J.R. (Harvey Keitel) is a young and unemployed Catholic Italian-American living in New York City during the 1960's, where he spends his nights drinking and rough-housing with his group of cronies. When he meets a beautiful girl (Zina Bethune) on the Staten Island Ferry, J.R. starts to realize that their might be more to life than getting drunk and acting like a buffoon. But when his new girlfriend reveals a disturbing secret from her past, J.R. struggles to reconcile this startling revelation with his own perceptions of her as a pure and angelic woman.
Martin Scorsese first began working on Who's That Knocking At My Door when he was a film student at New York University and the film was still under its original title, I Call First. It was filmed and edited over the course of several years, undergoing multiple plot changes in the process, before debuting at the Chicago International Film Festival in November of 1967. It wasn't until an exploitation producer agreed to distribute the film, on the condition that Scorsese change the title and include a gratuitous sex scene, that the film reached a wider audience.
I'll be honest here and admit that Who's That Knocking At My Door didn't do much for me, and perhaps that is a forgivable by-product of the fact that Scorsese wrote the film as semi-autobiographical. Scorsese was raised a Catholic, which is not something that I can relate to on a personal level, and much of J.R.'s struggles in the film are a result of his Catholic upbringing. His black-and-white view of women as either saints or whores is what drives a wedge between J.R. and his new girlfriend, after she reveals a secret that taints his saint-like image of her. The film doesn't have much of a plot to speak, which I know will become something of a trademark for Scorsese, so the weight of the film falls on the shoulders of Harvey Keitel, with this serving as his acting debut. And for what it's worth, J.R. is a fascinating -- and frustrating -- character.
One of the most memorable scenes in the film is when J.R. meets the girl (who is left nameless, for the record) for the first time, and the two bond over a conversation about John Wayne and The Searchers. J.R., for all his faults, is such a likable character, and you buy into this romance because of how much he seems to covet their relationship, going so far as to suggest they wait until marriage before having sex. He loves this girl, but it all comes crashing down on him when this perfect woman, in his mind, turns out to be as flawed as he is, failing to meet the pious values and expectations that he was raised on. Credit Keitel for a debut performance that is raw and unrefined, but wholly real and believable, as a confused and conflicted young man who can't seem to differentiate between what he feels and what he was taught to feel.
Who's That Knocking At My Door is a difficult film to grade because the filming is rough, the editing hit-or-miss, and the performers inexperienced, and none of that is the fault of Scorsese. This is a student's film, first and foremost, and one that I'm not sure I would consider exceptional if not for the fact that its director would go on to be nominated for eight Best Director Oscars. But with the gift of foresight, I can recognize Who's That Knocking At My Door as ground zero for Scorsese, tapping the surface of themes and ideas that will become the hallmarks of his acclaimed career.
Evenings With Scorsese will continue now with Scorsese's second film, Boxcar Bertha. Thanks for reading, and be sure to check back again soon!
Great job Blake!
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