MovieChat Forums > Mean Streets (1973) Discussion > 'eat chinks'

'eat chinks'

posted 10 years ago by Badlands1
7 replies | jump to latest

Did Charlie mean eat Chinese food? or Eat Chinese pussy, cause they were in a discussion about banging women in the first place?

Great movie though 10/10 superior to Goodfellas, people who don't like this have no social life, and don't understand Italian American subtleties, and New York culture.
Movies don't have to follow a strict who-dun-it plot, or comprehensive climatic endings.. real life isn't climactic, real life is dramatic, just like this film. it's as close to real life as I've seen out of any Scorsese movie.

[–] catch_the_spindrift 9 years ago

Chinese food.

Drifting through lost latitudes with no compass and no chart

[–] TheHungryAndAngryShow 9 years ago

When the world was less politically correct, many people said things like "let's go eat chinks" or called it *beep* food.

Although I normally would completely agree with your description of people who don't like this film, I will add one more type of person. The New Yorker who has a social life, does understand Italian Americans subleties, and New York culture, BUT didn't like those type of people in general, and wanted to avoid them at all costs. Before somehow I am called a racist, the "type" of people I am referring to are people who are not very bright, always involved in small petty criminal activity, have little if any sense of obligation, and are generally people who are just unlikable and not people you would want to hang out with. They can be ANY race, and growing up in New York I ran across way too many of them to want to watch a bunch of them run around on screen acting like stupid children.

[–] Badlands1 9 years ago

True there are dumb people of any city or race, but I mean most people can't handle this intelligent realistic movie, most are DeNiro fanboys, off the Goodfellas, or Scarface type movies, and are bored to death with actual acting and dialogue Mean Streets offers.
Takes a special mature artistic person to appreciate movies like this, Keitel was actually quite mature, it was just Johnny Boy who was dumb, I wouldn't want to hang out with Johhny Boy in person, but having him be a part of most of our realities growing up, it's very watchable. Working with *beep* in real life is one thing, watching a film about them is another.

[–] TheHungryAndAngryShow 9 years ago

I do get the point, trust me, most people can't handle any movie that is not a Hollywood flick, something that spells it all out for them. I am NOT one of those people, I see more indie and interesting films than Hollywood ones, probably only see 10 mainstream movies out of a few hundred a year. I can deal with low budget, foreign, poor acting, bad effects, bad sound, whatever, as long as I am entertained.

I liked Goodfellas, though I haven't seen it since around the time it came out. I LOVE Taxi Driver, that movie is dark, miserable, depressing, and most of those characters are not exactly nice either, BUT, there is a connection there, something I can see in me or others that doesn't just repel me. I liked Scarface, but I an far from a fanboy, and that movie is downright depressing, not at all the happy movie you would think it is with the way certain types glorify it.

Keitel was definitely the most mature of the characters, but he was just a slightly more intelligent a-hole, one who thought most of this was just funny and a good time. He had some goals and interests, but was still just a low level criminal at best.

I remember a female friend of mine who hated Beavis and Butthead when it was on TV, and when I asked her why, she said, "I grew up around brats like that, I don't want to watch them on TV". Though I understood her feelings, I also had an affinity for those jerks, if you will, where I did not have the same feelings for the jerks in Mean Streets. I would not really want to hang with any of them. But that's me, I was never one to just join in with whatever was going on. And I can see how if this was very much like your upbringing you could completely feel comfortable and find some love for the characters, but I did not.

The acting, well, the acting was very good, I am not doubting that at all. But that is a small part of a movie for me, I can deal with bad acting more so than a movie that does not move me or engage me or just plain old pisses me off. And if all the characters are generally reprehensible, well then I am usually emotionally checked out and wondering when it will be over.

I get that a lot of people will dislike this film for all the wrong reasons, and I get how incredibly stupid that can be, as most people are just incredibly stupid. But assuming that ALL the people that dislike the film are incredibly stupid is underestimating the few people that aren't incredibly stupid, and just happen to have a different opinion than you.

[–] Badlands1 9 years ago

Have you seen Fingers yet?
I loved Beavis & Butthead, and Ren & Stimpty.. I've never met a girl that would like B&B though haha.

[–] TheHungryAndAngryShow 9 years ago

Oddly enough my feminist vegetarian war resisting girlfriend at the time loved Beavis and Butthead, but couldn't tell any of her co-workers which is how we ended up seeing it together right before we dated. She also was a huge South Park fan. Ren & Stimpy did nothing for me, I was more of a Pinky and The Brain kinda guy.

I do not know what Fingers is.

[–] srklondie 7 years ago

Q: Why did Maury Povich marry Connie Chung?
A: Because Jews like to eat Chinese.

I agree with you about this film being better than Goodfellas. Even though I'm not a huge fan of Scorsese, this is my favorite film of his, followed closely by Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. I'm not even a big fan of De Niro but man, does he ever nail the heck out of Johnny Boy. What a great performance. 9 out of 10 from me.