Review of Who's That Knocking at My Door (1968) by Walter B — 12 Sep 2014

Looking at Martin Scorsese's first feature, Who's that Knocking at My Door (1967, is a wonderful, almost forgotten, example (in comparison to his later works) of Scorsese's repertoire. Originally the movie began as a short film for a graduate school project during his time at NYU. It was later expanded into the feature film that we possess today. The picture has gone through several name changes, distributors and additional scenes over time. Given the means that Scorsese had to deal with, he worked masterfully in those boundaries to create this movie. So, with no further ado, let us look at Who's that Knocking at My Door.

To begin, the film follows a young adult named J.R. played by Harvey Keitel. He is an average Italian American living in New York (between jobs) and begins a relationship with a college girl played by Zina Bethune. At some point during the film he decides to marry this girl only to find out that she is not a virgin and was supposedly raped by her past boyfriend. J.R. cannot move past the sudden revelation becoming frenziedly and confused about his feelings toward their relationship.

Watching J.R.'s character, Scorsese depicts him in an interesting way. The character hangs around his childhood friends drinking, partying and getting into trouble, yet he claims to be a Catholic traditionalist. The culture of his Italian Catholicism can be seen with the way he views his girlfriend. To J.R. there are two types of women: broads and girls. A girl to J.R. is an object to be admired, encapsulating both purity and innocence. To reflect on J.R.'s perspective, shots of the Virgin Mary are frequent. One notable example is obvious when J.R. and his girlfriend are kissing in his Mother's house. When things begin to get too sexual between them, a close up shot of a small Mary statue sitting on a table appears, as J.R. slows his advances down; only to quit. As for broads, J.R. believes they are tainted and only appealing until one meets the right woman. After J.R. finds out about his girlfriend already losing her virginity (which might or might not have been rape), the picture he has formed of her, through his expectations, begins to crumble. Despite, his obvious love for his girlfriend and willingness to take her back (after breaking off their relationship earlier), he cannot get past her sexual encounter. He believes it was her fault. He then becomes angry when she does not take him back for his lack of understanding. J.R. calls her a "broad" and a "whore" (only regretting it seconds later). The way he treated his girlfriend before and after her revelation are radically different, yet again depicting his philosophy of the perfect girl and the whore. Regardless of what J.R. said, he still loved the girl's character and personality, and even tried to find solace in the church after the incident. He ends up cutting his mouth on a nail attached to the crucifix, while trying to kiss it, suggesting his character's mind will not move on.

What makes these characters so engrossing is that Scorsese made them likeable yet complicated individuals. The characters depth is further enhanced by Harvey Keitel's and Zina Bethune performances. For a student actor, at the time, Keitel proved he could handle both the heavy and light material he was given in the script, as well as building convincing chemistry with Bethune's character. There is one scene in particular that is mighty impressive. It is where J.R. and the girl meet for the first time on a bench waiting for a ferry. They soon begin a casual conversation pertaining to movies. The scene goes on for about ten minutes and only cuts twice. The audience never really notices the length because the character's conversation is charming and quite real. In addition, the way Scorsese frames the shot, moving the camera closer and farther away from the characters using various angles is quite engaging. Even without a large budget, Scorsese took fairly new, but confident actors, gave them well written dialogues, and sketched out his camera movement to create this brilliant scene. These techniques are perfect examples of Scorsese's trademark while filmmaking. He would go on to use these techniques in several of his later films.

That being said, it is obvious Who's that Knocking at My Door is a rough film. The love story between the girl and J.R., despite being the core plot of the movie, was in fact, added to the short film. At times additions like these can feel disjointed, with Harvey Keitel's look changing slightly from scene to scene. One example can be clearly depicted in the last included scene (requested from a distributer). In this scene J.R. fantasies that he is having sex with two different women. Here, it does not flow very well with the overall narrative, and Keitel is noticeably older. The scene was actually put in as a compromise with Trimod Films for the marketing material. Even the quality of shots shifts throughout the movie as a result of Scorsese using both 16mm and later 35mm film.

In spite of these rough edges, Scorsese's love for film is obvious. He pays homage while borrowing from other filmmaking greats like Federico Fellini and Sergei Eisenstein, using Fellini-esque cuts and applying elements of Eisenstein's methods of montage. Also the way the characters speak sounds natural, using masterfully written dialogue and improvising (although watching behind the scene features on the DVD, about 80% of it was written). Scorsese also carefully and thoughtfully storyboarded almost every scene showing a dedication of detail he would continue to use throughout his career.

In conclusion, Who's that Knocking at My Door is an example of characters, actors and writing, triumphing over budgetary constraints. Scorsese's well educated filmic techniques, along with collaboration with friends, NYU facility (his professor, Haig Manoogian even helped produce it) and distributers aided in creating the legendary directors first flawed, but magnificent tour de force.