Product Details

• Actors: Thomas Aiello, Zina Bethune, Philip Carlson, Anne Collette, Paul DeBonde
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302066891
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #18,810 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Martin Scorsese's debut feature, Who's That Knocking at My Door? contains many of the autobiographical elements that would inform Scorsese's work as became a director of world-class importance. This was Harvey Keitel's debut as well, and he plays a young New Yorker named J.R. (the name also served as the film's alternate title) as a tortured vehicle for Scorsese's own inner conflict between rigid Catholic tradition and initial forays into liberating sexual experience. Produced over a lengthy on-and-off schedule while Scorsese was a struggling New York University film student, and shot in the Little Italy neighborhoods where Scorsese was raised, the film (with a final budget of $75,000) is a boldly stylized, stream-of-consciousness experience, establishing Scorsese's passion for well-chosen rock & roll soundtrack songs while plumbing the depths of J.R.'s soul as he begins a tenuous relationship with an independent, sexually experienced young woman (Zina Bethune) who's at odds with J.R.'s seething repression. Incorporating fantasy sequences to further convey the young man's turbulent thoughts and emotions, Who's That Knocking at My Door earned favorable reviews, announcing the arrival of a bracing new talent and setting the stage, five years later, for the breakout triumph of Mean Streets. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary debut of America's greatest living director, June 21, 1999

By A Customer

"Who's that knocking at my Door", Martin Scorsese's debut film is almost plotless. J.R. (played by Harvey Keitel, brilliant by the way) is a young Italian American living in Little Italy, who after wooing a WASPish girl (Zina Bethune) with his love of John Wayne westerns, is disgusted by her well intentioned admission that she's not a virgin and consequently their relationship ends...

"Who's that knocking..." has all the excesses of a first feature. It's uneven and episodic, sometimes terribly naïve with some overt religious symbolism. These are minor complaints however as the young Scorsese has created a movie that resonates a manic energy, extraordinary style and a rare sense of eroticism. Very important in the Scorsese cannon, the film looks forward to later films ( "Mean Streets", "Raging Bull" and "Goodfellas") with its anthropological feel for the males codes his later characters would explore.

Equally important, the film shows how American cinema became colonised by the European ethic of film-making. Heavily influenced by the French New Wave, more specifically Jean-Luc Godard, the film also revels in Scorsese's love for American movies. There are references to Howard Hawks, the intense cinema of John Cassavetes (recalling his milestone "Shadows") and the explosive soundtrack reminds one of Kenneth Anger's underground epic "Scorpio Rising". As impressive a debut as you are likely to see...

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More personal than even Mean Streets, May 28, 1999

By A Customer

I've been a fan of Scorsese's work for sometime now, and I never thought I would be as taken off guard by a film as I was when I first saw Mean Streets. Who's That Knocking At My Door? blew me away. It is similar in many ways to Mean Streets in both plot and content, but the style and sponataneity are unmatched here. If you thought Johnny Boy was an incredible character, check out Sally Gaga. Harvey Keitel stars, and seems like an entirely different actor, very innocent and affectionate at times, much more so than in his role as Charlie. Easily one of the most personal and heartfelt films ever made. Buy this if you've admired Scorsese's other work.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What A Great First Film, December 2, 2005

By	D (U.S.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Who's That Knocking at My Door? (DVD)

Scorsese as everyone reading this review or thinking about buying this item probaly already knows is one the greatest living filmmakers. Maybe its having lived in the Tri-State area my whole life and having close relatives of Italian decent, but I have always found the films of Scorese hitting close to home in many ways. The characters live and breathe on screen in such a way-its unbelievable. Okay that said let me move on to the movie at hand, Scorsese having made most of this in film school-its impressive beyond belief, it has so much raw energy to it, the scenes involving the guys just hanging out seem so real, and also as a director he shows some very stylish stuff-cinema stuff-its not as polished or as great as Mean Streets-but for anyone interest in film or Scorsese i say its a must see...