I was completely stunned by the scene where Tony (David Proval) gets into the cage with the tiger. I'm sure the tiger was trained but that must've been terrifying for Proval. It could've ripped his face off in an instant. I guess low-budget film sets were way more relaxed in the 70s.
Food in Films: That mystery meat in the restaurant kitchen must've been Grade D based on Charlie's face when he smells it.
If the budget gets low enough, it would be *completely* relaxed since there'd be no union rep clamping down on it, no legal department to shoot down ideas, etc.
I bet there's stuff involving trained animals in modern films with huge budgets that make actors nervous. Maybe less and less as they use CGI for all the animals.
Definitely must've been. If the film insurance company had seen this in the script, there's no way they would've consented. The production budget was $500K, so it was probably barely a blip on Warner Brothers' radar. Seems like they basically let Scorsese shoot whatever he wanted.
shareThey probably did, yeah. I'm glad they did, too; Mean Streets is brilliant. But, yeah, I really hope things were safe on-set.
shareAgreed. Studios tended to give directors more leeway in the the 70s. Made for some very interesting films.
Was also cool to see this was where Scorsese introduced the red-toned tracking shot (moving down the bar) that he'd use again in Goodfellas.
The '70s was, arguably, the best era for Hollywood studio films. All the up-and-coming directors - Scorsese, Coppola, Spielberg, DePalma, Lucas, etc., etc. - had all grown up on European arthouse cinema and were bringing that sensibility to the mainstream. We got The Godfather, Star Wars (revolutionary before it was sacrificed on the altar of merchandising), Apocalypse Now, and so forth. After Jaws and Star Wars, though, studios figured out the Blockbuster and the course of film started changing.
Don't get me wrong: there are still great movies coming out, but they're not the big releases anymore. Time once was that the big releases and the art films were kinda the same movies. Now it's just Disney franchises.
Wholeheartedly agree. It's my favorite movie decade for that very reason--experimentation was everywhere. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't but it usually made for memorable films. Chinatown, The French Connection, Dog Day Afternoon, Carrie, Three Days of the Condor, Marathon Man, Rocky, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Kramer vs. Kramer--all films one can still watch and appreciate 50 years later. I just don't see the Disney/Marvelverse having the same kind of enduring legacy.
shareMCU is candy. New Star Wars is candy. It's fun to eat, but it's just empty calories.
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