In Martin Scorsese’s 1973 crime drama “Mean Streets,” the real drama unfolds from a series of teleological questions. What is Charlie’s purpose? As played by Harvey Keitel, we see him moving up in the mafia world. When he visits Oscar, the restauranteur who owes a huge debt and cannot pay it for lack of business, Charlie is suspicious of Oscar’s willingness to give up his business in place of the mounting debt. Whether the empty dining room and dropped dishes are staged or not is irrelevant to his Uncle Giovanni, the boss. Uncle Giovanni tells Charlie, “Don’t do anything. His business is bad.” Charlie presses his point one last time asking “Can I help?” His uncle replies methodically but with finality, “Yeah. You can help by waiting.”
Charlie is a tool of use to the family. He is not just a metaphorical "knife” as his purpose is to do more than “cut.” Charlie inquires to Uncle Giovanni because he needs to know his purpose. As it turns out, Charlie has been grappling with this question for the entire first act of the movie. When we meet him, Scorsese mixes a dream-like movement into the bar with the harsh reality of again, waiting. In addition, when he visits church - it is only here that he expresses that he is in fact, tired of waiting. Whether Charlie is talking to himself and/or God, does not matter because in his estimation - he is not being heard. So as a tool for his uncle and a tool for humanity, Charlie is questioning both his existence and specific purpose.
Where Charlie does have meaning is in his complicated “brother”-like relationship with his debt-ridden hustler friend Johnny Boy. On a higher level, Johnny Boy’s purpose is not to have one. He is on a Dionysian/Caligula-esque quest to destroy and consume whatever is in his path. We first meet Johnny Boy as he blows up a street-corner mailbox for amusement. You can read the change from veiled mischief to wild anticipation and then success in just seconds. In one illustration, Scorsese establishes Johnny Boy as having a dangerous fascination and a constant need for trouble. Charlie is only left to ponder “Why is he like this?” Not “Why doesn’t he possess the same conflict over his purpose?”
In their first extended conversation in the back room of the bar, Charlie takes Johnny Boy down a few pegs but in the most caring way. Even when Johnny Boy lies to his protector, Charlie fails to truly punish him for that transgression. In actuality, Charlie may be more disgusted with Johnny Boy for buying new clothes than not paying his debt to Michael and subsequently lying about it to his face. In comparison with his conversations with a real family member in Uncle Giovanni, there is no trust but an uncertain love. This ongoing conflict lets us as viewers know that Charlie is the metaphorical “knife” that will eventually have to “cut” Johnny Boy to survive. Yet Charlie still sees himself as the good guy his Uncle Giovanni is, willing to wait for situations to improve for those who he grants uncertain love.
