BITH is a lazy comparison. Both came out within a couple years of each other and took place in LA.
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Menace II Society
everydayboredom1980 — 11 years ago(February 24, 2015 01:45 PM)
BITH is a lazy comparison. Both came out within a couple years of each other and took place in LA.
The Hughes Brothers are big Scorsese fans and talked about his influence on them.
It's very easy to see the influences in this movie, particularly Goodfellas and Mean Streets.
The structure of Menace in the first 20 or so minutes plays out like Goodfellas.
Starts off with a brutal murder, flashes back to childhood and shows how the main characters got involved in crime, then goes ahead in time. The tracking shot in the house party scene and Caine's narration is similar to Henry in the restaurant (and gambling parlor) introducing characters.
The rest of the movie plays out more like Mean Streets with its episodic nature, different violent incidents and some humorous ones play out, and both end with acts of violence (in drive by shootings).
Also both lead characters have complete lunatics for best friends. -
everydayboredom1980 — 10 years ago(December 21, 2015 11:53 AM)
Another Scorsese comparison/homage is the Dead Presidents scene when Larenz Tate keeps pressing Juanita about if she slept with Cutty, similar to Raging Bull when Jake keeps asking Vicki about his brother.
Knowing how much the Hughes Brothers respect Scorsese and are influenced by him, they probably had this scene in mind when they filmed in. -
Pineapples101 — 10 years ago(January 25, 2016 05:52 AM)
In the Criterion Collection Laserdisc commentaries, both Hughes brothers say how influential Scorsese was on Menace. Many scenes being based on camera moves and editing that Scorsese used in Taxi Driver and Goodfellas.
Do it Doug!!!!
http://movie-memorabilia-emporium.blogspot.com/ -
FrankBooth_DeLarge — 9 years ago(June 28, 2016 01:47 PM)
Boyz n the Hood drew some inspiration from Scorsese's "Mean Streets," along with Godfather Part 2, but I agree that Menace II Society is much more comparable to Goodfellas and elements of Taxi Driver.
Trailer For My Second Feature -
ebettman-1 — 9 years ago(October 11, 2016 06:03 PM)
YES!!! I Saw that myself when I watched the Netflix Disc a few nights ago. In particular: O Dog Exudes a Chocolate Joe Pesci, with his hair trigger (pun intended) temper. (Spoilers follow.)
His killing of the Korean Store Owners was SO reminiscent of the Billy Batts scene I could hear Donovan's "Under the Ocean" playing in my Brain. And the senseless killing of the Gay Crackhead is reminiscent of Tommy DeVito (Willy DeSimone in Real Life) whacking Poor Spider Guaco.
The Korean Storeowner scene to me also echoes the Japanese Restaurant scene in "Johnny Brasco" (albeit with a less Tragic Conclusion.)