Mean Streets

Written by

Martin Scorsese, Mardik Martin & Ethan Edwards

Ah, get born, keep warm Short pants, romance, learn to dance Get dressed, get blessed Try to be a success Please her, please him, buy gifts Don't steal, don't lift Twenty years of schoolin' And they put you on the day shift

(SUPERED OVER BOTTOM OF SCREEN LIKE A TV NEWS BULLETIN)

(THE FILM IS IN COLOR UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.)

A darkened diffused image of a man lying on the ground. A tree is above him. The image is more diffused on the edges. It is black and white, and appears to be coming from a television. The body of the man is practically totally in shadow.

A small orange fire appears in the breast of the man.

The small orange fire fades away.

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT

CHARLIE has been dreaming. The dream frightened him. A TITLE APPEARS on the bottom of the frame: CHARLIE. He gets up to look at his face in the mirror. His room is lit by moonlight. It is a small tenement bedroom with a fire- escape outside.

2.

He returns to bed and as his head hits the pillow, we hear the RONETTES singing "BE MY BABY."

CUT TO:

An 8-mm. projector whirring away.

INT. PARTY - HOME MOVIES - DAY

Opening TITLES appear over 8mm. HOME MOVIES in which CHARLIE is shown along with his friends and family in a celebration...a sense of "one big unending party."

During this opening segment WE SEE some of the characters that will later appear in the story: JOHNNY BOY, MICHAEL, TONY, TERESA, CHARLIE'S UNCLE GIOVANNI, and others. They are all Sicilian and are members of the same Italian- American neighborhood in New York City. (WE SENSE, from these HOME MOVIES, that the neighborhood forces its people to be strongly tied together in a way of life - Family, Church, Friendship.) These HOME MOVIES were taken during some formal and casual gatherings in which CHARLIE participated.

CUT TO:

INT. BATHROOM IN A NEIGHBORHOOD BAR

A longhaired "freak" is about to shoot-up. Suddenly the door opens and TONY (ANTHONY DEVENZIANO) comes in. TONY is totally different in appearance and dress from the "freak." He is 25, and a part time student studying liberal arts. His father is a very powerful racketeer in a different part of the city and owns several night club type discotheques and strip houses on the west side of town. One of these is operated by TONY - "TONY'S PLACE." CHARLIE is one of his closest friends. TONY is well dressed, flippant and reckless. He is a big drinker, liquor, wine, and even cough medicine.

TONY rushes over to the "freak", who is too strung out to defend himself, smashes the needle, and slaps him around.

INT. BAR AREA

TONY pushes him out the door and into the bar area. There are a few people in the bar...mainly neighborhood guys like TONY. A few "freaks" are in the BG.

3.

TONY pushes him out the front door.

TONY crosses over to one of the neighborhood guys by the bar and slaps him in the back of the head knocking off his hat.

TONY pushes the BOY out of the bar also. TITLE APPEARS on the bottom of the frame: TONY

EXT. WEST SIDE DOCKS - LATE AFTERNOON

The area is totally deserted except for two trucks parked side by side. Two men are tossing boxes from one truck to another and looking around furtively. MICHAEL stands nearby. MICHAEL LONGO is 26 years old. He lives in a different neighborhood but comes from the same type of background as CHARLIE and the others. He runs an illegitimate bar and dabbles in the yearly sale of firecrackers which he smuggles in from Maryland. He also deals in contraband cigarettes and runs a small-time "loan shark" business. He has a knack for business but he is otherwise unintelligent.

Michael crosses over to a '58 black Oldsmobile.

MICHAEL gets in the car. Another MAN is sitting in the back. He is also well dressed. MICHAEL takes a small lens out of his pocket and tosses it to the MAN.

The MAN looks at it carefully.

4.

MAN hands adaptor back to MICHAEL.

TITLE APPEARS on bottom of screen: MICHAEL.

EXT. STREET - DAY

A deserted warehouse area in lower Manhattan. Prominent in the frame is a brightly painted red white and blue mailbox, contrasting with the drab hues of the neighborhood.

JOHNNY BOY walks down the street toward camera. JOHN CIVELLO (JOHNNY BOY) is 23 years old. He is an only child and lives with his mother, a divorcee. He is clean cut looking, yet slightly radical in dress. He was expelled from high school for vandalism and consequently spent several months in reform school. He is reckless, unambitious, nihilistic, and was classified a psychiatric 4- F. He is first cousin of TERESA RONCHALI who lives next door to CHARLIE. He has adopted TERESA'S family as his own and spends more time with them than he does with his mother.

JOHNNY is carrying a package wrapped in plain brown paper under his arm, and he is smiling. He drops the package into the mailbox and keeps walking. But he is moving a little faster now and smiling a little more.

Suddenly the mailbox explodes. Dozens of red, white and blue fragments shower down on the street. The impact of the blast knocks JOHNNY down. TITLE APPEARS on bottom of frame: JOHNNY BOY.

5.

He is up in a moment. The CAMERA TRACKS with him as he starts running. WE SEE that he is grinning - quite literally - like crazy.

INT. CHURCH

WE SEE CHARLIE full face. Behind him is a Confessional Booth. The church is very old, quiet, and dark. The CAMERA ZOOMS OUT to reveal rows of Holy Candles lit in the foreground. CHARLIE suddenly begins to speak softly and confidentially to an unseen entity that is OFF SCREEN.

THE CAMERA HAS NOW TRUCKED BEHIND CHARLIE AND WE SEE over his head he has been addressing a life sized statue of the crucified body of Christ, eyes closed reclining in his sepluchure.

This conversation of Confession will occur from time to time in other parts of the story as CHARLIE will periodically try very casually to justify his thoughts and actions to his "God." The images accompanying these monologues are to be of free association almost documentary in nature.

INT. TONY'S PLACE - NIGHT

The club is dark and noisy and smokey when CHARLIE enters. He greets TONY who is sitting on a bar-stool. TONY directs CHARLIE to a corner of the club where the rest of the group is now getting boisterously drunk.

6.

CHARLIE joins in, immediately taking on the mood of the group.

The rest of the club is filled with many different types of customers: teenagers, adults pretending to be teenagers, sailors, male and female gays, and "the boys from the neighborhood." The music is loud and the lights are flashing but the strippers have not yet appeared.

DISSOLVE TO:

TONY is at the bar. He is approached by GEORGE one of the bouncers. He seems upset about the noise that CHARLIE and his friends are creating. TONY doesn't take GEORGE very seriously.

TONY smiles.

DISSOLVE TO:

CHARLIE's zany behavior as frenetically as it occurs. There is no particular logical sequence except that events are suited to the rythmic pattern of the music.

1. CHARLIE and his friends dance and sing along with the music.

2. CHARLIE picks up a billiard stick. He attempts to hit a filled shot glass towards TONY at the other end of the bar. He fails.

3. CHARLIE tries to pull a tablecloth off of a stranger's table without moving the glasses or bottles. This also fails.

7.

4. A punch is thrown at someone. A lit cigarette in the puncher's fist creates a swift arc of light in the darkness.

5. The Strippers finally appear on stage. CHARLIE becomes obsessed with the Negro stripper DIANE. He shouts to her, tosses things, and calls her names. She tries, half amusedly to ignore him but she can't.

6. TONY drinks from a bottle of Southern Comfort, and as a chaser swigs down Aqua Velva.

DISSOLVE TO:

CHARLIE sitting at an empty table watching DIANE, the stripper, perform again. He stares glassy-eyed and then begins to speak softly, continuing his Confession.

Suddenly MICHAEL appears and sits down at CHARLIE's table. He hands CHARLIE two cartons of cigarettes.

CHARLIE gives him the money.

8.

CHARLIE remains silent.

9.

DISSOLVE TO:

JOHNNY BOY enters the night club with two friends. He has been drinking. JOHNNY BOY'S face shows fresh cuts and bruises. His friends approach the hat check girl and give her their coats. JOHNNY BOY approaches her giving her his pants instead. His friends laugh hysterically.

CHARLIE is now alone at the end of the bar. JOHNNY BOY now completely dressed enters the bar area. CHARLIE watches JOHNNY BOY approaching and continues his Confession. JOHNNY BOY greets people as he passes them, and as CHARLIE speaks, he appears to be moving in slow motion.

TONY is now behind the bar near CHARLIE. JOHNNY BOY has reached them.

10.

CHARLIE and JOHNNY BOY grimace. MICHAEL appears.

TONY mumbles.

JOHNNY BOY interrupts MICHAEL who is about to speak.

The drinks arrive. They all smile and salute each other with their drinks.

11.

CUT TO:

CHARLIE and JOHNNY BOY are sitting alone at a table.

CUT TO:

FLASHBACK

EXT. STREET - LATE AFTERNOON

JOHNNY BOY is walking along the street. It is rush hour and the traffic is heavy. A shiny, late model car stops parallel to JOHNNY BOY. The young boy (SAL) signals him by blowing the horn. (Note that in the FLASHBACK, JOHNNY BOY'S face is not bruised.)

INT. INSIDE CAR - LATE AFTERNOON

12.

As JOHNNY BOY admires the gadgets in the car he notices that SAL is becoming very nervous.

He turns to look for the speaker and sees a police car not far behind.