Mean Streets (1973) - Quotes

Lessons from War Experience

Giovanni Cappa: I learned this from Charley Lucky during the World War II.

Charlie: Oh? What did he do?

Giovanni Cappa: What did he do? He was there, that's what he did.

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Judgments on Beauty and Intelligence in Relationships

Michael Longo: [showing a picture of his new girlfriend] You think she's good-looking? She's smart, too. She's gonna be a teacher.

Tony DeVienazo: Let me see that. Oh, I know this girl.

Michael Longo: Yeah?

Tony DeVienazo: Yeah...I saw her kissing a nigger under a bridge.

Michael Longo: What? What do you mean?

Tony DeVienazo: A nigger. As in black. A nigger.

Michael Longo: But what do you mean?

Tony DeVienazo: [rolls his eyes] I mean...kissing. Her lips on his lips. Kissing.

Michael Longo: [worried] I kissed her.

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Family Ties and Personal Struggles

Giovanni Cappa: This Johnny Boy is like your mister Groppi...a little crazy. It's nice you should help him out because of his family and our family but watch yourself...Don't spoil anything. His whole family has problems...his cousin, the girl who lives next door to you...

Charlie: Teresa.

Giovanni Cappa: ...The one who's sick, right? In the head.

Charlie: No, she's got epilepsy.

Giovanni Cappa: Yeah. That's what I said, sick in the head.

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Financial Struggles and Unspoken Truths

Oscar: Look Charlie, you're a good boy. Will you just tell your uncle that I have nothing. There is nothing to give him. No envelopes with cash inside, no checks, nothing.

Charlie: That bad, huh?

Oscar: I can't make this week's payment and if this keeps up not next week's either.

Charlie: Not next week's either... listen... you tell that to Giovanni, not me.

Oscar: Listen, I should wrap up this place in a ribbon and hand it to him, you know that. I don't need this aggravation. I'm getting old.

Charlie: He'd rather have the loan paid, you know that.

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Music Volume Sparks Tension Among Friends

Johnny Boy: Hey, why don't you lower the jukebox, I can't hear nothin'.

Joey Clams Scala: Hey, the girls like the music loud.

Johnny Boy: Girls. You call those skanks girls?

Joey Clams Scala: [to Charlie] Hey, what's a matter with this kid, huh?

Johnny Boy: Hey, there ain't nothin wrong with me my friend, I'm feelin fine.

Charlie: Keep your mouth shut.

Johnny Boy: You tell me that in front of this asshole?

Joey Clams Scala: Alright, alright, we're not gonna pay. We're not paying.

Jimmy: But why? Joey, we just said we were gonna have a drink.

Joey Clams Scala: [Joey interrupts] We're not payin', because this guy, this guy's a fuckin mook.

Jimmy: But I didn't say nothin'.

Joey Clams Scala: And we don't pay mooks.

Jimmy: Mook? I'm a mook?

Joey Clams Scala: Yeah

Jimmy: What's a mook?

Johnny Boy: A mook, what's a mook?

Tony DeVienazo: I don't know...

Johnny Boy: What's a mook?

Jimmy: You can't call me a mook!

Joey Clams Scala: I can't?

Jimmy: No...

Joey Clams Scala: [pause; punches Jimmy in the face] I'll give you mook!

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Confrontation Over Money and Respect

Johnny Boy: [lights ten dollar bill on fire] You too good for this ten dollars? It's a good ten dollars. You know Michael, you make me laugh. You see, I borrow money all over this neighborhood, left and right from everybody, I never pay them back. So, I can't borrow no money from nobody no more, right? So who would that leave me to borrow money from but you? I borrow money from you, because you're the only jerk-off around here who I can borrow money from without payin back, right? You know, cause that's what you are, that's what I think of you: a jerk-off. You're a fucking jerk-off! You're laughing cause you're a jerk-off. I'll tell ya something else, I fuck you right where you breathe, because I don't give two shits about you or nobody else.

Johnny Boy: Come on... Come on... fuck face! Come on... ya motherfucker! Motherfucker!... come on! I got somethin for ya asshole!

Michael Longo: You don't- you don't have the guts to use that.

Johnny Boy: Oh, I don't have the guts, huh? Come over here, I'll shove this up yer ass! Come on!

Johnny Boy: [Laughs] Hey asshole, this is for you asshole! He's a fucking asshole!

Redemption Happens Outside of Church

Martin Scorsese: [voiceover] You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it.

The Company of Honorable Men

Giovanni Cappa: Honorable men go with honorable men.

Conflicted Emotions Towards a Woman

Johnny Boy: Hey, sorry lady! I'm sorry! I hate that lady with a passion... with a vengeance.

Borrowing from the Unreliable

Johnny Boy: You see, I borrow money all over this neighborhood, left and right from every BODY, I never pay them back. So, I can't borrow no money from nobody no more, right? So, who would that leave me to borrow money from but you? I borrow money from you, because you're the only jerk-off around here who I can borrow money from without payin back, right? You know, cause that's what you are, that's what I think of you: a jerk-off.

Perceptions of Beauty and Race

Charlie: You know something? She is really good-lookin'. I gotta say that again. She is really good-lookin'. But she's black. You can see that real plain, right? Look, there isn't much of a difference anyway, is there. Well, is there?

A Provocative Reflection on Power and Identity

Charlie: [They all raise their glasses to The Queen] You know what the Queen said? If I had balls, I'd be King.

The Nature of Pain and Suffering

Charlie: It's all bullshit except the pain. The pain of hell. The burn from a lighted match increased a million times. Infinite. Now, ya don't fuck around with the infinite. There's no way you do that. The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart... your soul, the spiritual side. And ya know... the worst of the two is the spiritual.