who strives to be virtuous in his corrupt Little Italy community. The pop/rock soundtrack operates as a shorthand for the narrative minutiae, particularly the audience’s understanding of the protagonist’s inner feelings and the tension between his religious convictions and criminal way of life. In the same way that church music connects the parishioner to the divine, music functions as a higher power in Mean Streets, enriching every moment with a wellspring of emotion and poeticism.

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Mean Streets immediately hooks the audience with “Be My Baby” by The Ronettes in the opening sequence. “You don’t make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it,” Charlie’s reflective voice emits from the black screen. The sound of his guilty conscience jolts him out of bed, and he staggers towards the mirror. When Charlie lays back down, Scorsese synchronizes jump cuts that draw increasingly closer to the protagonist’s head hitting the pillow with each smack of Hal Blaine’s purposeful drums — like the sound of Charlie’s skipping heartbeat. The protagonist’s nighttime reflection on the past propels the lush sounds of castanets, strings and guitars that swirl around him. This combination of visual proximity with pop music indicates how the rest of Mean Streets is rooted in Charlie’s perspective and largely uses songs to convey his emotional life.

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“Be My Baby” overlays a grainy 8mm montage of home movies that feature Charlie lolling with his Little Italy neighborhood pals, attending a family christening party and shaking hands outside an ornate church with the local priest. The Ronettes’ honeyed voices perfectly complement these nostalgic images in Mean Streets, suggesting that Charlie yearns to preserve this domestic bliss in the face of dishonesty. The sweet lyrics echo the protagonist’s devotion to God; he pledges to adore Him until eternity, despite his bond with his mafia family and their impact on his memories.

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These syrupy girl group songs appear frequently throughout Mean Streets, including “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss)” by Betty Everett, “I Love You So” by The Chantels and “I Met Him on a Sunday” by The Shirelles. With themes of young love and idealism, these tunes embody the innocent and righteous life that Charlie strives for. Scorsese describes Mean Streets as “a story of a modern saint, a saint in his own society, but his society happens to be gangsters,” and Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound has a dulcet optimism that crystallizes the protagonist’s pure ambitions.

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Scorsese utilizes another girl group song, “Please Mr. Postman” by The Marvelettes, as an ironic comment on the action rather than Charlie’s subjective sentiments. The rhythmic tune initially appears as source music from a jukebox, and the volume increases when Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro in his first collaboration with Scorsese) runs his mouth in front of the pool hall owner Charlie and his friends are attempting to collect money from. The vivacious tempo and The Marvelettes’ buoyant vocals provide a humorous juxtaposition to the violent frenzy that ensues as Scorsese’s camera follows the group of men clumsily throwing punches for over two minutes. The unbroken, handheld shots make the scene feel even longer and more unhinged, especially against the effervescent sounds of The Marvelettes mooning over a long-distance boyfriend. Without this song, the Mean Streets sequence would not have the same frenetic and amusing quality.

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“My films would be unthinkable without them,” Scorsese once said of The Rolling Stones. The British invaders feature in numerous of the director’s movies including Goodfellas, Casino (1995) and The Departed. In Mean Streets, the raw and bluesy “Tell Me” orchestrates Charlie’s descent into the underworld setting of his favorite bar, drenched in sinful red colors. Mick Jagger’s tenacious vocals against the driving, steady acoustic guitar create a sense of determined longing, propelling the close-ups of the sensuous, shimmying nude female dancers. Through tightly focused shots from Charlie’s perspective, the audience can ogle the dancers’ supple skin and the way their barely-there bikini bottoms glisten in the spotlight.

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The persistent, almost mantra-like chorus repetition in “Tell Me,” coupled with Jagger’s impassioned delivery, parallels the fervency of a religious invocation. By juxtaposing this propulsive song with Charlie’s intense gaze and a scene of him burning his finger at church, Scorsese suggests that the protagonist longs for something he cannot have: to be a good person despite the lascivious appeals of his secular life.

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“Tell Me” goes straight into the electrifying “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” which sets the stage for Johnny Boy’s flashy entrance. Through Charlie’s point of view, De Niro’s character glides into the bar in slow motion, cheekily grinning at the patrons while two attractive girls hang off his shoulders. The sharp, crunchy guitar riffs and Jagger’s growling lyrics of someone who was “born in a crossfire hurricane” perfectly encapsulate Johnny Boy’s chaotic nature and boundless energy. He’s the type of manic person who enjoys bombing mailboxes for fun and weaving elaborate lies to evade settling debts. By juxtaposing the invigorating rock and roll song with the deliberately slowed-down imagery, Scorsese crafts a vibrant cinematic moment that makes De Niro’s character seem like a larger-than-life figure. This high-octane song evokes Charlie’s magnetic attraction to this troublesome but charismatic and energetic individual and the urgency the protagonist feels to try and save him.

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The incorporation of The Miracles’ exuberant and irresistibly danceable track “Mickey’s Monkey” in the latter part of Mean Streets aptly embodies Johnny Boy’s character. During the climax, his ballooning debts come to a head, and he has to leave town. Amid Charlie’s frantic attempts to hop in the car, Johnny Boy, unperturbed, catches the tune on the radio and starts bopping to the rhythm. Despite the imminent peril, the immature hoodlum behaves like a circus monkey, dancing through life without a care in the world — even in the face of possible death. The wildness of Johnny Boy’s life reverberates in the infectious beats and zany lyrics about “a cat named Mickey.”

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The quirky doo-wop hit “Rubber Biscuit” accompanies Charlie’s descent into debauchery when his friends host a homecoming party for a Vietnam veteran. The lyrics of this bizarre novelty song are a hodgepodge of fast-paced, acapella scats about sandwiches. Scorsese uses the SnorriCam technique, fastening the camera to Keitel’s body to capture his facial expressions, to provide the audience with an in-your-face perspective of Charlie’s sweaty, intoxicated bewilderment as he stumbles around the dimly-lit room and binges on more alcohol. The background teeters with every single step. These disorienting visuals alongside the lightning-speed gibberish on the soundtrack make the audience feel just as hopped-up as Charlie.

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Scorsese also uses Mean Streets’ soundtrack to construct slower, softer moments. While Johnny Ace croons “Pledging My Love” against a gentle, tinkling piano, the director’s camera unsteadily moves towards the aforementioned veteran who abruptly smashes his cake and attacks his girlfriend dancing with another man. Charlie then rushes the woman into a side room for safety. The low-key lighting casts shadows across the characters’ faces as they waltz to the affectionate ballad before Keitel’s protagonist gently places the female in question on the ground to sleep. The tender vocals of Johnny Ace and his amorous lyrics of fidelity give the scene a wistful mood, creating a delicate moment of goodness and human connection.

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Scorsese also strings Italian songs throughout Mean Streets by artists such as Giuseppe Di Stefano, Renato Carosone and Jimmy Roselli. These swooning arias, with their warbling voices and the soaring strings, have an old-world sentimentality that encapsulates Charlie’s devotion to his people and their traditions. The authentic Italian songs often play during the protagonist’s interactions with the other mobsters or at a San Gennaro festival, articulating how deeply entrenched Keitel’s character is in their way of life, and how that challenges his faith.

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With its uneven pace and fragmented narrative, Mean Streets would not have nearly the same impact without its soundtrack. Through the juxtaposition of pop songs and classical Italian serenades, Scorsese crafts an intriguing auditory tug-of-war between Charlie’s disparate ways of life. Mean Streets set the standard for Scorsese’s incredible use of soundtracks in the ensuing decades. His selection of songs creates a highly evocative and sensorial experience that is far more impactful than images and dialogue alone.

Caroline Madden (@crolinss) is the author of Springsteen as Soundtrack. She’s also a film critic who has written for Screen Queens, Reverse Shot, IndieWire and more. Caroline is the Editor in Chief of Video Librarian.

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