antoniocasaca123 "Who's that knocking at my door" is an excellent first film by Martin Scorsese, with a first half of great level and a second half with some irregularities and that for that reason does not have the same high level of the first. The influences of the French "nouvelle vague" are more than evident in this first work of Scorsese, more concretely the first films of Jean-Luc Godard, of the first half of the decade of 60, notably the nonlinear narrative, the style of the dialogues, the scenes "non-sense", the multiple cinematic "honors" (references to films "the searchers", "the man who shot liberty valance", "rio bravo"), artistic (references to actors John Wayne and Lee Marvin) and even musicals (references to Percy Sledge and others). Even considering these (good) influences, Scorsese's style and themes are well-grounded in his first film: psychological analysis of a man disintegrated from society, the marginality of the streets, a fatal woman, the religion, and so on. The choice of songs is also remarkable, which has become a "mark" in Scorsese's films. Harvey Keitel has his debut as an actor here and is excellent, he would collaborate with Scorsese in more films. The filmmaker's second film, "Boxcar Bertha", also notable, would emerge five years after this, in 1972, he also with notable influences of "nouvelle vague", but with a more regular and consistent narrative, although the theme of this "who's that knocking at my door" seems to me perhaps more powerful than that of "boxcar bertha".

SnoopyStyle John Wayne fan J.R. (Harvey Keitel) and his friends are local Italian petty ruffians on the streets of New York. He meets and gets engaged to a girl. When she tells him about being raped, he is disbelieving, angry, and heartbroken. With his religious conviction, he can't marry a non-virgin and returns to his old thug life.The actors are all amateurs. This is Martin Scorsese's feature debut. It's a black and white indie. Harvey Keitel is still a student actor. Despite that, one can see the inherit skills of these guys. Scorsese is trying various camera moves. He's an artist playing with his paint. There is a real unpredictable sense of violence and there is his music sense. It's not polished by any means but one can see Scorsese trying something in almost every scene. There are scenes that ramble on but those have a visceral sense of uncertainty. The technical aspect varies and it can feel disjointed especially the dream sequences. The sexual dream comes out of nowhere which doesn't fit the rest of the movie. There is the ambient noise which may be deliberate but probably the byproduct of guerrilla student filmmaking. Keitel is exuding energy as the lead. He's the focus even at such a young age. I do wonder why the female lead has no name. To be fair, most characters do not have names. One would expect JR call her by her name at least once. Is it a continuing Scorsese limitation with female characters? I can only call up one strong female lead in his writing. There are a few more in his other works. It's probably a limitation of simply being a dude. It's hard to write what one doesn't know. Overall, this is a crystal ball that predicts Scorsese's rise as one of the great American directors.

Howlin Wolf All of the classic Scorsese preoccupations (masculinity, fraternal bonding, religion, movies, music... ) are already here, and touched upon to quietly devastating effect.Heresy as it may be to say this, this film makes me wish that Keitel had swapped places with De Niro, as Marty's primary leading man, before Leo came along...It's refreshing in 1967 to see Scorsese wrestling with the treatment of women. The idea that everything goes back to 'blame', and that it's somehow the woman's responsibility to 'repent', instead of requiring a man to deal with his own insecurities. The subject presents perhaps a necessary reminder for some, that females have been getting a raw deal for a long time... even if fewer people were addressing it, back then.(and just in case anyone is tempted to say anything... I'm a social justice pacifist, not a social justice warrior... It means you can hold a contrary opinion, and I won't fight you over it... but I still think you're wrong!) :-)The main takeaway from this is: Don't expect the mere existence of suffering and pain to be the factor which repairs something that is broken... because sometimes, it can't.They should have kept "I Call First" as the title, by the way!This is a fabulous film, and despite having seen it for the first time today, is already up there with "Raging Bull" as my favourite Scorsese work (it's probably a coincidence that they're both in black and white!)

mazec666 Released under many different titles, "Who's That Knocking at My Door" is an energetic, if muddled directorial debut from the great Martin Scorsese.Like George Lucas' "American Graffiti," the autobiographical elements were ripped from the young director's life growing up in the tenements of New York's Little Italy. However, the only difference between the two movies is completely different styles of filmmaking. While Lucas' film is a nostalgic, colorful look into the lives of high school graduates, "Who's That Knocking" is the polar opposite with its grainy, black-and-white photography and free-wheeling direction.In his film debut, Harvey Keitel's working class J.R. is the archetypal Scorsese protagonist. Concepts of machismo, religious guilt and unable to conform in regular society would be the future characteristics that would pop up in his later films. Keitel's sudden encounter with a high-class, educated woman (Zina Bethune) puts his character in a life-changing dilemma. Will he continue to hang out with his neighborhood buddies? Or will he develop a long-term relationship with the statuesque blonde? Filmed over a period of several years, the making of "Who's That Knocking" is kind of an interesting story all its own. Working from student films to a legitimate feature film is such a daunting task for the young Scorsese. You've got to remember "Easy Rider" wasn't released yet and the New Hollywood revolution was just around the corner. After the film's world premiere, Scorsese was able to find a distributor on one condition that a sex scene be added as a selling point. This wasn't just some ordinary sex scene, but it is a hell of a scene to watch.Shot on location in Amsterdam with a noticeably older Keitel, Scorsese and long-time editor Thelma Schoonmaker were able to create a technically beautiful montage set to The Doors' epic song "The End." While watching this scene progress before my eyes, I am so glad that Scorsese agreed to do the sex scene because it blends with the film so well."Who's That Knocking at My Door" is not a well-polished debut film, but there's more to come from Uncle Marty.