Who’s That Knocking at My Door? (1967)

Who’s That Knocking at My Door (AKA “I Call First”)
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Written by Martin Scorsese and Betsi Manoogian
1967/US
IMDb link
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] J.R.: Everybody should like westerns.[/box]

Martin Scorsese’s first feature is a fascinating look at the introduction of themes that would follow the director throughout his career.

J.R. (Harvey Keitel in his film debut) lives in Little Italy.  He hangs out with a bunch of slackers who think a good evening out consists of drinking, goofing around, fighting and hiring a couple of hookers to service all of them as “dessert”.  J.R. meets a never-named girl (Zina Bethune) on his way to Staten Island.  They strike up a conversation.  She is looking through a French magazine for the pictures.  He likes Westerns.  She likes art films. She likes jazz.  He likes soul music.  They fall in love.

But J.R. is saddled with a Madonna/Whore complex that makes it impossible for him to consummate their love outside of marriage.  Sex with prostitutes is perfectly OK.  Then she reveals to him that she had been date raped in the past.  Things work out about as well as might be expected.

I enjoyed this despite the frequent arty non sequiturs that actually detract from some great story-telling.  Scorsese’s nascent style is already evident.  The pop music soundtrack and movie references are there as are the themes of machismo, male-bonding, and Catholicism.  The clip below where the two leads talk about The Searchers is priceless. Recommended to the curious.

Clip – 100% Scorsese!