MovieChat Forums > Mean Streets (1973) Discussion > The type font used in the opening credit...

The type font used in the opening credits. Appreciate any thoughts.

posted 10 years ago by mcintyro
2 replies | jump to latest

This is my favorite film ever.

Saw it over 50 times since 1974, most of which were in various theaters.

For a while the type font of the credits bothered me. They are in a type that can go by various names, Courier, American typewriter, etc.

The font resembles an old type writer key, which for the most part is unflattering. Back in the nineties if you were transfering art work in ad agencies via modem and the recieiving party didn't have the font you used on their computer or printer, the type spit out courier.

I used to imagine Scorcese was late on getting the credits to the mixing house and had to type them out on paper, and that's what the optical house used. I don't know. I don't know.

However, with all the attention to pulp stories and pulp fiction, and the idea of cranking them out on a manual typewriter, which the face resembles, and this film deals with small time wannabe hoods, I am wondering if Scorcese intended this all along.

[–] jarrodmcdonald-1 8 years ago

The font of the credits in the beginning was something I noticed immediately. It looked cheap and low-budget. Not sure if that was an intentional effect or maybe those credits were made out of necessity because they had run out of money. It really had a film school sort of feel to it, not yet fully professional.

[–] Piston_Smash 7 years ago

I think your final paragraph regarding pulp novels hits the target. The title 'Mean Streets' is taken froma Raymond Chandler quote about his hero Phillip Marlowe who must walk these mean streets. The font, I suspect, is an allusion to this.