Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967)

Original title: I Call First

Director: Martin Scorsese

Writers: Betzi Manoogian, Martin Scorsese

Starring: Harvey Keitel, Zina Bethune, Anne Colette, Lennard Kuras, Michael Scala, Harry Northup, Catherine Scorsese

More info: IMDb


Plot:  A young man struggles with the fact that his girlfriend was once raped.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

When you're a fan of someone's work and you've been following them for many, many years, there's something special when you finally get to see their early work and better still, their first picture.  This is Scorsese's first and it about a decade later that he'd hit the big time.  You can see his hands all over this.  The dialogue pops off the screen and Keitel delivers it and sounding at times just like it was coming straight from Scorsese's lips.  The banter between these people feels genuine.  The takes are long and it often feels like you're watching slice of life moments.  It's refreshing.  The pop song soundtrack is fantastic and fun.  The love scene is nicely shot with The Doors' classic, The End, on the soundtrack. 

And, yes, there is a Keitel donger sighting but you'll have to watch the film for that.  The best moments are with Keitel hanging out with his guy friends.  The love story plays separate.  The romance business contrasts the fun stuff when he's not with her.  He's a different person but the scenes away from the love stuff play faster and are a lot more interesting.  I really dug seeing a lot of techniques that Scorsese's known for that started with his first feature 50 years ago.  The Warner Bros. DVD has a great looking B&W anamorphic widescreen print.  The two extras you get are a commentary track with Scorsese and Mardik Martin, the directorial assistant, and a modern 13 minute making of featurette with Mardik Martin.