They went on to make nine more features together.
The two grew up together in Manhattans Lower East Side, an Italian enclave populated with low level mafiosi.
At some point De Niro heard vaguely that Marty was at NYU.
Robert De Niro in ‘Mean Streets’The Everett Collection
Years later they met at the house of Brian De Palma, who thought theyd be simpatico.
They didnt recognize each other at first, got to talking, and they really were.
There were different levels of trust, Scorsese said.
On an artistic level there is trust.
At a certain point, hed say, I have this idea.
And I said, Dont tell me, just do it.
And invariably Id like it.
And then we just had our own way of talking to each other, I guess.
So we felt comfortable in that way.
And he said, Make me put the flag down.
It was the back of his head.
It was a pillar.
It was really a great lesson on how to behave as a human being in front of the camera.
Music inMean Streetslike in many Scorsese films was a character in itself.
There was a bit of everything, including twoRolling Stonessongs (Jumpin Jack Flash and Tell Me).
We asked for three [songs].
In the summer there was never any air conditioning, so sometimes we slept on the fire escape.
Really it became a soundtrack of our lives.
We couldnt imagine a quiet moment.
