Who's That Knocking at My Door

Moviecut—Who's That Knocking at My Door

source: Who's That Knocking at My Door

This was one of Scorcese's earlier works,, and well i just had a very hard time following this one,, for the most part it was well kinda weird,, some of the music is great like the end by the doors,, the you had this god awful chanting music that was horrible,, Martin what were you thinking,, this movie follows a character named J.R. who falls for this girl,, and well that's about as much as i gather,, story say's she was raped,, they show that scene,, there are very few outside shots,, the movie is in all b/w. which ain't bad,, i guess i'm used to lots of action , gunplay,, something,, although there is a lot of good ole fashioned nudity in here, i just i would call this movie very disjointed at times and that is being kind, this movie took a few years to make,, and now i think i see why.

Set in New York, JR (played by Harvey Keitel) falls in love with a local girl (played by Zina Bethune). He wants to marry her and settle down but discovers that she was once a victim of rape. This raises all sorts of issues with JR. Martin Scorsese's first feature film. Not great - low production values, confusing jump-style direction, convoluted story that ultimately goes nowhere. Harvey Keitel, also making his feature film debut, is irritating in the lead role. Yet it bares some semblances of the later Scorsese trademarks. A degree of style, and story-building. Only worth watching from an historical perspective though.

Filmed over years apparently, this early M. Scorsese New York tale involving young dudes being typically out of it is interesting in the scenes with Keitel and the girl (Z. Bethune), but the buddy scenes tend to drag on and semi-bore. A 5 out of 10. Best performance = Zena Bethune. Harvey Keitel has always been interesting and believable and it's great to see him in a lead (pre-MEAN STREETS) and Ms. Bethune is very touching and human. All Scorsese fans should track this down even though it's not that great. The DVD has a semi-commentary from Marty which is unusual! It comes in the recent DVD set of Martin Scorsese and worth a look! Harry Northrup has a small role (MEAN STREETS, TAXI DRIVER).

a definite must for all scorsese fans. runs much like a student film. Use of music is still very ruff in this film. Not nearly as effective as in mean streets. Many of the same ideas scorsese will later work out in mean streets. Harvey Keitel's performance is powerful. Filmed mostly on Elizabeth St where scorsese grew up and his childhood apartment. highly recommended

"Who's that knocking at my door" is along with "Boxcar Bertha" the most unknown picture of the Italian-American genius Scorsese. Make no mistakes: it's nothing like a masterpiece and it's no surprise that almost no one know about this movie, but here we got some of the constants in Marty's cinema: the street talking, the violence, the outsiders... Those things that "mean streets" dealt about... This was Martin Scorsese's debut and so it was for his friend Harvey Keytel who plays a chauvinist-bad tempered young man. So, this is a movie that I recommend to those who really love Scorsese's work and wanna know about his origins. *My rate: 6/10

WHO'S THAT KNOCKING AT MY DOOR? (3+ outta 5 stars) Early feature film by the now-legendary Martin Scorsese... it sort of sprawls all over the place... melding all kinds of weird artsy gimmicks and camera styles... but the central relationship between Harvey Keitel and the pretty blonde girl he meets and falls in love with on the Staten Island Ferry (Zina Bethune) keeps the movie's momentum going, even when it veers off into interesting but sometimes pointless tangents. If you thought Quentin Tarantino invented the character of the movie geek who seeks to impress the woman of his dreams by rambling on with movie trivia... well, this movie will set you straight. You will also see hints of Scorsese's later masterpieces ("Mean Streets", "Goodfellas") in embryonic form. I hadn't seen this movie in years... but just saw the new DVD version and was amazed at how good it was.