The Rolling Stones' 'Gimme Shelter' appeared in the Martin Scorsese films: GoodFellas (1990), Casino (1995) and The Departed (2006). The song was not used in the film Mean Streets (1973).

With Mean Streets, it is not just a movie about gangsters. It is one concerned about people living in a state of sin. This film recalls days when there was a greater emphasis on people committing sin. Stiff ground rules are use to inspire dread of eternal suffering if a sinner dies without absolution.

Key words in the movie are the ones, spoken over a black screen: “You don’t make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. All the rest is BS and you know it.” Scorsese used his voice for this scene, and Charlie (Harvey Keitel) is raising up in bed, awakened by a dream, and peering at his face in a bedroom mirror. When hearing the voice, the words possibly represented previous ones said to Charlie by a Catholic priest.

Later Charlie talks in a voice-over about how a priest gave him the usual “10 Hail Marys and 10 Our Fathers,” but he preferred a more personal penance. In a very famous scene, he holds his hand in the flame of a votive candle before the altar, testing himself against the fires of hell.

Here the music sound track includes songs such as 'Jumpin' Jack Flash', 'Tell Me', 'Steppin\' Out', and 'I Looked Away'. They are used to shed light on the movie's focus on sin and religious redemption in the 1960s. 'Gimme Shelter' wouldn't work here.

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